Regulation
Total funding of a cryptocurrency startup crosses the $100 billion mark after 10 years
Since the introduction of cryptocurrency and the launch of the flagship coin Bitcoin in 2009 the cryptocurrency industry grew dramatically, attracting billions of dollars in both investments and transactions. A recent report from DefiLlama shows that crypto startups have received over $100 billion in funding over the past 10 years.
This figure underlines the impressive growth of the sector and is a testament to the interest and confidence investors have in the sector. While not all funded projects have been successful, others have seen significant progress and have even been listed on the stock exchange. According to data from DefiLlama, crypto startups have received exactly $101.359 billion in 5,287 funding rounds since May 2014.
Funding for crypto startups exceeds $100 billion
The TVL (Total Value Locked) aggregator platform DefiLlama paints a clear picture of the situation funding growth experienced by the cryptocurrency sector since May 2014, 5 years after the launch of the first cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
According to the report, in May 2014, innovative cryptocurrency startups received a total of $17.14 million. However, 10 years later, the total funding received in May 2024 exceeded $280 million, an increase of 176.927%. While $280 million is a notable amount, it was significantly lower than April’s value of $777.11 million.
The peak of crypto startup funding was reached in October 2021 during the bull run after $7.079 billion was raised. The second highest value was the previous month of September 2021, which saw around $3.749 billion in funding flowing into crypto startups.
Source: DefiLlama
Some of the notable funds raised in May 2024 include $70 million raised by Babylon Chaina Bitcoin staking project, with Paradigm as the lead investor to promote trustless Bitcoin staking, $11 million from Neynar, a Web3 social networking toolbox, led by Haun Ventures, Coinbase and a16z, and $150 million raised by Farcastera decentralized social network creation protocol, led by Paradigm.
Further examination of the data provided reveals that almost 50% of the total funding raised in the last ten years comes from the United States, while the rest is spread across other countries such as the United Kingdom and Singapore. Continued large investments in crypto startups highlight the industry’s bright future as more innovative projects that solve real-world problems emerge.
Raised over $2.4 billion in Q1 2024
Meanwhile, the first quarter of 2024 saw a massive inflow of funds to crypto startups. DefiLlama data shows that over $2.4 billion has been raised in 518 rounds. Compared to the previous quarter (Q4 2023), total funding increased by 40.3%, marking notable progress for the cryptocurrency industry.
Furthermore, the number of closed rounds also saw an increase of 44.7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023. The peak for the first quarter of 2024 was reached in February, when a total of 1.02 billion was raised dollars, followed by March, with a collection of $935.4 million. This surge comes following the approval of the a Spot Bitcoin ETF by the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 10, 2024, sparking an influx of institutional investors into the cryptocurrency space.