2022 Q1 Global Blockchain Investment and Financing Quarterly Report: The financing amount in the United States accounts for nearly 44% of the total financing amount, and China accounts for 1.91%

Summary

• Affected by economic policies and geopolitics, the world's major cryptocurrencies began to rebound after bottoming out. The Federal Reserve and central banks of various countries have started to raise interest rates and adjust their balance sheets since the end of 2021, and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has increased the uncertainty of the global economic market, and the cryptocurrency field has experienced large fluctuations in the first quarter.

• NFT and Metaverse are the tracks favored by capital parties. The NFT market continues to expand and the ecosystem continues to improve. In China, digital collections are gradually recognized as a new cultural and creative carrier, and have become an important means of institutional brand marketing and external publicity. Metaverse has attracted the attention of giant enterprises and various industry organizations. At present, application scenarios combined with industries have emerged, and have driven industries such as virtual digital humans.

• In the first quarter of 2022, the number of financing in the global blockchain field was 390, with a financing amount of 6.26 billion yuan. The average single financing amount was US$16.0522 million, showing a downward trend overall compared with the previous quarter.

• In terms of financing rounds, financing in the global blockchain field is mainly concentrated in seed/angel rounds, strategic investment and A rounds, accounting for more than 70%. In terms of scenarios, on-chain application scenarios, digital asset-related application scenarios, and infrastructure/technical solutions are the most popular investment scenarios in the blockchain field.

• In the first quarter of 2022, the United States has the largest number of financings in the blockchain field, with a total of 122 transactions. Singapore and China ranked second and third with 27 and 24 transactions respectively. In terms of financing amount, the publicly disclosed financing amount in the US blockchain field was 2.754 billion US dollars, accounting for nearly 44% of the total financing amount in the first quarter. China was US$119 million, accounting for 1.91% of the total financing in the first quarter.

1. Overview of the global blockchain market in the first quarter

In the first quarter of 2022, the application practice of industrial blockchain is steadily advancing. Many enterprises and institutions have started or deeply involved in blockchain-related businesses, and regulatory authorities have also paid more attention and attention. According to incomplete statistics from 01 Blockchain and Zero One Think Tank, there are 74 blockchain-related policies in the first quarter of 2022.

The first quarter of 2019 saw large fluctuations in the field of cryptocurrencies. The Federal Reserve and central banks of various countries have started to raise interest rates and adjust their balance sheets since the end of 2021. The tightening monetary policies of major economies have brought negative sentiment to the encryption market. In addition, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has increased the uncertainty of the global economic market, and the prices of major global cryptocurrencies have been depressed. In the later period, after the monetary policy and geopolitical situation were relatively stable, cryptocurrencies began to rebound after bottoming out.

NFT is still the track favored by capital parties. Although the transaction volume has cooled down since January, the number of transactions on networks such as Flow , Polygon and Solana has increased significantly. The NFT market is still expanding, and the ecosystem is still improving. In China, since the beginning of spring, digital collections have gradually been recognized as a new cultural and creative carrier, and have become an important means of institutional brand marketing and external publicity. Judging from the hot sales of digital collections, consumers are increasingly accepting digital collections as a new collection method.

After NFT, the metaverse track is on the rise. As an emerging track, Metaverse has attracted the attention of giant companies and various industry organizations. At present, Metaverse has begun to integrate with industries, and application scenarios have emerged in the fields of social networking, tourism, and games. In addition, virtual digital humans, as an industry under the concept of metaverse, are also ushering in accelerated development.

Under the condition that the overall industry is positive, in order to analyze the specific investment and financing situation of the global blockchain-related industries in Q1 of 2022, the 01 blockchain will be different from the amount of financing, financing rounds, field distribution, industry distribution and investment institutions. A comparative analysis was carried out in order to show the overall picture of the investment and financing of the blockchain industry.

2. The overall overview of investment and financing in the global blockchain field in the first quarter (1)The number of financing in the first quarter was 390, and the average single financing amount was at the level of tens of millions of dollars

According to incomplete statistics from 01 Blockchain and Zero One Think Tank, from 2021 to the first quarter of 2022, a total of 2,202 financings occurred in the global blockchain field, and the publicly disclosed financing amount reached 54.944 billion US dollars. Among them, the number of financing in the global blockchain field in a single quarter is in the range of 400-500. In Q1 of 2022, the number of financing in the global blockchain field is 390, with a financing amount of 6.26 billion US dollars, and the overall popularity has dropped compared with the previous period.

