Original author: The Block
Translated by Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Translator: CryptoLeo (@LeoAndCrypto)
According to The Block Pro's funding data, crypto venture capital funding in 2024 is expected to grow by 28% year-on-year, reaching around $13.7 billion, marking significant progress compared to 2023. Despite this year's strong momentum, the growth rate remains below previous peaks.
Looking ahead to 2025, top cryptocurrency venture capital firms are cautiously optimistic. Although most believe that fundraising levels will not return to the highs of 2021-2022, a clear consensus has emerged: startups with high product-market fit and user acceptance are most likely to attract capital in the coming year.
The following are the 2025 fundraising prospects shared by leaders from companies such as Dragonfly, Pantera, Multicoin, Coinbase Ventures, Binance Labs, Galaxy Ventures, etc. Translated by Odaily Planet Daily:
Dragonfly: Betting on DeFi, CeFi, stablecoins, and more
Dragonfly General Partner Rob Hadick told The Block that crypto venture capital is expected to grow significantly in 2025, thanks to a relaxation of the U.S. regulatory environment, the potential for token prices to continue appreciating, and increased institutional capital deployment. However, Hadick believes that funding levels will not reach the highs of 2021-2022 for "a long time," reflecting the cautious attitude of venture capital firms towards investing in new year projects.
Dragonfly continues to focus on supporting top founders in areas with high product-market fit, including decentralized finance (DeFi), scaling platforms, centralized finance (CeFi), and stablecoins/payments. While newer areas such as crypto AI and DePIN are receiving attention, they are still in the "experimental" stage.
Conversely, Hadick stated that as the focus shifts to new areas, investments in security, tokenization, and interoperability may decrease. He also predicts that decentralized social media will face challenges due to a lack of scalability and product-market fit.
Pantera: Optimistic about crypto AI, DePIN, and new application-level Layer 1 blockchains
Pantera Capital General Partner Lauren Stephanian told The Block that as investors are more willing to deploy funds in governments that support cryptocurrency in the U.S., crypto venture capital funding is expected to increase in 2025.
"Bull markets cannot last forever," so it remains to be seen "when we will start to see a slowdown in deployments next year."
Stephanian stated that Pantera continues to invest broadly in the crypto and blockchain space but is particularly interested in crypto AI, DePIN, and new Layer 1 blockchains that support more application-level functionality.
Multicoin: Continuing to be optimistic about the Solana ecosystem
Multicoin Capital is committed to expanding its investments in DeFi applications, especially those on the Solana ecosystem, which has outperformed Ethereum and Layer 2 ecosystems this year in key on-chain metrics. Multicoin Capital co-founder and Managing Partner Kyle Samani told The Block, "We expect this trend to continue, and as more users, capital, issuance, and activity migrate to the Solana ecosystem, Solana-based applications and protocols will emerge as the big winners in the next cycle."
Samani stated that Ethereum will continue to be in a "catch-22" situation, "and may even fall into a prolonged recession" as it faces fierce competition from Solana and other faster, cheaper blockchains. He added, "Unless Ethereum can compete, developers, users, and capital will migrate to chains that better meet their needs."
Additionally, Multicoin is also optimistic about stablecoins, which Samani described as "possibly one of the greatest technological and financial innovations of our lifetime."
"Stablecoins have the opportunity to become a powerful force in 2025, as everyone in the world wants dollars, and stablecoins are the most efficient way to acquire dollars so far. The design space is huge, and it is still relatively early in its adoption curve."
Coinbase Ventures: Focused on on-chain economy
Coinbase Ventures head Hoolie Tejwani told The Block that the firm expects to "be active in 2025 and beyond," and is prepared to seize market opportunities. The company is optimistic about constructive progress on U.S. regulation, thanks to the Trump administration's support for cryptocurrency and the Congress that will take office in January 2025.
Tejwani stated that Coinbase Ventures will continue to invest broadly in the on-chain economy, with investment guidance stemming from "the best and brightest builders working day and night on their projects." The company is optimistic about the application layer, as maturing infrastructure finally makes the realization of internet-scale applications possible. Focus areas include stablecoin payments and finance, crypto AI, on-chain consumer applications (such as social, gaming, and creator applications), and DeFi innovation.
Tejwani stated that, in the meantime, Coinbase Ventures has not completely given up on the infrastructure layer, as there remain unresolved challenges and new opportunities in the tooling space.
Binance Labs: Prioritizing fundamentals and user adoption
Binance Labs is a $10 billion venture capital and incubation arm under Binance, known as a 'evergreen' VC. Its investment director Alex Odagiu told The Block that regardless of market cycles, the company will continue to support Web3, AI, and biotechnology startups.
