What are the big trends for crypto VC in 2025?

Original author: E. Johansson, L. Kelly, DL News

Original compilation:Tao Zhu , Golden Finance

Venture capital will make a strong comeback in 2025.

That’s according to venture capital firms and market watchers interviewed before the new year.

What will drive the market higher? How much money do investors want to invest?

Mike Giampapa, General Partner, Galaxy Ventures

Mike Giampapa, General Partner, Galaxy Ventures

With the creation of the most pro-cryptocurrency executive and legislative branches in U.S. history, it’s difficult to overstate the impact this could have on the cryptocurrency industry.

With a more favorable SEC, we expect enforcement actions to decrease, regulations to be clearer, and the likelihood of blockchain companies listing in the United States to increase.

We are also more optimistic than ever about banks becoming more open to participating in cryptocurrencies, the introduction of stablecoin legislation, and a broader crypto market infrastructure bill.

These measures will create necessary transparency, guardrails and protections for contractors and users across the industry.

Against this backdrop, the adoption of stablecoins and the use of the underlying blockchain as a financial rail is expected to accelerate in 2025.

Fintech companies—from upstarts to incumbents, from consumer-facing businesses to B2B enterprises—will increasingly integrate with cryptocurrency rails to provide customers with faster, cheaper, and more efficient financial services.

Stablecoin applications will continue to grow beyond savings and pay-to-spend use cases. We expect merchant acquirers and card networks to increasingly enable crypto payments at checkout, allowing users to spend stablecoins as easily as fiat currencies.

Alex Botte, Partner at Hack VC

By 2025, we expect venture capital investment in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space to return to previous highs.

Currently, venture capital investment is still significantly behind its peak in the first quarter of 2022, when about $12 billion was invested in about 1,350 deals, Galaxy data shows.

In the third quarter, this figure was $2.4 billion, down 80%, across 478 transactions (down 65%).

This gap is driven, at least in part, by the continued lack of traditional venture capital and institutional investors, particularly in the United States.

Private markets, especially early-stage venture capital, tend to lag behind liquid markets, with major coins such as Bitcoin and Solana recently hitting all-time highs.

However, as the market cycle matures and investor confidence rebounds, we expect venture capital investment to increase and possibly even exceed previous highs.

Increased regulatory clarity in the U.S. with the pro-cryptocurrency Trump administration and Congress taking office is likely to attract more institutional players than in previous cycles and venture capital investments will accelerate.

Robert Le, cryptocurrency analyst

Robert Le, cryptocurrency analyst at Pitchbook

We predict that venture capital investment in the cryptocurrency space will recover in 2025, with total financing for the year exceeding $18 billion and multiple quarters exceeding $5 billion.

This would mark a significant recovery from an annual average of $9.9 billion and a quarterly average of $2.5 billion during 2023-2024.

Macroeconomic stability, institutional adoption and the return of generalist venture capital may drive this trend.

Heavyweights such as BlackRock and Goldman Sachs are likely to increase their involvement in cryptocurrencies, which in turn would bolster investor confidence and regulatory trust, paving the way for broader institutional participation.

Their involvement could drive mainstream adoption and attract asset managers, hedge funds and sovereign wealth funds to the cryptocurrency space.

Generalist VCs returning after a period of retreat will turn their focus to startups that demonstrate traditional metrics such as recurring revenue and measurable traction.

This approach could lead to a broader integration of cryptocurrencies with artificial intelligence, fintech and traditional finance, emphasizing sustainable growth rather than speculative investment.

Improving global liquidity and falling interest rates will further boost venture capital investment, and token price increases will be in line with public and venture markets.

However, this optimistic scenario depends on regulatory stability, especially in the United States, as well as ongoing macroeconomic conditions. "

Karl Martin Ahrend, Founding Partner of Areta

Karl Martin Ahrend, Founding Partner of Areta

In 2025, we expect a surge in M&A and IPOs that will highlight transformative shifts in the industry.

Traditional financial institutions are increasingly entering the space, seeking exposure to crypto projects with strong product-market fit. These companies often lack the expertise to build solutions in-house, driving a wave of partnerships and acquisitions.

Meanwhile, political tailwinds, including the possibility that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could become crypto-friendly under new leadership, are creating optimism for clearer regulation. This regulatory clarity, coupled with security advances, increases investor confidence and paves the way for more public offerings and strategic transactions.

Going forward, this intersection of institutional interests and favorable regulatory shifts will likely continue to drive M&A and IPO activity, shaping the future of the industry.