Figure 1. The number and amount of financing in the blockchain field in Q1 from 2021 to 2022

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

Observing the specific financing situation in each month of Q1 in 2022, it can be seen that the amount of financing in Q1 in 2022 increases month by month, and the financing amount presents an "inverted V shape". In March, there were 141 financings in the blockchain field, with a financing amount of US$1.79 billion, accounting for 36% and 28.59% of the number and amount of financing in the first quarter, respectively.

Figure 2. The number and amount of financing in the global blockchain field in Q1 of 2022

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

From the perspective of the average single financing amount, most of the single financing in the Q1 blockchain field in 2021-2022 is at the level of tens of millions of dollars. Among them, the average single financing amount in Q3 of 2021 is the highest, which is 41.697 million US dollars. In the following two quarters, the average single financing amount decreased. In Q1 of 2022, this value was US$16.0522 million.

Figure 3. The average single financing amount in Q1 blockchain field in 2021-2022 (unit: ten thousand US dollars)

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

From the average single financing amount of each month in Q1 of 2022, the average single financing amount in February was the highest, reaching 21.252 million US dollars, and the average single financing amount in March decreased to 12.695 million US dollars, which was the average amount of Q1. The month with the lowest single financing amount.

Figure 4. Average single financing amount in Q1 blockchain field in 2022 (unit: ten thousand US dollars)

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

Note: Average single financing amount = publicly disclosed financing amount / number of projects with publicly disclosed financing amount

(2) In addition to strategic investment, the financing in Q1 is mainly concentrated in the A round and before the A round

In Q1 of 2022, financing in the global blockchain field is mainly concentrated in seed/angel rounds, strategic investment and A rounds, with 152, 49 and 43 deals respectively, accounting for 44%, 14% and 13% respectively. In addition, mergers and acquisitions (24 deals), B rounds (20 deals) and ICOs (18 deals) also accounted for a certain proportion.

Figure 5. Distribution of global blockchain financing rounds in Q1 2022 (classified by financing amount)

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

Judging from the amount of financing disclosed in various forms, in the first quarter of 2022, the total financing of ICO and C rounds both exceeded 1 billion US dollars. The financing amount of A round, B round and seed/angel round all accounted for more than 10%, and the strategic investment was about 44,000 US dollars, accounting for 8%.

Figure 6. Distribution of global blockchain financing rounds in Q1 2022 (classified by financing amount, unit: US$10,000)

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

(3)Digital asset-related and on-chain application scenarios are most favored by capital parties

Referring to the blockchain industry classification standards of Tongtongtong Research Institute, the Information Center of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China and other institutions, combined with the experience of the 01 blockchain itself, we divide the blockchain industry into the bottom layer of the blockchain and infrastructure (bottom layer), Expandable technologies and solutions (expansion layer/data layer) and industry applications (application layer) are divided into three categories, which are subdivided into infrastructure/technology/solutions, digital asset-related application scenarios, financial application scenarios, and entities There are more than 10 second-level categories such as economic application scenarios and on-chain application scenarios, and each category is subdivided into more than 100 third-level categories.

From the perspective of the distribution of financing in the secondary industry, on-chain application scenarios, digital asset-related application scenarios, and infrastructure/technical solutions are the most popular investment scenarios in the blockchain field, while blockchain technology is more popular in the real economy and financial application scenarios. The ability to land on the ground needs to be improved.

On-chain application scenarios had the largest number of financings, with 141 transactions, accounting for 36.15%; digital asset-related application scenarios ranked second, with 132 transactions, accounting for 33.84%, followed by infrastructure/technical solutions, accounting for 72 transactions , accounting for 18.46%. In addition, real economy application scenarios and financial application scenarios accounted for 7.94% and 3.58% respectively.

Figure 7. The distribution of secondary industry financing in Q1 blockchain field in 2022

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

From the perspective of the three-level industry classification, new fields such as games, DeFi, NFT, and Metaverse have attracted the attention and deployment of many large institutions, and are also the most favored track by capital parties. In the first quarter, there were 52, 48, 42, and 29 financings for such on-chain application scenarios, accounting for 43.84% of the total financing.

