VC investment in the cryptocurrency space exceeded $1.02 billion in April, showing strong confidence for two consecutive months. Although slightly lower than March's $1.09 billion, April's investments were spread across 161 rounds instead of 186. This level of sustained investment has not been observed since the end of 2022.
Leading the way in April was BlackRock, which led a $47 million round in Securitize, a company innovating in the tokenization of real-world assets.
Another highlight was the $225 million investment in Monad, which is backed by industry giants Paradigm and Coinbase Ventures and is considered a potential “Solana killer.” These investments highlight strategic bets on emerging technologies within the cryptocurrency framework.
Blockchain infrastructure companies have received $1.7 billion in venture capital by 2024, accounting for the largest share. They are followed closely by decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, which received $626 million in funding. Conversely, decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) have seen very limited inflows, with only $3 million this year. This distribution highlights a clear focus on foundational technologies and financial applications.
So far in 2024, venture capital investment has totaled $3.67 billion, spread across 604 investment rounds. This strong pace of funding is expected to exceed the $9.3 billion raised in 2023. According to DeFiLlama, more than $100 billion has flowed into the blockchain space since June 2014, covering 5,195 investment rounds.
These data not only reflect a mature market, but also indicate that the industry is rife with opportunities for innovative disruption.
Amid these funding milestones, startups like Pantera Capital and Paradigm are raising large new rounds, seeking $1 billion and $850 million, respectively.
Two consecutive months of billion-dollar investments underscore the strong bullish outlook for the cryptocurrency industry. The massive capital inflows into various innovations suggest the market is ready for continued growth and more mainstream integration.