Crypto venture capital funding surged 433.2% in 2025 to $49.75 billion from literally just $9.33 billion a year ago, according data from RootData statistics.
December ended with 58 disclosed investment projects, up 3.6% from 56 in November. Monthly funding moved in the opposite direction. Disclosed capital for December totaled $860 million, down 94.1% from $14.54 billion in November.
Crypto deal activity contracts while capital concentrates
The entirety of 2025 saw 898 disclosed investment projects, a 42.1% plunge from 1,551 projects in 2024, meaning few deals are carrying far larger checks across the crypto venture capital market.
According to RootData, DeFi took the largest share at 22.4% of total crypto VC projects, CeFi followed at 13.8%, while AI had 12.7%. RWA and DePIN made up 7.3%, as L1 and L2 projects reached 6%, and NFT/GameFi slipped to 5.3%, matching tools and wallets at 5%.
The year’s largest transaction landed in November when Naver agreed to acquire Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, in an all‑stock deal valued at about $10.3 billion, pushing Naver’s value to 4.9 trillion won and Dunamu’s to 15.1 trillion won.
Crypopolitan had in October reported that Dunamu saw consolidated operating income of 1.19 trillion won for the first nine months of 2025, up 22% year-over-year, with 97.9% of revenue tied to trading platforms, including Upbit.
In May, Coinbase completed a $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit, paying $700 million in cash and the remainder in stock.
Mega financing deals boost corporate balance sheets holding crypto
Corporate issuance drove many of the year’s largest crypto VC raises, starting in July when Strategy raised $2.52 billion through its fourth preferred stock product, Stretch, with net proceeds of about $2.474 billion after fees.
Crypopolitan then reported that Strategy used the funds to buy 21,021 BTC at an average price of $117,256, making its total holdings now 628,791 BTC, or $74 billion. Earlier in February, Strategy had issued $2 billion in zero‑coupon notes due 2030, carrying a 40% to 50% conversion premium and a three‑year put option.
In October, Intercontinental Exchange, parent of the New York Stock Exchange, invested $2 billion in Polymarket at an $8 billion pre‑investment valuation. The deal gave ICE a stake and global distribution rights for Polymarket’s event‑driven data.
In March, Abu Dhabi MGX (funded by the Abu Dhabi government and controlled by the royal family) invested $2 billion in Binance for a minority stake, paid for using stablecoins exclusively, and became the largest crypto‑asset‑only investment recorded.
In September, Forward Industries completed a $1.65 billion private placement using cash and stablecoins to launch a Solana‑based digital asset vault strategy, led by Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital. In March, Kraken acquired NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, securing a CFTC‑registered FCM license to offer futures and derivatives in the United States while expanding in the U.K., EU, and Australia. In August, Galaxy Digital closed $1.4 billion in debt financing to fund the Helios AI data center in Texas under a long‑term agreement with CoreWeave.
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