Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author | Fu Ruhe (@vincent 31515173)
In 2024, the investment and financing heat in the crypto field has decoupled from the overall market trend, with VC coins no longer dominating market performance.
On a macro level, the crypto market in 2024 has welcomed numerous historical moments, such as the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs, the launch of spot Ethereum ETFs, the clarification of regulatory policies in various countries, the Federal Reserve's announcement of interest rate cuts, and the impending return of Trump to the White House, all of which have positively impacted the market, allowing Bitcoin to successfully break through the significant threshold of $100,000.
From within the crypto market, meme coins have become a focal point, with different types of meme coins in different periods serving as boosters for market uptrends. VC projects have performed sluggishly, and the linear release cycle of tokens has become a chronic 'poison' for VC projects.
Comprehensive factors have led to a significant growth in the quantity of financing in the primary market, but a more cautious approach regarding the amount.
Looking back at the investment and financing activities in the primary market in 2024, Odaily Planet Daily found:
● In 2024, the primary market saw 1,295 financing rounds, with a disclosed total financing amount of $9.346 billion;
● AI sector shines, with a surge in financing quantity in Q4 2024;
● The single largest investment amount was $525 million for Praxis.
Note: Odaily Planet Daily categorized all disclosed financing projects in Q1 (with actual close times often earlier than news announcements) into five major tracks based on various dimensions such as business type, service objects, and business models: infrastructure, applications, technology service providers, financial service providers, and other service providers. Each track is further divided into different sub-sectors, including GameFi, DeFi, NFT, payments, wallets, DAO, Layer 1, cross-chain, and others.
In 2024, dominated by BTC and meme coins.
Looking back at the financing overview of the primary market over the past three years, an important conclusion can be drawn: investment and financing activities in the primary market in 2024 have gradually decoupled from the overall crypto market trends, with market conditions primarily dominated by Bitcoin and meme sectors, while traditional VC project performance has been sluggish, struggling to become the core driving force of the market.
From data analysis, 2022 was the peak period of the last crypto market cycle, during which primary market financing activities were highly active, with changes in quantity and amount almost synchronized with market trends. In the first quarter of 2022, the financing quantity reached 562 rounds, with amounts soaring to $12.677 billion. However, as the market entered a downward cycle, financing activities quickly contracted, with the financing quantity dropping to only 330 rounds by the fourth quarter, and amounts declining to $3.375 billion.
2023 was a continuation of the bear market effect, with financing activities in the primary market and the overall market also performing sluggishly. Financing quantity and amount continued to decline throughout the year, dropping to 232 rounds and $1.725 billion by the third quarter, marking the lowest point in nearly three years. During this phase, the primary market was clearly influenced by the overall market trend, with market sentiment and capital activity both suppressed.
2024 became an important turning point for investment and financing activities in the primary market. Data shows a significant rebound in financing quantity, with the first quarter reaching 411 rounds, an increase of nearly 69% compared to Q4 2023. However, contrasting with the rebound in financing quantity is a cautious performance in financing amounts, with total quarterly financing amounts hovering between $1.8 billion and $2.8 billion throughout the year. This indicates that although capital activity has somewhat recovered, investors are more conservative in their investments, further indicating the decoupling characteristics of the primary market from the overall market.
From the distribution of market heat, the crypto market in 2024 is dominated by Bitcoin and meme sectors, contrasting sharply with the performance of the previous cycle. In the last cycle, VC projects were usually at the core of market hotspots, while in 2024, VC projects overall performed sluggishly, struggling to have a substantial impact on the market. This phenomenon has caused the primary market to lose its value as a reference indicator for the overall market.
The primary market in 2024 shows a trend of rationalization and independence. After experiencing the frenzy of 2022 and the winter of 2023, investors are evidently more cautious, focusing more on the actual quality and long-term value of projects rather than blindly chasing market hotspots. This change may indicate that the primary market is gradually detaching from the traditional crypto market cycle and entering a new stage of development.
The increase in financing quantity and the cautious amount reflect that VC institutions are more inclined to diversify investments and are more conservative in capital allocation. This attitude indicates that the return of market heat has not led to a large-scale inflow of capital but has prompted investors to focus more on truly promising projects. In other words, the primary market is no longer just a 'follower' of market trends but is beginning to play a role in shaping the future market landscape.
