​Investments in DeFi projects rose by 190% in 2022

What’s new? Funding for decentralized finance (DeFi) projects rose by 190% last year, from $0,93 billion to $2,71 billion. Meanwhile, projects in the field of centralized finance (CeFi) raised 73% less money from investors. Over the year, the amount dropped from $16,29 billion to $4,39 billion. This data is cited in a study by analysts at crypto market data aggregator CoinGecko.

1/ Ever wondered how much funding each #crypto sector raised every year? 💰Crypto fundraising for #DeFi projects rose by 190% in 2022, while funding for CeFi shrank 73%.Read the full study: https://t.co/RXuNPqjWja pic.twitter.com/COES5BRVvf — CoinGecko (@coingecko) March 4, 2023

What other data has been published? CoinGecko highlighted that increased funding for DeFi came amid the transition from a bull market to a bear market, with overall crypto funding falling from $31,92 billion to $18,25 billion. In this regard, analysts assumed that DeFi will be a new trigger for industry growth in the next few years.

In 2022, for example, investors invested $165 million in decentralized exchange (DEX) Uniswap in a Series B round, and liquid staking protocol Lido Finance raised $94 million. Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) raised the most money from the sale of LUNA tokens – $1 billion in February, just three months before the collapse of the entire Terra ecosystem. A similar situation was observed in the CeFi market, where crypto exchange FTX raised about $800 million in January and filed for bankruptcy in November.

Blockchain infrastructure and services companies continued to grow steadily and raised $6,1 billion, up 40.2% from 2021. And artificial intelligence projects attracted $0,42 billion (up 65,1%).

The DeFi sector will be a key topic of discussion at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) meeting on March 22. Meanwhile, earlier CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam announced tighter regulation of the crypto industry.

According to a report by Metaverse Post, the Web 3.0 space attracted $7,1 billion throughout 2022, with games, metaverses, and social networks leading the categories. Despite the bear market, this amount was $4,8 billion more than in 2021. Games raised $4,49 billion (62,5% of the total amount). AI projects raised the least money ($36 million).