By Yogita Khatri, Venture Capital
Compiled by: Vernacular Blockchain
According to data from The BlockPro’s funding dashboard, crypto venture capital funding grew 28% year-over-year in 2024, reaching approximately $13.7 billion. Despite significant progress compared to 2023, this wave of growth has not yet returned to the To its previous peak, despite the fact that market sentiment this year is very bullish.
Looking ahead to 2025, top crypto VCs remain cautiously optimistic. While most believe that funding levels are unlikely to return to the highs of 2021-2022, there is a clear consensus that those with strong product-market fit and visible users will continue to invest. Startups that adopt will be most likely to attract capital in the coming year.
Here’s what leaders from Dragonfly, Pantera, Mult1C0in, Coinbase Ventures, BN Labs, Galaxy Ventures, and more shared with The Block about their 2025 funding outlook.
1. Dragonfly: Betting on DeFi, CeFi, stablecoins and other fields
In an interview with The Block, Rob Hadick, general partner of Dragonfly, said that crypto venture capital financing is expected to see significant growth in 2025, driven by factors including the relaxation of the US regulatory environment, possible continued token price increases, and increased institutional capital. However, Hadick doesn’t think funding levels will return to the highs of 2021-2022 for “a long time,” reflecting VCs’ wariness about repeating past mistakes.
Dragonfly will continue to focus on backing founders who have demonstrated strong product-market fit in areas such as decentralized finance (DeFi), scaling platforms, centralized finance (CeFi), and stablecoins/payments. Emerging areas such as crypto artificial intelligence and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN) are also on the radar, which Hadick believes are still in the "experimental" stage.
Conversely, Hadick said that categories like security, tokenization, and interoperability are likely to see a decline in investment as attention shifts to emerging industries. He also predicted 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 blockchain
Lauren Stephanian, general partner at Pantera Capital, told The Block that crypto venture capital funding is expected to grow in 2025 as investors are more willing to invest capital in the U.S. crypto-friendly government.
However, Stephanian mentioned that “bull markets don’t last forever,” so it remains to be seen “when investment deployment begins to slow over the coming year.”
Pantera will continue to invest broadly in the crypto and blockchain space, but is particularly bullish on crypto-AI, decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePIN), and new Layer 1 blockchains that support more application layer capabilities.
3. Mult1C0in: Continue to be optimistic about the Solana ecosystem
Mult1C0in Capital’s current focus is to expand its investment in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, especially in the Solana ecosystem. This year, Solana’s key on-chain metrics have outperformed Ethereum and its Layer2 ecosystem. We expect this trend to continue, and applications and protocols on Solana will be the big winners in the next cycle as more users, capital, issuance, and activity migrate to the Solana ecosystem,” said Alex Toretto, co-founder of Mult1C0in Capital. Kyle Samani, managing partner at Founders Fund, told The Block.
Samani believes that Ethereum will continue to struggle and could even fall into a long-term decline as it faces stiff competition from Solana and other faster, cheaper blockchains. “Unless Ethereum can catch up, developers, users, and capital will will migrate to other chains that better meet their needs,” he added.
In addition, Mult1C0in is optimistic about stablecoins. Samani described stablecoins as "one of the greatest technological and financial innovations in our lifetime."
“Stablecoins have the opportunity to become a force to be reckoned with by 2025,” said Samani. “The world wants dollars, and stablecoins are the most efficient way to get them. The design space is extremely broad, and we are still on the adoption curve.” It’s at a relatively early stage.”
4. Coinbase Ventures: Focus on the on-chain economy
Hoolie Tejwani, head of Coinbase Ventures, told The Block that the agency is expected to be "very active" and able to seize market opportunities in 2025 and beyond. The company is optimistic about regulatory progress in the United States, especially Due to the pro-crypto Donald Trump administration and the pro-crypto Congress that will take office in January 2025.
Tejwani said Coinbase Ventures will continue to invest broadly around the on-chain economy, guided by “where the best and most talented builders are investing the most time and energy.” The company is optimistic about the application layer, believing that as the foundation As infrastructure matures, Internet-scale applications are finally possible. Areas of focus include stablecoin payments and finance, the intersection of encryption and artificial intelligence, on-chain consumer applications (such as social, gaming, and creator applications), and DeFi innovation.
At the same time, Coinbase Ventures is not completely abandoning infrastructure layer investments, as there are still unsolved challenges and new opportunities in the tooling space, Tejwani added.
