Translated by: Baihua Blockchain
According to funding dashboard data from (The Block Pro), crypto venture funding grew by 28% year-over-year in 2024, reaching approximately $13.7 billion. Despite significant progress compared to 2023, this surge has not returned to previous peaks, even though market sentiment this year is very bullish.
Looking ahead to 2025, top crypto venture capitalists maintain a cautiously optimistic attitude. While most believe funding levels are unlikely to return to the highs of 2021-2022, there is a clear consensus that startups with strong product-market fit and visible user adoption are most likely to attract capital in the coming year.
Here are the 2025 financing outlooks shared with (The Block) by leaders from companies such as Dragonfly, Pantera, Multicoin, Coinbase Ventures, Binance Labs, and Galaxy Ventures.
1. Dragonfly: Betting on DeFi, CeFi, Stablecoins, and More
Rob Hadick, a general partner at Dragonfly, stated in an interview with (The Block) that significant growth in crypto venture funding is expected in 2025, driven by factors such as a relaxed regulatory environment in the U.S., potentially sustained token price increases, and an influx of institutional capital. However, Hadick believes funding levels will not return to the highs of 2021-2022 for a 'long time,' reflecting the cautious attitude of venture capital toward repeating past mistakes.
Dragonfly will continue to focus on supporting founders who excel in areas with validated product-market fit, including decentralized finance (DeFi), scaling platforms, centralized finance (CeFi), and stablecoins/payments. Although emerging fields such as crypto AI and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) are also on their radar, Hadick believes these are still in the 'experimental' stage.
Conversely, Hadick indicated that as attention shifts to emerging industries, investments in categories such as security, tokenization, and interoperability may decline. He also predicts that decentralized social media will face challenges due to its lack of scalability and product-market fit.
2. Pantera: Optimistic about Crypto-AI, DePIN, and New Layer 1 Blockchains
Lauren Stephanian, general partner at Pantera Capital, stated in an interview with (The Block) that due to investors' willingness to deploy capital in support of a U.S. government that backs crypto, an increase in crypto venture funding is expected in 2025.
However, Stephanian mentioned, 'The bull market will not last forever,' so it is still necessary to observe 'when investment deployment begins to slow down over the next year.'
Pantera will continue to make extensive investments in the crypto and blockchain space, particularly optimistic about crypto-AI, decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), and new Layer 1 blockchains that support more application layer functions.
3. Multicoin: Continuing to Favor the Solana Ecosystem
Multicoin Capital is currently focused on increasing its investments in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, especially within the Solana ecosystem. This year, key on-chain metrics for Solana have outperformed those of Ethereum and its Layer 2 ecosystem. 'We expect this trend to continue, and applications and protocols on Solana will emerge as big winners in the next cycle, as more users, capital, issuance, and activity migrate to Solana's ecosystem,' Kyle Samani, co-founder and managing partner of Multicoin Capital, told (The Block).
Samani believes Ethereum will continue to face challenges and may even enter a prolonged decline due to fierce competition from Solana and other faster, cheaper blockchains. 'Unless Ethereum can catch up, developers, users, and capital will migrate to other chains that better meet their needs,' he added.
Additionally, Multicoin is optimistic about stablecoins. Samani describes stablecoins as 'one of the greatest technological and financial innovations of our lifetime.'
'Stablecoins have the opportunity to become an undeniable force in 2025,' Samani stated. 'The world wants dollars, and stablecoins are the most efficient way to get dollars. Their design space is extremely broad, and we are still relatively early in the adoption curve.'
4. Coinbase Ventures: Focusing on On-Chain Economy
Hoolie Tejwani, head of Coinbase Ventures, stated in an interview with (The Block) that the institution is expected to be 'very active' in 2025 and beyond, with the capacity to seize market opportunities. The company is optimistic about regulatory progress in the U.S., especially due to the pro-crypto Donald Trump administration and the pro-crypto Congress taking office in January 2025.
Tejwani stated that Coinbase Ventures will continue to make extensive investments around the on-chain economy, guided by 'where the best and most talented builders spend the most time and effort.' The company is optimistic about application layers, believing that as infrastructure matures, applications capable of internet-scale will finally become possible. Areas of focus include stablecoin payments and finance, the intersection of crypto and AI, on-chain consumer applications (such as social, gaming, and creator applications), and DeFi innovations.
At the same time, Coinbase Ventures has not completely abandoned infrastructure layer investments, as there are still unresolved challenges and new opportunities in the tools space, Tejwani added.
5. Binance Labs: Prioritizing Fundamentals and User Adoption
As the venture capital and incubation arm of Binance, valued at $10 billion, Binance Labs is a 'evergreen' investor. Regardless of market cycles, the company will continue to support Web3, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology startups, its investment director Alex Odagiu told (The Block).