Figure 8. 2022 Q1 distribution of three-level industry financing in the blockchain field (TOP25)

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

From the perspective of financing amount, in Q1 of 2022, the financing amount of on-chain application scenarios is far ahead, as high as 2.404 billion US dollars, accounting for 38% of the total financing amount of the entire industry. The amount of financing related to digital asset-related application scenarios ranked second, accounting for 34% of the total at US$2.157 billion. Infrastructure/technology solutions ranked third with US$1.232 billion, accounting for 20%.

Figure 9. The distribution of financing amount in secondary industries in Q1 blockchain field in 2022

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

From the perspective of the financing amount of the tertiary industry, the financing related to DAO and DeFi is relatively high, accounting for 17.25% and 11.12% of the financing amount of the blockchain industry respectively. On-chain application scenarios such as NFT, games, and Metaverse have also performed well. In terms of infrastructure/technical solutions, privacy computing, data, storage, and web3.0 are also popular investment tracks.

Figure 10. Distribution of Financing Amount in the Third-tier Industry in Q1 Blockchain Field in 2022 (TOP25) (Unit: US$10,000)

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

(4) More than 10 financing events with a single amount exceeding 100 million yuan

The Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) is a non-profit organization established to help develop the Terra ecosystem. It was revealed that it was building a decentralized foreign exchange reserve to protect UST’s peg to the U.S. dollar. To this end, on February 22, 2022, the foundation hosted one of the largest private token sales in the crypto world, raising $1 billion from several venture capital firms. This is also the largest single financing event in the first quarter of 2022.

In addition, financing events with a single financing amount of over 100 million also include the following companies, cryptocurrency derivatives exchange FTX, NFT trading platform OpenSea, zero-knowledge privacy application platform Aleo, global encrypted financial intelligence service provider Amber Group, blockchain Public chain project Aptos, financial market software company Genesis, decentralized wireless infrastructure provider Helium, blockchain e-sports game developer Immutable, encrypted investment management platform CoinTracker, and cricket NFT platform FanCraze.

Table 1. Top 15 financing in the blockchain field in the first quarter of 2022

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

3. Regional distribution of financing in the global blockchain field in the first quarter (1) Regional distribution of financing in the global blockchain field

In Q1 of 2022, the United States has the largest number of financings in the blockchain field, with a total of 122 transactions, accounting for 31.28% of the total financing in the first quarter; the number of financings in Singapore and China is similar, ranking second and third respectively. A total of 27 financings occurred in Singapore, accounting for 6.92%; a total of 24 financings occurred in China, accounting for 6.15%.

In terms of financing amount, the financing amount publicly disclosed in China’s blockchain field is only about 4.34% of that of the United States, which is 2.754 billion US dollars, accounting for nearly 44% of the total financing amount in the first quarter; the amount of financing in Singapore ranks second in the world, but The financing amount was US$378 million, accounting for 6% of the total financing in the first quarter; China was US$119 million, accounting for 1.91% of the total financing in the first quarter.

Figure 11. Top 15 ranking list of global blockchain financing regions

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

(2) Investment and financing in the US blockchain field in the first quarter

From the specific financing situation in the United States in Q1 of 2022, it can be seen that the number of financing in Q1 in the United States has remained at about 40 in a single month. The difference in the amount of financing is small, and the amount of financing in February is the largest, about 2.724 billion US dollars, accounting for 35% of the amount of financing in the first quarter.

Figure 12. The number and amount of financing in the US blockchain field in 2021Q1

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

In Q1 of 2022, the distribution of financing rounds in the US blockchain field is roughly the same as that in the global blockchain field, and the financing rounds are mainly concentrated in the A round and before the A round. Among them, the number of seed/angel financing is the largest, accounting for 29% of all financing, followed by A round and strategic investment, accounting for 16%; mergers and acquisitions and C round also accounted for a certain proportion, respectively 8% and 4%.

