Late-stage deals dominate crypto funding surge
Crypto venture capital saw a significant rebound in the final quarter of 2025, with $8.5 billion flowing into the sector. According to Galaxy Digital’s report, this represents an 84% increase in capital invested compared to the previous quarter. The deal count also rose slightly by 2.6%, reaching 425 transactions.
What’s interesting is that this quarter marks the strongest investment period since Q2 2022. But there’s a catch—deal counts still haven’t returned to the levels we saw during the 2021-2022 bull market. It seems investors are putting more money into fewer, more established companies.
Big money concentrates on established players
Later-stage companies captured 56% of all capital invested, which I think shows a shift toward more mature projects. The proportion between early and late-stage funding remained unchanged from Q3, suggesting this pattern might continue.
Eleven deals alone accounted for about 85% of the total quarterly investment. These were massive raises—Revolut led with $3 billion, followed by Touareg Group at $1 billion and Kraken at $800 million. Other notable deals included Ripple and Tempo at $500 million each.
Looking at the full year, 2025 saw $20 billion invested across 1,660 deals. That’s more than double 2023’s total and the largest annual investment since 2022.
Sector and geographic distribution
The trading and exchange category remained the biggest recipient, drawing over $5 billion. Stablecoins, AI, and blockchain infrastructure also attracted significant attention. What’s encouraging is that pre-seed deal counts stayed healthy at 23% of total deals, indicating continued entrepreneurial activity.
Median pre-money valuations climbed to $70 million, while the median deal size reached $4 million. Though valuation data only existed for about 10% of deals, mostly biased toward larger, later-stage companies.
Geographically, the United States dominated with 55% of capital going to US-headquartered companies. The United Kingdom followed at 33%, with Singapore and Hong Kong receiving much smaller shares. This pattern held true for deal counts as well.
Venture funds also see growth
Fundraising for crypto-focused venture funds reached $1.98 billion across 11 funds in Q4. For the full year, funds raised $8.75 billion—the largest amount since 2022. Average fund size increased to $167 million, with a median of $46 million.
This suggests that institutional interest in crypto venture capital is returning, though perhaps with more caution than during previous cycles. The concentration of capital in later-stage companies might indicate investors are looking for proven business models rather than speculative early-stage bets.
Overall, the data paints a picture of a maturing sector where big money is flowing to established players, while early-stage activity continues at a steady pace. Whether this pattern holds through 2026 remains to be seen, but the recovery from 2023’s downturn appears to be gaining momentum.
