Crypto Venture Capital Funding Declines by 50% Amid Institutional Retreat

The crypto venture capital market has experienced a significant downturn, with funding activities declining by approximately 50% over the past few years. According to Bitalk News, this decline is attributed to three main factors. Firstly, a substantial exit of top institutions has been observed. Among the 50 most active leading institutions from 2021 to 2023, about 25% have largely abandoned crypto assets. Notably, four institutions have nearly ceased investments due to fraud or risk control failures. Alameda Research and Three Arrows Capital have completely exited, while DWF Labs and Shima Capital have reduced their activities from 26 to 3 investments. Approximately nine institutions have voluntarily withdrawn, including Tiger Global, which went from 23 investments to none. Other notable exits include Coatue, Republic Capital, Arbitrum Foundation, and Hypersphere. Sequoia Capital reduced its investments from 24 to 2, Lightspeed from 11 to 4, Infinity Ventures Crypto from 10 to 1, and Digital Finance Group from 11 to 2. Secondly, the remaining institutions have seen a reduction in fundraising scale. Of the 38 relatively active institutions, 32 are traditional venture capital funds. Only five have announced smaller new funds, and just two have announced expansions. Most institutions have not announced any new funds in the past two years. Examples of reduced scale include 1kx, which decreased from $200 million to $75 million, Hack VC from $150 million to $77 million, and Archetype from $150 million to $100 million. In contrast, BITKRAFT expanded from $220 million to $275 million, and Jump increased from $200 million to $350 million. Lastly, the proportion of funds dedicated to crypto has decreased. Many funds no longer focus solely or primarily on crypto investments. Paradigm's previous fund was almost entirely crypto-focused, but its new $1.5 billion fund also covers AI and robotics. a16z's Fund V, with a scale of $28 billion, is now a comprehensive tech fund rather than crypto-specific. Animoca Brands' new $100 million fund, down from the previous $325 million, has also shifted its focus. Approximately 25% of top institutions have completely exited, and most active institutions have not raised new funds. The declining proportion of crypto-specific funds, combined with these factors, has collectively led to the approximately 50% contraction in capital.