The landscape of cryptocurrency venture capital saw a remarkable upswing in the fourth quarter of 2025, with total investments reaching $8.5 billion, according to a report from Galaxy Digital. This surge was primarily fueled by substantial funding rounds for late-stage startups, marking an 84% increase in capital deployment compared to the previous quarter.
During this quarter, venture capitalists engaged in 425 deals, representing a 2.6% rise in the number of transactions. The report highlights that this was the highest quarterly investment in the crypto sector since Q2 2022, although the overall deal counts are still trailing behind the levels observed in 2021 and 2022.
Late-stage companies emerged as the major beneficiaries, securing 56% of the total capital invested. Earlier-stage startups accounted for the remaining 44%, a figure that has remained consistent with the prior quarter. Notably, eleven transactions in Q4 raised more than $100 million each, collectively amounting to $7.3 billion, which constitutes approximately 85% of the total capital for the quarter.
Prominent fundraisers included Revolut, which raised $3 billion, followed by Touareg Group with $1 billion and Kraken securing $800 million. Other significant transactions involved Ripple and Tempo, each raising $500 million, while Erebor, MegaHoot, Rain, EXUGlobal, TradeAlgo, and RedotPay also contributed notable amounts.
In the full year of 2025, venture capitalists poured a total of $20 billion into crypto and blockchain ventures through 1,660 deals, the highest annual investment since 2022 and more than double the total from 2023. The Trading/Exchange/Investing/Lending sector was the largest recipient, attracting over $5 billion in funding, largely driven by the successes of Revolut and Kraken.
Investments also flowed into sectors such as stablecoins, artificial intelligence, and blockchain infrastructure. The share of pre-seed deals remained strong, constituting 23% of all transactions, indicating ongoing entrepreneurial activity within the ecosystem. Meanwhile, the median pre-money valuations reached $70 million, with the median deal size sitting at $4 million.
Geographically, US-based companies captured 55% of the total capital, followed by the United Kingdom at 33%. Singapore and Hong Kong received smaller shares, at 2% and 1.7%, respectively. This trend mirrored the deal counts, as 43% of the deals were completed by US firms, with 6% in the UK and 4% in Hong Kong.
Fundraising for crypto-focused venture funds also saw a surge, totaling $1.98 billion across 11 funds in Q4, contributing to an annual total of $8.75 billion, marking the largest year for such fundraising since 2022. The average fund size increased to $167 million, while the median fund stood at $46 million.
