Original title: H1 Crypto Funding: Key Trends and Insights
Original article by: Marco Manoppo
Original translation: TechFlow
The first half of 2025 marks a turning point for cryptocurrency venture capital. After two years of capital tightening and investor caution, funding is pouring in. As of June 30, total disclosed cryptocurrency financing has exceeded $37 billion, with more than 150 transactions tracked, covering seed rounds, AC rounds, strategic rounds, and IPOs. Despite regulatory uncertainty and continued volatility in token prices, institutional and venture capital confidence in the industry has returned strongly.
Key Takeaways
• Total disclosed cryptocurrency financing in the first half of 2025 exceeded $37 billion, one of the most active periods since the 2021 bull run, with more than 150 deals tracked.
• Large financings such as Binance’s $2 billion strategic financing and Circle’s $1.1 billion IPO pushed the average transaction size to $248 million, highlighting the market’s renewed confidence in mature platforms.
• Most funds shifted from consumer applications and speculative projects and poured into scaling solutions, compliance infrastructure, and cross-chain protocols.
• About $700 million flowed into AI-related crypto projects, a sign that investors see this as the next important frontier of innovation.
• Top investors such as a16z crypto, Paradigm, Pantera, Galaxy Digital and Sequoia account for approximately 40% of the highest valuation rounds. At present, large funds still have a huge influence on the development direction of the crypto industry.
Total financing overview
Between January and June 2025, crypto and blockchain startups raised approximately $37.3 billion in disclosed funding. The average deal size was approximately $248 million, significantly higher than in previous years. Of course, this average was affected by a few mega-rounds and IPOs, such as Binance’s massive $2 billion strategic financing and Circle’s $1.1 billion IPO. The median deal size was close to $50 million, reflecting that most funding rounds are still in the mid-market range.
This funding total makes the first half of 2025 one of the most active periods since the 2021 bull run. What is particularly striking is that a large amount of funds have flowed into infrastructure and scaling solutions, rather than just the consumer application sector.
Monthly and quarterly trends
Funding amounts vary from month to month, with March being the strongest month. In March alone, companies raised an estimated $8 billion, driven by large strategic rounds and pre-IPO financings.
Funding in January and February totaled about $9.4 billion, while April slowed slightly to about $4.5 billion. Funding activity rebounded in May and June, both exceeding $5 billion, driven by late-stage deals and Circle's IPO.
On a quarterly basis, the first quarter saw nearly $17.4 billion in funding, while the second quarter saw an additional $15.9 billion. While the first quarter was driven by early-year momentum and Binance funding, the second quarter saw a wider range of funding, with large amounts distributed across areas such as scaling infrastructure, custody solutions, and DeFi.
This pace suggests that investors are making financing decisions early in the year, perhaps to lock in valuations before token prices rise further.
Industry segmentation and analysis
Analyzing the allocation of funds to various industries can clearly show which areas investors are optimistic about long-term value:
• DeFi and financial infrastructure attracted the largest share, with more than $6.2 billion in funding. Institutional DeFi protocols focused on compliant lending, derivatives, and liquidity provision were particularly popular.
• Layer 1 and Layer 2 scaling solutions raised approximately $3.3 billion. EigenLayer, LayerZero, and other protocol-focused projects were the biggest beneficiaries, reflecting that investors believe Ethereum scaling and cross-chain interoperability remain unsolved opportunities.
• Custody, security and compliance solutions attracted more than $1.2 billion in funding, highlighting the importance of trusted infrastructure as regulators tighten requirements.
• Stablecoins and payment networks raised approximately $1.5 billion, demonstrating that capital continues to support projects that link fiat currencies and on-chain liquidity.
• AI-Crypto convergence has become a rapidly growing theme, with approximately $700 million invested in projects that fuse large language models, decentralized computing, and token incentives.
• Funding in the NFT and gaming sectors remained subdued compared to 2021-2022, totaling approximately $600 million, which also highlights the market’s shift away from speculative collectibles and toward more utility-focused applications. In short, capital has decisively shifted from a pure consumer hype cycle to infrastructure, compliance rails, and expanded ecosystems.
Notable funding rounds
Several large financing rounds dominated the headlines and capital flows. Binance's $2 billion strategic financing in January immediately set the tone for the financing market this year, showing that even mature trading platforms still have huge investor confidence. Circle's $1.1 billion IPO became the largest public exit case in the first half of the year and confirmed that the stablecoin model is viable and can generate revenue. At the same time, Binance and Circle's financing rounds are the second and third largest financing rounds in the history of cryptocurrencies, respectively.
Other notable funding rounds included TON’s $400 million strategic funding, Phantom’s $150 million Series C funding, and LayerZero’s $150 million investment. These rounds alone accounted for a quarter of the total funding raised in the first half of the year.
An important dynamic phenomenon: almost all large financing rounds have attracted participation from top investment firms such as a16z crypto, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital and Pantera Capital, all of which convey that mainstream venture capital funds will continue to concentrate their equity in industry leaders.
