Crypto VC funding up 87% in 2025 despite weak May
Crypto investments may double by year-end
While May lags significantly behind previous months of 2025 in venture capital investments into crypto projects, the total capital flowing into the crypto sector this year has risen by 87% compared to 2024, reaching $7.7 billion, according to DefiLlama.
This growth is fueled by the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy easing, support from the U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, and the large amounts of dry powder held by venture capital firms.
Since the beginning of May alone, approximately 40 crypto startups have raised a combined $415 million.
Venture сapital financing volume in 2020-2025. Source: Defillama
Crypto Investments May Double by Year-End
One of the week’s biggest rounds went to Worldcoin, the iris-scanning project founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, which raised $135 million by selling tokens to a16z and Bain Capital Crypto. The funds will be used to expand World ID, a digital identity system, and support U.S. growth.
Fintech startup Slash, offering banking services to marketing agencies and crypto companies, raised $41 million in a Series B round led by Goodwater Capital.
Another $18 million went to Catena Labs in a seed round led by a16z crypto. The company is developing AI agents that analyze data and execute trades autonomously. The project is led by Circle co-founder Sam Nevilles.
According to Forklog, citing PitchBook, total crypto VC funding could reach $18 billion by the end of 2025 — nearly double the annual averages of 2023 and 2024.
As we wrote, venture investments in crypto and bockchain startups hit $3.5B in March 2025 — highest since March 2022