Binance Labs expects strong momentum for crypto venture capital in 2025 but will still "focus on fundamentals" rather than price action or market hype. Odagiu emphasized that projects with real use cases, product-market fit, strong teams, and sustainable revenue models are most likely to succeed.
Galaxy Ventures: Optimistic about stablecoins and RWA
Galaxy Ventures remains optimistic about the growth potential of stablecoins and tokenization in 2025. The company's General Partner Will Nuelle told The Block that stablecoins (especially in the payment space) continue to demonstrate strong product-market fit and remain a key focus for capital deployment.
Although tokenized RWA still lags behind the adoption of stablecoins, Nuelle believes that tokenized RWA has tremendous potential. Galaxy Ventures plans to further explore these opportunities. Additionally, Nuelle is not optimistic about the metaverse space, predicting that investment funds for the metaverse in 2025 will lag due to a lack of clear adoption signs.
Hashed: Cautious outlook for 2025
Hashed CEO and Managing Partner Simon Seojoon Kim is cautious about the prospects for 2025, stating that while Trump's comments about Bitcoin as a repayment asset for U.S. debt suggest a potential shift in institutional sentiment, funding levels are unlikely to return to the peaks of 2021-2022. Significant changes could occur if a macro or political black swan event happens.
He noted that 2025 may be affected by factors such as U.S. regulatory transparency, increased institutional activity in Asian markets, and advancements in infrastructure. Kim warned that risks such as regulatory setbacks, macroeconomic uncertainty, and geopolitical tensions could dampen growth.
Hashed's investment focus for 2025 includes data infrastructure, institutional-grade DeFi applications, regulated stablecoin payment systems, and crypto AI infrastructure—Kim believes all these areas have clear product-market fit, regulatory compliance pathways, and proven revenue potential. In contrast, he expects funding for speculative GameFi projects without sustainable economics, indiscriminate Layer 1 and Layer 2 protocols, consumer DeFi applications in restricted jurisdictions, and NFT platforms without clear utility or revenue models to decrease.
Hashed plans to close its third venture fund before the first quarter of 2025 and launch a new investment tool in Abu Dhabi aimed at facilitating direct token investment under the region's regulatory framework. Kim stated, "This strategic expansion addresses the limitations we face with our existing Korea-registered venture fund, where direct token investment capabilities are restricted by local regulations in Korea." Additionally, Kim declined to disclose the target fund size.
Hack VC: Betting on crypto AI, infrastructure, and DeFi
Hack VC co-founder and Managing Partner Ed Roman told The Block that unless black swan events occur, crypto venture capital funding is expected to "increase significantly" in 2025. Roman noted that the renewed interest in Web3 among supportive management and founders is a growth factor.
Hack VC will focus on three main areas in 2025: crypto AI, infrastructure, and DeFi. Roman pointed out that due to GPU-based decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), crypto technology provides unique opportunities to serve multi-layer AI stacks at lower costs compared to traditional Web2 cloud services. He said, "In the Web2 space, this is a market worth trillions of dollars."
In terms of infrastructure, Hack VC remains optimistic about scalability protocols, modular infrastructure, Web3 security, maximum extractable value (MEV) improvements, and account abstraction technologies. Roman stated that these innovations significantly enhance the maturity of the web3 stack and improve user experience for decentralized applications (dApps).
Hack VC sees a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to simplify the financial system in DeFi. Roman believes that stablecoin-based payments are the foundation of this system, with a vast number of real-world applications representing "trillions of dollars in market." However, the company is not optimistic about NFTs, predicting that most NFTs will depreciate and only blue-chip NFTs will retain their value.
Portal Ventures: Supporting integrated platforms that provide infrastructure and applications
Portal Ventures founder and General Partner Evan Fisher expects that "animal spirits" will return in 2025, but he anticipates that fundraising levels will not return to the highs of 2021-2022, as the macroeconomic backdrop during those years was unique.
Fisher told The Block that Portal Ventures is optimistic about platforms that provide both infrastructure and applications, allowing projects to control user experience and build real use cases. He predicts that investments in heavier infrastructure projects such as zero-knowledge development platforms and middleware will slow down due to a lack of customers and sustainable business models.
Blockchain Capital: Focused on multiple areas, including stablecoin infrastructure and DeFi
Blockchain Capital General Partner Kinjal Shah expects that as the market continues to strengthen, fundraising levels will rise in 2025. However, she does not expect them to return to the peaks of 2021-2022, which were impacted by broader macroeconomic trends.
Blockchain Capital maintains an opportunistic spirit, focusing on areas such as stablecoin infrastructure, innovative distribution models, and DeFi platforms that connect institutions and retail investors.