Figure 13. The distribution of financing rounds in the US blockchain field in 2022Q1 (by the number of financing)

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

Judging from the disclosed financing amount, in Q1 of 2022, the US round A and subsequent rounds will account for a larger proportion. Among them, the C round of financing amounted to the highest amount of US$700 million, followed by the A round, B round and strategic investment of US$449 million, US$422 million and US$269 million respectively. In addition, the D round, seed/angel and IPO also accounted for 5% or more of the total financing amount.

Figure 14. Distribution of financing rounds in the US blockchain field in Q1 2022 (classified by financing amount, unit: US$10,000)

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

From the perspective of the distribution of financing in the secondary industry, digital asset-related application scenarios, infrastructure/technical solutions, and on-chain application scenarios are the most popular investment scenarios in the US blockchain field, with 45, 29, and 28 transactions respectively. The three accounted for 83%. In addition, there were 17 and 3 transactions in real economy application scenarios and financial application scenarios, respectively.

Figure 15. 2022 Q1 Distribution of Secondary Industry Financing in the U.S. Blockchain Field

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

Similar to the distribution of financing in the secondary industry, among the distribution of financing in the secondary industry in the US blockchain field, digital asset-related application scenarios, infrastructure/technical solutions, and on-chain application scenarios account for the majority of the industry's total financing. The amounts were US$1.056 billion, US$930 million and US$592 million, accounting for 38.34%, 33.77% and 21.49% respectively.

Figure 16. 2022Q1 Distribution of Financing Amount in Secondary Industries in the U.S. Blockchain Field

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

(3) Investment and financing in the blockchain field in China in the first quarter

In Q1 of 2022, judging from the specific financing situation of each month in China, the number of financings showed a downward trend. The financing situation in January was the best, with 10 financings, accounting for 45%. In February, although the number of financing decreased, the financing amount was 234 million US dollars, accounting for 61.97%. In March, the amount of financing was only half of that in January, but the amount of financing was still higher than that in January.

Figure 17. 2022Q1 The number and amount of financing in the blockchain field in China

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

In Q1 of 2021, the rounds of financing in China's blockchain field are mainly distributed in seed/angel rounds, round A and strategic investment. Among them, the number of seed/angel round financing is the largest, accounting for 35% of the total financing amount, A round and strategic investment accounted for 22% and 18% respectively; in addition, B round, B+, C round, Pre-A, Pre-B and Mergers and acquisitions occurred separately.

Figure 18. Distribution of financing rounds in China's blockchain sector in 2022Q1 (classified by financing amount)

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

Judging from the disclosed financing amount, China will have the highest financing amount in Q1, B+ round and B round in 2022, which are US$200 million and US$88 million respectively. In the B+ round of financing, on February 22, 2022, Amber Group, an encrypted financial service provider, received US$200 million in financing, led by Temasek, and existing investors such as Sequoia China, Pantera Capital, Tiger Global Management, Tru Arrow Partners and Coinbase Ventures. Shareholder participation etc. This financing is also the project with the highest single amount in Q1 in China.

Figure 19. Distribution of financing rounds in China's blockchain sector in 2022Q1 (classified by financing amount, unit: US$10,000)

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

From the perspective of the distribution of financing in the secondary industry, on-chain application scenarios and digital asset-related application scenarios are the most popular investment scenarios in the blockchain field in China, with 13 and 6 transactions respectively. Real economy application scenarios accounted for 54%; digital asset-related application scenarios accounted for 25%. There were 2 transactions, 2 transactions and 1 transaction for infrastructure/technical solutions, financial application scenarios and real economy application scenarios respectively.

Figure 20. 2022Q1 Distribution of secondary industry financing in China's blockchain field

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

Judging from the distribution of the financing amount of the secondary industry in China's blockchain field, the financing amount of digital asset-related application scenarios is the highest, reaching 322 million US dollars, accounting for 85% of the total financing amount of the entire industry. The second is the application scenario on the chain, which is 39.7414 million US dollars, accounting for 10%.

Figure 21. 2021Q1 Distribution of Financing Amount in Secondary Industries in China's Blockchain Field

Data source: 01 Blockchain, Zero One Think Tank

Research Institution 01Blockchain

Joint release 01 Finance and Economics 01 Think Tank Hengqin Digital Finance Research Institute

Editor-in-Chief of the Report Bai Liang Yu Baicheng

Writing Team Chen Lishan

Supported by data Yang Guang