In 2024, the primary market saw 1,295 financing rounds, with a disclosed total financing amount of $9.346 billion.
According to incomplete statistics from Odaily Planet Daily, there were a total of 1,295 financing events in the global crypto market in 2024 (excluding fundraisings and mergers), with a disclosed total amount of $9.346 billion, distributed across the infrastructure, technology service providers, financial service providers, applications, and other service provider tracks. Among these, the application track received the most financing, totaling 606 rounds; the infrastructure track received the highest financing amount, totaling $3.976 billion. Both tracks lead in financing amount and quantity compared to others.
From the above chart, the application track, being the area closest to end users in the crypto industry, has always been the focus of the primary market. In 2024, the financing performance of the application track achieved double growth compared to 2023, with financing quantity and amount increasing by approximately 20% year-on-year.
The financing performance of the infrastructure track in 2024 was particularly remarkable. Both the quantity and amount of financing saw a significant increase compared to 2023, with an increase of over 50%. This growth is not only driven by the crypto industry’s ongoing demand for technological upgrades but also by the rise of emerging fields such as AI (artificial intelligence) and DePIN (decentralized physical infrastructure network), bringing new development opportunities to the infrastructure track.
Overall, the investment and financing activities in the global crypto market in 2024 exhibit distinct characteristics, with the application track and infrastructure track leading in both quantity and amount, indicating a dual demand from the market for end-user experience and underlying technology upgrades. At the same time, technology service providers, financial service providers, and other service provider tracks are brewing new opportunities in stable development, especially in the financial service provider track, which is expected to usher in new breakthroughs in 2025 with the entry of mainstream finance.
The AI sector shines, with a surge in financing quantity in Q4 2024.
According to incomplete statistics from Odaily Planet Daily, in 2024, financing events in segmented tracks concentrated in DeFi, underlying infrastructure, and gaming, among which the DeFi track had 289 rounds, the underlying infrastructure track had 236 rounds, and the GameFi track had 160 rounds.
From the distribution of financing situations in sub-tracks:
Looking at the segmented tracks in 2024, the DeFi and underlying infrastructure sectors continue to show stable growth, leading in both total financing amount and quantity. This indicates that the market still has strong demand for decentralized finance and underlying technologies, whether it is the innovation of new protocols in DeFi or the continuous optimization of underlying facilities such as multi-chain interoperability and blockchain security, all becoming focal points of capital attention.
In contrast, the gaming sector performed well in the first three quarters, consistently ranking in the top three for financing quantity, but in the fourth quarter, there was a noticeable decline, with only 29 projects disclosing financing information. This trend reflects a phase-wise weakening of GameFi's heat, with the market being more cautious about its short-term profitability and user growth prospects.
Meanwhile, the heat of the AI sector has rapidly risen, becoming a major highlight of 2024. This track often developed alongside other fields (such as DeFi and infrastructure) early on and was not separately categorized. However, starting from the third quarter, the AI sector gradually stood out, especially in the fourth quarter, where both financing quantity and amount doubled. The market has shown high attention to the application potential of AI + blockchain, and the rise of AI Agents has further ignited capital's investment enthusiasm in this track.
The single largest investment amount was $525 million for Praxis.
From the Top 10 list of financing amounts in 2024, it can be seen that despite fluctuations in the market environment, investment institutions still have strong confidence in infrastructure projects. Nearly all of the top ten projects focus on underlying technologies and innovative directions, demonstrating institutions' high expectations for the future development of this track.
L1 public chains continue to attract substantial financing. In this ranking, apart from the well-established chain Avalanche completing $250 million in private fundraising, emerging projects like Monad, Berachain, and Babylon have also demonstrated strong growth momentum. These projects have gained investor attention through technological innovation and ecosystem expansion.
Praxis is the financing champion in this ranking, receiving as much as $525 million in investment. However, the specific development direction of this project remains relatively unclear, mainly due to its use of a DAO organizational structure for management, which requires an application to enter the DAO, limiting the disclosure of relevant information.
It is noteworthy that Paradigm's dominant position in the ranking is evident. As a top venture capital institution, Paradigm led three major projects in the ranking—Monad, Farcaster, and Babylon.