Binance Labs expects strong momentum for crypto venture funds in 2025, but will still 'focus on fundamentals' rather than price fluctuations or market speculation. Odagiu emphasized that projects with real use cases, product-market fit, excellent teams, and sustainable revenue models are most likely to succeed.
6. Galaxy Ventures: Optimistic about Stablecoins and Tokenization
Galaxy Ventures is optimistic about the growth potential of stablecoins and tokenization in 2025. The firm's partner Will Nuelle told (The Block) that stablecoins, especially in the payment space, demonstrate strong product-market fit and remain a key area for capital deployment.
Although the adoption rate of tokenization still lags behind that of stablecoins, Nuelle believes it holds great potential for investors. Galaxy Ventures plans to explore these opportunities further. However, Nuelle is more pessimistic about metaverse-related projects, predicting that funding in this area will lag in 2025 due to a lack of clear signs of adoption.
7. Hashed: Holding a Cautiously Optimistic Attitude Towards 2025
Simon Seojoon Kim, CEO and managing partner of Hashed, has a cautiously optimistic outlook for 2025. He indicated that while Trump's comments about making Bitcoin a U.S. treasury asset hint at a potential shift in institutional sentiment, funding levels are unlikely to return to the peaks of 2021-2022. Kim added that this situation could change significantly if macroeconomic or political 'black swan' events occur.
Kim pointed out that key drivers for 2025 could include clarity in the U.S. regulatory framework, increased institutional activity in Asian markets, and advancements in infrastructure supporting real-world applications. However, he also warned that regulatory setbacks, macroeconomic uncertainty, and geopolitical tensions could dampen growth.
Hashed's investment priorities for 2025 include data infrastructure, institutional-grade DeFi applications, regulated stablecoin payment systems, and crypto and AI infrastructure. Kim believes these areas have clear product-market fit, compliance paths, and reliable revenue potential. In contrast, he predicts that funding for GameFi projects lacking sustainable economic models, undifferentiated Layer 1 and Layer 2 protocols, consumer-grade DeFi applications in restricted regions, and NFT platforms without clear utility or revenue models will decline.
Hashed plans to complete the fundraising for its third venture fund in the first quarter of 2025 and launch a new investment tool in Abu Dhabi for direct token investments under the region's regulatory framework. He stated that this strategic expansion aims to address the issue of existing local Korean funds being unable to make direct token investments due to local regulatory restrictions, though he did not disclose the target fund size.
8. Hack VC: Betting on Crypto and AI, Infrastructure, and DeFi
Ed Roman, co-founder and managing partner of Hack VC, told (The Block) that unless a black swan event occurs, crypto venture capital funding is expected to 'grow significantly' in 2025. Roman attributes this to pro-crypto government policies and a rekindled enthusiasm among Web3 entrepreneurs.
Hack VC focuses on three areas: crypto and AI, infrastructure, and DeFi. Roman mentioned that the crypto space offers unique opportunities for a multi-layer AI stack due to GPU-based decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs), 'This is a trillion-dollar market serving Web2 customers,' he said.
In terms of infrastructure, Hack VC is optimistic about scalability protocols, modular infrastructure, Web3 security, maximum extractable value (MEV) improvements, and account abstraction technology. These innovations significantly enhance the Web3 tech stack and improve the user experience of decentralized applications (dApps).
In the DeFi space, Hack VC believes this is a 'once-in-a-generation opportunity to streamline the financial system.' Roman views stablecoin-based payments as foundational to this system, possessing broad real-world application potential, and representing 'a trillion-dollar market.' However, he is less optimistic about NFTs, predicting that most NFTs will depreciate, with only top-tier assets able to retain their value.
9. Portal Ventures: Supporting Integrated Platforms
Evan Fisher, founder and managing partner of Portal Ventures, expects that the 'animal spirits' of the market will return in 2025, but funding levels will not return to the peaks of 2021-2022, as those years' macroeconomic environment was unique.
Fisher told (The Block) that Portal Ventures is bullish on platforms that provide both infrastructure and applications, as these platforms can control user experiences and build practical scenarios. However, 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.
10. Blockchain Capital: Focusing on Multiple Areas, Including Stablecoin Infrastructure and DeFi
Kinjal Shah, a partner at Blockchain Capital, expects that as the market remains strong, funding levels will rise in 2025. However, she believes the scale of funding will not return to the peaks of 2021-2022, as the frenzy during those years was influenced by broader macroeconomic trends.
Blockchain Capital will continue to maintain an opportunistic investment approach, focusing on stablecoin infrastructure, innovative distribution models, and DeFi platforms that connect institutions and retail users.
