Crypto Prices Spike As VC Funding In Web3 Continues To Plunge

Chris Metinko

Even as negative headlines around FTX, Silvergate, Genesis and other crypto-related businesses continue to swirl, something funny has happened to crypto prices.

They’ve soared.

Bitcoin — the largest cryptocurrency by market cap — is up 40% since the year began, and ether — the second largest — is up 35%. While still substantially off their highs from November 2021, the rally is one of the best either has seen in the last year-plus.

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However, venture capitalists and investors still seem tepid as ever on the market.

Thus far for the year, only $1.3 billion has come to VC-backed Web3 startups in 233 deals, per Crunchbase data. At that pace, final numbers for the quarter would even be lower than Q4 of last year, when Web3 funding cratered to $2.7 billion in 373 deals.

The first two quarters of 2022 saw $17.5 billion invested in Web3 startups, according to Crunchbase.

The largest round so far this calendar year includes a $125 million convertible round for Canada-based Blockstream, a blockchain technology solution for financial markets, and a $70 million Series C for Israel-based Chain Reaction, a blockchain startup focusing on privacy.

It takes a while

The venture numbers are not surprising, as it was always going to take more than just several weeks of an upswing on crypto prices for investors to migrate back to the sector — especially when you consider the lag time in announcing deals.

Venture capitalists and investors did not run away immediately from the space when crypto prices started to fall in early 2022, so they likely will not quickly flock back to all things Web3 even if this rally continues for the next few months.

With what we have seen in crypto — who knows where we will be in a couple months?