In the years since the industry’s founding, cryptocurrency startups have pulled in around $100 billion.
That’s according to a report Saturday (June 15) by Bloomberg News, citing data from two sources: DeFiLlama which pegs the crypto sector’s total fundraising at $101 billion since 2014, and The Block Research, which has logged $95 billion in investment since 2017.
The report noted that funding from venture capital deals and token sales has been a major driver of the crypto industry’s growth, but the billions invested in startups have so far offered up mixed results for investors.
Paul Veradittakit, managing partner at Pantera Capital, the $4.7 billion crypto investment firm, told Bloomberg that results such as acquisitions and public listings have “definitely taken longer than I think you normally expect from traditional VC.”
He added that Coinbase’s $86 billion listing in 2021 — during the last crypto bull market — is one notable exception, though exits in general have been few and far between.
According to the report, crypto venture investment rose to $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2024, following a recent low of $1.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023.
These investments came amid a broader comeback in the crypto space, with bitcoin reaching a nearly $74,000 record in March. While this rally has stalled somewhat, the Bloomberg report said some analysts expect fresh momentum and a wave of crypto-related initial public offerings.
Meanwhile, PYMNTS last week examined the way stablecoins are at “the center of the crypto sector’s goals for a return to form.”
The reason? These digital assets — designed to maintain a stable value by being pegged to a reserve asset such as a fiat currency like the dollar — “aim to provide the benefits of cryptocurrencies, such as security, privacy and quick transaction times, while doing their best to minimize price volatility.”
And with the European Union’s landmark Markets in Crypto-Assets Act (MiCA) stablecoin regulations set to soon go into effect, following that framework is top of mind for stablecoin issuers, custodial firms, trading exchanges, crypto-asset advising firms and crypto-portfolio managers alike.
“By establishing clear guidelines for the operation of stablecoins, MiCA seeks to mitigate the risks associated with these digital assets, such as volatility and potential market manipulation,” PYMNTS wrote.
“At the same time, the MiCA implementation is occurring against a backdrop where, to date, most government oversight of stablecoins and the crypto sector has been relatively theoretical.”