Crypto venture capital funding has experienced an explosive growth of 433.2% in 2025, reaching an impressive $49.75 billion, up from just $9.33 billion the previous year, according to RootData statistics. December concluded with 58 disclosed investment projects, marking a 3.6% increase from November”s 56 projects. However, the monthly funding trend took a downturn, with December”s disclosed capital totaling $860 million, a dramatic decline of 94.1% compared to November”s $14.54 billion.
Throughout 2025, a total of 898 investment projects were disclosed, representing a significant 42.1% drop from the 1,551 projects reported in 2024. This suggests that while fewer deals are being executed, those that do occur are commanding substantially larger investments.
In terms of market segment performance, DeFi dominated the landscape, accounting for 22.4% of the total crypto VC projects. Following closely was CeFi at 13.8%, and AI projects made up 12.7%. Other segments included RWA and DePIN at 7.3%, Layer 1 and Layer 2 projects at 6%, while NFTs and GameFi fell to 5.3%, matching tools and wallets, also at 5%.
The most significant transaction of the year took place in November when Naver announced its acquisition of Dunamu, the operator of Upbit, in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $10.3 billion. This acquisition elevated Naver”s valuation to 4.9 trillion won and Dunamu”s to 15.1 trillion won. Reports indicated that Dunamu achieved a consolidated operating income of 1.19 trillion won in the first nine months of 2025, reflecting a year-over-year growth of 22%, with nearly all revenue linked to trading platforms, including Upbit.
In May, Coinbase successfully completed a $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit, which involved a cash payment of $700 million, with the remainder covered in stock. Such mega financing deals have notably bolstered corporate balance sheets holding crypto assets. The momentum for large-scale capital raises began in July, when Strategy secured $2.52 billion via its fourth preferred stock product, Stretch, yielding net proceeds of around $2.474 billion after fees. Reports indicated that Strategy utilized these funds to acquire 21,021 BTC at an average price of $117,256, bringing its total holdings to 628,791 BTC, valued at $74 billion.
In February, Strategy had previously issued $2 billion in zero-coupon notes due in 2030, featuring a 40% to 50% conversion premium and a three-year put option. In October, the Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, invested $2 billion in Polymarket at an $8 billion pre-investment valuation, securing both a stake and global distribution rights for Polymarket”s event-driven data.
Another notable investment occurred in March when Abu Dhabi MGX, funded by the Abu Dhabi government and under royal family control, invested $2 billion in Binance for a minority stake, exclusively using stablecoins for the transaction, marking it as the largest recorded crypto-asset-only investment. In September, Forward Industries conducted a $1.65 billion private placement using cash and stablecoins to launch a Solana-based digital asset vault strategy, with involvement from Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Multicoin Capital.
In March, Kraken acquired NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, obtaining a CFTC-registered FCM license to provide futures and derivatives in the United States while expanding its footprint in the U.K., EU, and Australia. Additionally, in August, Galaxy Digital secured $1.4 billion in debt financing to develop the Helios AI data center in Texas under a long-term agreement with CoreWeave.
