Venture capital activity in the cryptocurrency industry has seen an uptick in early 2024, marking a potential revival of investor optimism following the bear market.
According to data from “The 2024 Crypto Spring Report” by Chainalysis, Q1 2024 was the first quarter that saw a quarter-over-quarter increase in crypto investment since early 2023. According to the firm, the dynamics may signal a shift in the investment landscape in the crypto industry.
Overall, 2023 saw a sharp decline in capital raised by cryptocurrency companies, which aligned with the crypto winter that started in 2022. After nearing the $10 billion mark in Q4 2022, quarterly crypto funding volumes declined below $2.0 billion in Q2 2023.
In Q1 2024, crypto VC volumes edged up for the first time since 2022, nearing $2.5 billion. The median deal size has also recovered since a sharp decline in Q4 2022, consistently hovering around the $10 million mark.
Though VC activity in crypto declined overall in 2023, the industry saw a number of significant deals over $100 million, including early-stage deals that took place in Q3 2023 and into Q1 2024.
According to Chainalysis, the biggest deals were made by the blockchain interoperability projects Wormhole and the Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Network (DePIN) called Together.ai.
The cross-chain protocol Wormhole raised a $225 million investment at a valuation of $2.5 billion in November 2023, while Together.ai raised a total of $225 million as well, the report notes.
Related: Memecoins are like a ‘risky casino’ — Andreessen Horowitz exec
The crypto asset management and taxes platform Swan Bitcoin secured a $165 million investment in late 2023. Major cryptocurrency exchange service Blockchain.com received $110 million funding in November 2023.
Totter, the open-source cloud storage platform, and the Ethereum protocol EigenLayer are also on the list of major VC deals by Chainalysis, raising $101 million and $100 million, respectively.
The uptick in crypto VC deals comes amid the cryptocurrency market’s significant surge in early 2024. Bitcoin (BTC) hit new all-time highs at $73,600 in mid-March. The rally was primarily attributed to spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds launching in the United States in January 2024.
Magazine: 7 ICO alternatives for blockchain fundraising: Crypto airdrops, IDOs & more