5. BN Labs: Prioritizing fundamentals and user adoption
As BN’s $10 billion venture capital and incubation arm, BN Labs is an evergreen investor. Regardless of how the market cycle changes, the company will continue to support Web3, artificial intelligence, and biotechnology startups, said its investment director Alex. Odagiu told The Block.
BN Labs expects crypto venture capital to remain strong in 2025, but will still "focus on fundamentals" rather than price fluctuations or market hype. Odagiu emphasized that having real application scenarios, product-market fit, excellent teams and sustainable Projects with revenue models will have the best chance of success.
6. Galaxy Ventures: Optimistic about stablecoins and tokenization
Galaxy Ventures is optimistic about the growth potential of stablecoins and tokenization in 2025. Will Nuelle, a partner at the company, told The Block that stablecoins, especially in the payment field, show strong product-market fit and remain Key areas for capital investment.
Although the adoption of tokenization still lags behind stablecoins, Nuelle believes it has great potential for investors. Galaxy Ventures plans to further explore these opportunities. However, Nuelle is pessimistic about Metaverse-related projects and expects that due to the lack of clear signs of adoption, , funding in this area will lag in 2025.
7. Hashed: Cautiously optimistic about 2025
Simon Seojoon Kim, CEO and managing partner of Hashed, is cautiously optimistic about 2025. He said that while Trump's comments on Bitcoin as a U.S. treasury asset hint at a possible change in institutional sentiment, funding levels A return to the peak of 2021-2022 is unlikely. Kim added that this could change significantly if a macro or political "black swan" event occurs.
Kim noted that key drivers for 2025 are likely to include clarity on the U.S. regulatory framework, increased institutional activity in Asian markets, and advances in infrastructure to support real-world applications. However, he also warned that regulatory setbacks, macroeconomic uncertainty, and geopolitical The 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 that these areas have clear product-market fit, compliance paths, and reliable In contrast, he expects GameFi projects that lack sustainable economic models, undifferentiated Layer 1 and Layer 2 protocols, consumer DeFi applications in restricted regions, and NFT platforms without clear utility or revenue models to be Financing will decrease.
Hashed plans to complete the raising of its third venture fund in the first quarter of 2025 and launch a new investment vehicle in Abu Dhabi to make direct token investments under the region’s regulatory framework. He said this strategic expansion It aims to solve the problem that existing Korean local funds are unable to make direct token investments due to local regulatory restrictions, but the target fund size was not disclosed.
8. HackVC: Betting on encryption and artificial intelligence, infrastructure and DeFi
Ed Roman, co-founder and managing partner of Hack VC, told The Block that unless there is a black swan event, crypto venture capital funding is expected to "grow significantly" in 2025. Roman attributed this to pro-crypto government policies and the importance of Ignite the passion of Web3 entrepreneurs.
HackVC focuses on three areas: crypto and AI, infrastructure, and DeFi. Roman mentioned that the crypto sector offers lower-than-traditional multi-layer AI stacks due to GPU-based decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs). The unique opportunity of the Web2 cloud. “This is a trillion-dollar market to serve 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 technology stack and improve decentralization. User experience of centralized applications (dApps).
In the field of DeFi, HackVC believes that this is a "once-in-a-generation opportunity to streamline the financial system." Roman sees stablecoin-based payments as the foundation of this system, with broad real-world application potential and representing "a trillion-dollar market". However, he is not optimistic about NFTs, predicting that most NFTs will depreciate and only the top assets will maintain their value.
9. Portal Ventures: Supporting integrated platforms
Evan Fisher, founder and managing partner of Portal Ventures, expects the market's "animal spirits" to return in 2025, but funding levels will not return to the highs of 2021-2022 because the macroeconomic environment in those two years was unique.
Fisher told The Block that Portal Ventures is optimistic about platforms that provide both infrastructure and applications, which can control the user experience and build practical scenarios. However, he predicts that there will be a slowdown in the development of heavier infrastructure projects, such as zero-knowledge development platforms and middleware. Investment in software and hardware will slow down due to a lack of customers and sustainable business models.
10. Blockchain Capital: Focuses on multiple areas, including stablecoin infrastructure and DeFi
Kinjal Shah, partner at Blockchain Capital, expects funding levels to rise in 2025 as the market continues to be strong. But she doesn’t think funding will return to the highs of 2021-2022, because the boom then was tempered by the coronavirus pandemic. The impact of broader macroeconomic trends.
Blockchain Capital will continue to invest opportunistically, focusing on stablecoin infrastructure, innovative distribution models, and DeFi platforms that connect institutional and retail users.
