Venture capital funding volume for crypto projects doubles from the end of 2024

What’s new? The volume of venture capital funding for crypto projects in the first quarter of 2025 increased, although the number of deals decreased compared to the same period last year, according to analysts at PitchBook. Thus, from January to March, 405 deals were concluded, a drop of 39,5% (670 deals) compared to the first quarter of 2024, with an increase of 8,2% (372 deals) from the fourth quarter of last year.

Material by Cointelegraph

What else is known? At the same time, the total value of transactions in Q1 more than doubled year-on-year, reaching $6 billion, compared to Q1 and Q4 2024 figures of $2,6 billion and $3 billion, respectively.

Robert Le, senior crypto research analyst at PitchBook, noted that capital continued to seek crypto projects with real-world use cases despite the macroeconomic turmoil during the quarter.

Venture capitalists invested nearly $2,55 billion across 16 deals in crypto asset management and financial services companies, as well as crypto exchanges. This segment accounted for the largest share of funding.

Next are companies in crypto infrastructure and development, they received almost $955 million in 30 deals.

Robert Le noted that the upcoming listing of USDC Circle, the issuer of USDC stablecoin, via an initial public offering (IPO) will be the most important event for cryptocurrency stocks since crypto exchange Coinbase listed on Nasdaq in 2021.

If Circle is valued above the expected $4 billion to $5 billion range, it could show venture capitalists that such business models are profitable and sustainable, as well as provide a clearer benchmark for future exits.

According to PitchBook, Circle has raised $1,18 billion in venture funding to date and has an estimated 64% chance of going public.

Le also noted that the market value of stablecoins rose 12% during Q1 (from $202,3 billion to $227,1 billion), while other cryptocurrencies have seen their value fall or stagnate.

According to the company, “This divergence underscores a growing consensus: Dollar-denominated settlement remains crypto’s killer application.”

PitchBook expects venture capital investment may increase “in payment, remittance, and treasury-management startups that directly monetize stablecoin velocity.”

Le added that the $1,4 billion hack of crypto exchange Bybit in February, which was the largest in cryptocurrency history, could accelerate institutional demand for real-time reserve confirmation tools, improved custody solutions, and software that simplifies key management.