Written by: Yogita Khatri, The Block
Translated by: Yangz, Techub News
According to data from The Block Pro's Funding Dashboard, cryptocurrency venture capital funding in 2024 is expected to grow by 28% year-on-year, reaching approximately $13.7 billion. Although this year has seen significant growth compared to last year, the increase is relatively weak compared to the peaks of 2021 ($29 billion) and 2022 ($33.3 billion).
Looking ahead to 2025, top cryptocurrency venture capital firms maintain a cautiously optimistic outlook. While most institutions believe funding levels will not return to the peaks of 2021-2022, a clear consensus has emerged that startups with strong product-market fit and tangible user adoption are most likely to attract funding in the coming year.
Here are the 2025 funding outlooks shared by leaders from companies such as Dragonfly, Pantera, Multicoin, Coinbase Ventures, Binance Labs, and Galaxy Ventures.
Dragonfly: Betting on DeFi, CeFi, and stablecoins
Rob Hadick, general partner of Dragonfly, expects significant growth in cryptocurrency venture capital in 2025, driven by a relaxed US regulatory environment, the potential for sustained appreciation in token prices, and increased institutional capital deployment. However, Hadick believes that funding levels 'will not reach the peaks of 2021-2022 for a long time,' reflecting the cautious attitude of venture capital firms.
Dragonfly remains focused on supporting top founders in product-market fit areas such as DeFi, scaling platforms, CeFi, and stablecoins/payments. Although emerging fields like Crypto-AI and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) are also within Hadick's focus, he describes these areas as current 'experiments.'
Hadick stated that as the focus shifts to newer fields, investments in categories such as 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: Excited about Crypto-AI, DePIN, and new L1s
Pantera Capital’s general partner Lauren Stephanian stated in an interview that as investors are more willing to put funds into US-supported cryptocurrency regulatory bodies, cryptocurrency venture capital funding is expected to increase in 2025.
However, 'the bull market cannot last forever,' Stephanian said, so 'when we will start to see a slowdown in deployment next year' remains to be seen.
Stephanian stated that Pantera will continue to invest broadly in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, with a particular interest in Crypto-AI, DePIN, and new L1s that can achieve more application-level functionalities.
Multicoin: Still optimistic about the Solana ecosystem
Multicoin Capital is focusing on expanding investments in DeFi applications, particularly those within the Solana ecosystem, which has outperformed Ethereum and L2 ecosystems this year in key on-chain metrics. Kyle Samani, co-founder and managing partner of Multicoin Capital, stated, 'We expect this trend to continue, as more users, capital, tokens, and activity migrate to the Solana ecosystem, with Solana-based applications and protocols becoming the big winners in the next cycle.'
Samani stated that Ethereum will likely continue its downward trend, 'and may even fall into a prolonged decline,' as it faces tremendous competition from Solana and other faster, cheaper blockchains. He added, 'Unless Ethereum can win in the competition, developers, users, and capital will migrate to other chains that better meet their needs.'
In addition to the Solana ecosystem, Multicoin is also optimistic about stablecoins, which Samani describes as 'potentially one of the greatest technological and financial innovations of our lifetime.' Samani states, 'Stablecoins have the opportunity to become a behemoth by 2025.' 'Everyone in the world wants dollars, and stablecoins are the most efficient way to obtain dollars so far. The design space is vast, and we are still in the relatively early stages of the adoption curve.'
Coinbase Ventures: Focusing on the on-chain economy
Hoolie Tejwani, head of Coinbase Ventures, told The Block that the company expects to be 'very active in 2025 and beyond,' and is fully prepared to seize market opportunities. Given the Trump administration's support for cryptocurrency and the new Congress set to take office in January 2025, the company is optimistic about constructive progress in US cryptocurrency regulation.
Tejwani stated that Coinbase Ventures will continue to follow 'the best and brightest builders' and invest widely across the on-chain economy. The company is optimistic about the application layer, stating that due to the increasingly mature infrastructure, applications on the scale of the internet are finally becoming possible. Additionally, Coinbase Ventures' focus areas for 2025 include stablecoin payments and finance, the intersection of cryptocurrency and AI, on-chain consumer applications (such as social, gaming, and creator applications), and innovations in the DeFi space.
Tejwani stated that, at the same time, Coinbase Ventures has not completely given up on the infrastructure layer, as there are still unresolved challenges and new opportunities in the tools space.
Binance Labs: Prioritizing fundamentals and user adoption
As a $10 billion venture capital and incubation institution under Binance, Binance Labs is a 'evergreen' investor. Its investment director Alex Odagiu stated that regardless of how market cycles change, the company will continue to support Web3, AI, and biotechnology startups.
