Data shows that the number of monthly venture capital deals in the crypto industry fell to around 50 in May, returning to levels seen before 2021, when the industry was significantly smaller than it is today.
The contraction in deal activity is evident across almost all categories, with infrastructure and crypto financial services—two previously most active sectors—also approaching multi-year lows.
The report suggests that the cooling of fundraising is mainly due to two factors: first, investor attention and capital are continuously shifting towards AI, structurally squeezing crypto financing; second, the crypto industry currently lacks the highly attractive early-stage projects that were abundant during the cycles of 2021 and 2024, leading investment institutions to be more selective and cautious in their screening.