Analysis of Crypto Assets Financing Trends in the First Half of 2025

The first half of 2025 will be a turning point for risk investment in Crypto Assets. After two years of capital tightening, funds are beginning to pour in. As of the end of June, the total disclosed financing for Crypto Assets has exceeded $37 billion, involving more than 150 transactions, including seed rounds, Series A-C rounds, strategic rounds, and IPOs. Although the regulatory environment remains unclear and token prices continue to fluctuate, institutional investors' confidence in the industry has been restored.

Main Findings

• In the first half of 2025, the total financing amount for Crypto Assets exceeded 37 billion USD, marking one of the most active periods since the bull market in 2021.
• Several large financing rounds have pushed the average transaction size up to $248 million, indicating a recovery in market confidence towards mature platforms.
• Funds are shifting from consumer applications to scaling solutions, compliance infrastructure, and cross-chain protocols.
• Approximately $700 million invested in AI-related Crypto Assets projects, becoming a new frontier of innovation.
• Top investment institutions account for 40% of high valuation rounds and still have a significant impact on the direction of industry development.

Financing Overview

Between January and June 2025, the total financing for encryption and blockchain startups was approximately $37.3 billion. The average transaction size was $248 million, significantly higher than in previous years, but influenced by a few large financings. The median transaction size was close to $50 million, reflecting that most financing still falls within a medium scale.

The current round of financing frenzy has made the first half of 2025 the most active period since the bull market of 2021. It is noteworthy that a large amount of capital is flowing into infrastructure and scaling solutions, rather than being limited to consumer applications.

Monthly and Quarterly Trends

The financing amount fluctuates monthly. March was the strongest, with financing reaching 8 billion USD, driven by large strategic rounds and pre-IPO financing. The total for January and February was 9.4 billion USD, slowing to 4.5 billion USD in April. There was a rebound in May and June, both exceeding 5 billion USD, mainly from later-stage transactions and an IPO of a certain payment company.

In terms of quarters, the financing was 17.4 billion dollars in the first quarter and 15.9 billion dollars in the second quarter. The first quarter was driven by momentum at the beginning of the year, while the second quarter had a broader range of financing, with large transactions distributed across areas such as expansion infrastructure, custody solutions, and DeFi.

This rhythm indicates that investors are making decisions at the beginning of the year, possibly to secure valuations and get ahead in their positioning.

Industry Segmentation Analysis

The allocation of funds reflects the areas of long-term value that investors are optimistic about:

• DeFi and financial infrastructure are the most favored, with financing exceeding $6.2 billion. Institutional DeFi protocols for compliant lending, derivatives, and liquidity provision are particularly popular.
• Layer 1 and Layer 2 scaling solutions have raised approximately $3.3 billion. Ethereum scaling and cross-chain interoperability are still seen as unresolved opportunities.
• Custody, security, and compliance solutions attract over $1.2 billion, highlighting the importance of trusted infrastructure.
• Stablecoins and payment networks raised approximately $1.5 billion, demonstrating ongoing capital support for projects linking fiat currency and on-chain liquidity.
• The integration of AI and Crypto has become a rapidly growing theme, with approximately $700 million invested in projects that combine large language models, decentralized computing, and token incentives.
• Financing in the NFT and gaming sectors is sluggish, totaling approximately $600 million, reflecting a shift in the market from speculative collectibles to practical applications.

Overall, capital has shifted from pure consumer speculative cycles to infrastructure, compliance, and ecosystem expansion.

Financing Rounds Worth Noting

Several large financing deals have made headlines and dominated the flow of capital. A certain trading platform's $2 billion strategic financing on January 20 set the tone for the year, indicating that mature platforms still enjoy significant investor confidence. A certain payment company's $1.1 billion IPO became the largest exit case in the first half of the year, confirming the feasibility and profitability of the stablecoin model. These two rounds of financing are the second and third largest financings in the history of Crypto Assets.

Other notable financing includes TON's $400 million strategic financing, Phantom's $150 million Series C, and LayerZero's $150 million investment. These deals alone account for a quarter of the total financing in the first half of the year.

It is noteworthy that almost all large financings involve top investment firms, such as a well-known venture capital, Paradigm, a large VC, and Pantera Capital, among others. This indicates that mainstream venture capital funds will continue to concentrate their holdings in industry-leading companies.