Despite an uptick in investment volume, crypto VC funding in 2024 fell by 46% from the first quarter to the fourth.
PitchBook data shows that although the number of crypto VC deals plummeted by 46% from Q1 to Q4, investors increased their investment value in Q4, focusing on select, high-value opportunities.
Investors significantly reduced their funding for cryptocurrency VC deals in the last quarter of 2024, demonstrating greater selectivity.
The capital market data firm PitchBook reported in its Crypto VC Trends report that investors closed 653 cryptocurrency deals in the first quarter of 2024.
By the fourth quarter, deal volume had declined to 351, marking a 46% drop from Q1 due to consistent quarterly reductions.
Despite the decline in the number of deals, investors increased the overall investment volume in Q4.
In Q1, investors poured $2.7 billion into crypto VC funding, according to PitchBook, but they reduced their investments in Q2 and Q3.
Investment rebounded in Q4, reaching $2.6 billion—a 13% increase from the previous quarter.PitchBook analysts wrote:
“While the rebound in funding suggests that investors remain willing to back established teams and differentiated technologies, the continued pullback in deal count highlights growing investor selectivity—a dynamic that first became evident in Q3.”
Annual data indicates that VC activity in 2024 remained steady compared to 2023, but both years saw significantly lower activity than 2022, when crypto VC funding and deal numbers peaked.
Check out: Galaxy data shows in 2024, more crypto VC deals and new funds emerge, but overall funding drops to its lowest since 2020.
Among all sectors, Web3—covering decentralized communities, NFT ecosystems, metaverse gaming, and AI-enhanced crypto projects—attracted the most VC funding in 2024.
On October 15, the platform announced that investors had committed $525 million in funding.
In 2024, Web3 led all sectors in VC funding, securing $2.1 billion from 142 investment deals.
Blockchain networks—including bridges, interoperability solutions, and layer-1 and layer-2 projects—ranked second, raising $1.8 billion in 106 deals.
Infrastructure and developer tools—spanning data storage, development platforms, institutional services, and node and validator management—claimed the third spot, attracting $1.7 billion across 125 deals.
The access sector—which includes asset management, exchanges, and data tools—secured $1 billion across 70 deals, outperforming decentralized finance, which received $714 million from 80 deals.
