The crypto venture capital landscape remained subdued in the fourth quarter, with fewer high-profile funding rounds closed compared to earlier this year.
Kaden Stadelmann, chief technology officer at Komodo Platform, told Cointelegraph that “the crypto sector is facing pressure from multiple angles,” and that AI is siphoning significant demand from crypto, with “VC investment in AI far outstripping VC investment in crypto.”
Stadelman also cited macroeconomic uncertainty as a reason for venture capital firms to take a more cautious approach.
At the same time, much of the remaining activity is shifting to the core Bitcoin (BTC) business ecosystem, which often does not rely on traditional venture funding.
“Bitcoin-focused ventures can bootstrap through community and network support rather than VC,” said Gabe Salinas, CEO of Alamo Labs and founder of the San Antonio Bitcoin Club.
Despite the economic slowdown, capital is still selectively flowing into projects building the plumbing of the digital asset economy, particularly in areas such as stablecoins, payment infrastructure, and decentralized trading platforms.
In the latest edition of VC Roundup, we examine funding rounds from Telcoin, Hercle, Momentum, Temple Digital Group, and Ark Research.
According to the latest available data, trading activity for crypto ventures will continue to be weak in 2025, with both funding volume and number of transactions on the decline. sauce: galaxy research
Telcoin completes $25 million funding round to build digital asset bank
Telcoin, a fintech company developing blockchain-based financial services, has raised $25 million in an ongoing pre-Series A funding round to advance the launch of its digital asset bank, scheduled for later this year.
This financing forms part of Telcoin’s capital requirements under the conditionally approved Nebraska Digital Asset Depository Institution (N-DADI) Charter. The charter is a special state-level banking framework that allows institutions to store digital assets and provide blockchain-based financial services under U.S. banking supervision.
This raise also supports Telcoin’s plans to enter the stablecoin market with the launch of eUSD, a new USD pegged stablecoin designed for consumer use within the Telcoin ecosystem. The eUSD token prioritizes ease of use for payments and remittances, rather than primarily serving as a means of transaction.
Related: Circles weigh in on implementation of GENIUS law: “Simple and powerful rules”
F-Prime backs Hercle’s $60 million funding
Hercle, a digital asset and stablecoin infrastructure company, has raised $60 million in total funding to accelerate its global expansion and develop an institutional-grade stablecoin infrastructure for faster cross-border payments.
The financing includes a $10 million equity investment led by F-Prime with participation from Fulgur Ventures and Exponential Science, as well as a $50 million financing facility to support liquidity.
Hercle said its platform has processed more than $20 billion in transactions for more than 200 institutional customers, including financial institutions, payment providers, and exchanges. The company reports that 90% of transactions settle within five minutes, highlighting its focus on speed and scalability for high-value payments globally.
The stablecoin market will accelerate rapidly in 2025, reaching a tipping point for mass adoption. sauce: RWA.xyz
Sui DEX Momentum raises $10 million
Momentum, the largest decentralized exchange (DEX) on Sui Blockchain, has raised $10 million in a new funding round at a fully diluted valuation of $350 million. The round was led by HashKey Capital with participation from Anchorage Digital and other institutional investors.
Founded by former Libra and Amazon engineer Wendy Fu, Momentum has emerged as the leading DeFi protocol on Sui based on Total Value Locked (TVL), user base, and cumulative trading volume. The platform reportedly has 2.1 million users and cumulative trading volume of over $22 billion.
Momentum said it plans to use the new funding to expand beyond the Sui ecosystem through cross-chain integrations and develop institutional-grade compliance capabilities to enable regulated onboarding for professional investors.
Momentum’s TVL peaked at over $600 million in late October. sauce: Defilama
Related: Commonware, Stripe and Paradigm deepen their blockchain bet, securing $25 million from Tempo
Temple Digital raises $5 million to build institutional trading infrastructure
Temple Digital Group, an institutionally focused Canton Network-based infrastructure development company, has raised $5 million in seed funding led by Paper Ventures with participation from more than a dozen other investment firms.
Temple is developing a privacy- and compliance-focused trading stack that combines traditional market features such as order books and post-trade reporting with blockchain-based features such as tokenization, instant payments, and digital wallets.
The company said it will use the new funding to expand its product suite and implement additional integrations across its Canton network.
Canton Network has received significant attention from major financial institutions. Its developer, Digital Asset, recently raised $135 million from investors including Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas to accelerate the development of the network.
Arx Research raises $6.1 million to accelerate merchant adoption of stablecoins
Arx Research, a hardware and software provider focused on digital payments, has raised $6.1 million from investors including Castle Island Ventures, Placeholder, 1kx, and Inflection. The funding will be used to scale up manufacturing and prepare for the commercial launch of the product early next year.
The company is developing Burner Capital, a handheld point of sale (PoS) device that allows merchants to accept both stablecoins and traditional payments on a single terminal. The device is integrated with Flexa and allows merchants to accept multiple cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL) in addition to stablecoins.
Related: Stripe’s new blockchain Tempo reaches $5 billion valuation with $500 million funding round