Binance Labs expects cryptocurrency venture capital in 2025 to maintain strong momentum but will still 'focus on fundamentals' rather than price trends or market speculation. Odagiu emphasized that projects with real-world use cases, product-market fit, strong teams, and sustainable revenue models are most likely to succeed.
Galaxy Ventures: Optimistic about stablecoins and tokenization
Galaxy Ventures is optimistic about the development potential of stablecoins and tokenization in 2025. The company's general partner Will Nuelle stated that stablecoins, especially those in the payments space, will continue to demonstrate strong product-market fit and remain a key area of capital deployment.
Additionally, while tokenization has seen slightly later progress regarding stablecoin applications, Nuelle believes investors can see enormous potential in this area. Galaxy Ventures plans to further explore opportunities in the tokenization space. Furthermore, Nuelle is less optimistic about metaverse-related projects, predicting that funding in metaverse-related directions will lag in 2025 due to a lack of clear signs of adoption.
Hashed: Holding a cautious outlook for 2025
Hashed CEO and managing partner Simon Seojoon Kim holds a cautious outlook for 2025, stating that while Trump's remarks about viewing Bitcoin as a US Treasury asset suggest a potential shift in institutional sentiment, funding levels are unlikely to return to the peaks of 2021-2022. However, if macro or political black swan events occur, the situation could change significantly.
He noted that 2025 could be influenced by several factors, such as the clarity of US regulation, increased institutional activity in Asian markets, and real-world applications brought about by infrastructure advancements. As for downside factors, Kim warned that risks such as regulatory backtracking, macroeconomic uncertainty, and geopolitical tensions could dampen economic growth.
Hashed's investment focus in 2025 includes data infrastructure, institutional-grade DeFi applications, regulated stablecoin payment systems, and Crypto-AI infrastructure. Kim believes these areas have clear product-market fit, regulatory compliance pathways, and mature revenue potential. In contrast, he expects funding for speculative GameFi projects lacking sustainable economics, undifferentiated L1 and L2 protocols, consumer DeFi applications in restricted jurisdictions, and NFT platforms without clear utility or revenue models to decrease.
Hashed plans to launch its third venture fund in the first quarter of 2025 and introduce a new investment vehicle in Abu Dhabi aimed at facilitating direct token investments under the region's regulatory framework. Kim states, 'This strategic expansion addresses the limitations faced by our existing Korean-registered venture fund, where the ability to invest directly in tokens is restricted by local regulations.' As for the target fund size, Hashed declined to disclose.
Hack VC: Betting on Crypto-AI, infrastructure, and DeFi
Ed Roman, co-founder and managing partner of Hack VC, stated that barring any black swan events, Hack VC expects cryptocurrency venture capital funding in 2025 to 'grow significantly.' Roman believes that government support for cryptocurrency and founders rekindling their interest in Web3 will be key drivers of growth.
Hack VC plans to focus on three main areas in 2025, including Crypto-AI, infrastructure, and DeFi. Roman pointed out that with GPU-based decentralized physical infrastructure networks, cryptocurrency offers unique opportunities for a multi-layer AI stack, at a lower cost compared to traditional Web2 clouds. He said, 'In Web2, this has already become a multi-trillion-dollar market.'
In terms of infrastructure, Hack VC remains optimistic about scalability protocols, modular infrastructure, Web3 security, maximum extractable value (MEV) improvements, and account abstraction technology. Roman said these innovations have greatly matured the Web3 stack and improved the user experience of DApps.
As for DeFi, Hack VC hopes to seize the 'once-in-a-lifetime opportunity' to simplify the financial system. Roman believes that stablecoin-based payments are the foundation of this system, and their widespread application in the real world represents 'a multi-trillion-dollar market.' Furthermore, the company holds a pessimistic view of NFTs, predicting that most NFTs will depreciate, with only blue-chip assets retaining value.
Portal Ventures: Supporting comprehensive platforms
Evan Fisher, founder and general partner of Portal Ventures, expects that 'animal spirits' will return in 2025, but financing levels are not expected to return to the peaks of 2021-2022, as the macroeconomic backdrop during those years was very special.
Fisher states that Portal Ventures is optimistic about platforms that provide both infrastructure and applications, allowing projects to control user experience and build practical use cases. Additionally, he anticipates a slowdown in investment in heavy infrastructure projects such as zero-knowledge development platforms and middleware, due to a lack of customers and sustainable business models.
Blockchain Capital: Focusing on stablecoin infrastructure and DeFi, among other areas
Kinjal Shah, general partner at Blockchain Capital, expects that as the market continues to strengthen, funding levels in 2025 will rise. However, she does not expect them to return to the peaks of 2021-2022, as this is influenced by broader macroeconomic trends.
Blockchain Capital remains opportunistic, focusing on areas such as stablecoin infrastructure, innovative distribution models, and DeFi platforms that connect institutions and retail investors.
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