Blockchain Investment Heats Up in Week Ending June 29th, 2024
There was a significant surge in blockchain crypto funding activity during the week ending June 29th, 2024, with a total of $337 million invested across 23 projects. This marks a substantial increase compared to the previous weeks, which saw funding ranging from $117 million to $197 million.
Category | Project | Money Raised this Round |
|---|---|---|
AI | 28,000,000 | |
3,000,000 | ||
5,000,000 | ||
20,000,000 | ||
Bitcoin | 152,900,000 | |
150,000,000 | ||
2,900,000 | ||
DeFi | 80,650,000 | |
60,000,000 | ||
12,000,000 | ||
4,200,000 | ||
300,000 | ||
4,150,000 | ||
DePIN | ||
Energy | 5,500,000 | |
5,500,000 | ||
Gaming | 3,200,000 | |
1,300,000 | ||
1,100,000 | ||
800,000 | ||
Infrastructure | 57,000,000 | |
37,000,000 | ||
20,000,000 | ||
RWA | ||
Web3 | 10,000,000 | |
10,000,000 | ||
Grand Total | 337,250,000 |
Bitcoin Takes Center Stage
Bitcoin-related projects dominated the investment landscape, attracting a whopping $152.9 million in funding across two projects. This strong focus on Bitcoin scaling and mining suggests continued investor confidence in the world's leading cryptocurrency.
Hut 8 Corp, led funding, with $150m raised with Coatue Management. Hut 8 is based in Miami, Florida and operates as an energy infrastructure provider and Bitcoin miner, offering services such as self-mining, hosting, managed services, and conventional data center operations throughout North America. Its portfolio includes nineteen locations: ten sites in Alberta, New York, and Texas dedicated to Bitcoin mining, hosting, and Managed Services
Funding of $2.9m was also secured by Rebar Labs, a platform that offers users and researchers an alternative to the Bitcoin mempool, enabling private transactions and bundles. It aims to provide a more efficient and secure way for users to interact with the Bitcoin network.
DeFi Maintains Steady Momentum
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) remained a key area of investor interest, securing $80.65 million in funding across seven projects. While the details of two projects remain undisclosed, the overall investment volume indicates continued support for innovation in the DeFi space.
Colosseum, a Solana-focused crypto accelerator, raised $60 million for its inaugural fund. The establishment of Colosseum took place earlier this year by Robbins, Nate Levine, and Matty Taylor. Taylor, who previously served as the head of growth at the Solana Foundation, initiated the Solana hackathon program in 2020. In the beginning of this year, the Solana Foundation transferred the responsibility of managing its hackathons and accelerator programs to Colosseum.
Crossover Markets raised $12m and is a digital asset technology firm based in London, UK. The company provides an institution-only venue for cryptocurrency trade execution. It has decoupled trade execution from custody and brokerage, focusing on providing secure and efficient cryptocurrency trade execution.
ENSO, raised $4.2m as the world’s first intent engine powering chain abstraction and an intent-focused future in the realm of blockchain infrastructure, facilitating streamlined and safe on-chain transactions for DeFi and blockchain applications. Having facilitated the settlement of over $11 billion on-chain in the previous year. They are backed by big name investors in the crypto space such as Polychain Capital and Spartan.
Infrastructure & Scaling Solutions Gain Traction
Investment in blockchain infrastructure and scaling solutions also picked up steam during the week. Notably, Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) scaling solutions received $20 million in funding (from a single project backed by Vitalik Buterin), while Rollup scaling attracted $37 million (from a single project). These investments highlight the growing importance of scalability for the future of blockchain technology.
A notable investment this week was MegaLabs, the developer of a new real-time blockchain on Ethereum named MegaETH. They successfully raised $20 million in a seed funding round lead by Dragonfly and also included investment from Vitalik Buterin (Ethereum founder). MegaETH claims to be the first real-time blockchain, capable of processing 100,000 transactions per second. The MegaETH team believes that this new technology will pave the way for a new generation of decentralized applications. These applications could include complex DeFi protocols, high-speed games, and real-time social networks.
Conduit raised $37m led by Paradigm and Haun Ventures, is a crypto infrastructure company that offers a Rollups-as-a-Service (RaaS) platform. Their mission is to make blockspace as abundant as standard compute today. They allow users to deploy fully-managed, production-grade rollups on Ethereum with just a few clicks, and no code is required.
Artificial Intelligence and Gaming See Investments
There was also investor interest in other sectors within the blockchain ecosystem. Artificial intelligence (AI) projects secured $28 million in funding across three projects, demonstrating the potential for blockchain to revolutionize AI applications. Additionally, the gaming industry saw $3.2 million invested across four projects (with details of one project undisclosed), suggesting a nascent but potentially growing area for blockchain adoption.
Ora leads the funding in the segment with it securing $20 million in investment from backers such as Polychain, HF0, and Hashkey Capital.
Ora is a blockchain initiative that integrates AI into decentralized applications (dapps). It provides developers with the necessary tools to build end-to-end trustless and decentralized applications powered by Artificial Intelligence.
On the gaming front, GolfN raised $1.3m for its Web3 app to enhance the golf experience for players of all skill levels. Besides creating the first-ever digital collectibles for a physical sport like Golf, GolfN is also working on a gamified social caddie app for on-course gameplay. This app will not only help golfers improve their game but also allow them to earn rewards that can be converted on the blockchain.
Conclusion
Overall, the week ending June 29th painted a picture of a thriving blockchain investment landscape. With significant capital flowing into Bitcoin, DeFi, infrastructure, AI, and gaming, the future of blockchain technology appears bright and diverse.
A central focus of investor activity in the cryptocurrency space is the evaluation of new crypto projects to invest in, particularly those with huge potential. This blog provides insight into what new ventures are benefiting from venture capital support (VC funding in crypto). These new crypto projects, funded by professional investors, can dictate the next narrative in crypto and the next big crypto movers.
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