Report: Encrypted financing amounted to $30.3 billion in the first half of 2022, exceeding the full year of 2021

A new report shows that despite the continued market downturn, the crypto industry has raised $30.3 billion, more than it will raise in all of 2021.

In an Aug. 2 report by cryptocurrency analytics firms Messari and Dove Metrics, data showed that in the first half of 2022, there will be a significant increase in centralized finance (CeFi), decentralized finance (DeFi), non-homogeneous tokens ( NFT) and infrastructure raised $30.3 billion through 1,199 funding rounds.

The total amount of capital raised during the six-month period already exceeds the $30.2 billion raised in all of 2021 through 1,313 rounds.

More than one-third of the total funding went into the CeFi space, which raised $10.2 billion. The infrastructure and NFT space also received significant investment, however, DeFi seems to have been left behind, receiving only $1.8 billion in investment during this period.

Most of CeFi's investment was in cryptocurrency exchanges, which received $3.2 billion in investments. Payment services, market makers and savings/bank account operations tied for second place.

The Web3 and NFT space raised $8.6 billion in the half-year, with gaming-related NFTs accounting for the lion’s share of investment, raising more than four times the amount of other NFT verticals.

Some of the currently popular NFT-based crypto games include Axie Infinity, Aavegotchi, CryptoKitties, Galaxy Fight Club, and Gods Unchained.

According to PwC’s latest hedge fund report for June, 38% of hedge funds are currently investing in digital assets, up from 21% in 2021.

John Garvey, global financial services leader at PwC, said cryptocurrencies are increasingly being used by hedge fund managers to gain a competitive advantage:

"It's looking for alpha. Everyone's looking for an angle ... so how do you go beyond the benchmark? You have to try something different, new, unconventional."