Top 10 Leading Crypto VCs' Outlook for 2025: Stablecoins Widely Favored, Capital to Flow into Projects with Strong Market Fit
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Top 10 Leading Crypto VCs' Outlook for 2025: Stablecoins Widely Favored, Capital to Flow into Projects with Strong Market Fit
Startups that demonstrate strong product-market fit and have a genuine user base will find it easier to attract capital.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Yogita Khatri
Translation: TechFlow
Quick Take
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Crypto venture capital funding rose 28% year-over-year in 2024, reaching $13.7 billion, though it has yet to recover to historical highs.
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Top crypto VCs believe capital in 2025 will primarily flow toward startups demonstrating strong product-market fit.
According to fundraising data from The Block Pro, crypto venture capital funding saw significant growth in 2024, rising 28% year-on-year to approximately $13.7 billion. While this marks an improvement compared to 2023 and reflects a generally optimistic market sentiment this year, it still hasn't rebounded to previous all-time highs.
Looking ahead to 2025, leading crypto venture capital firms hold cautiously optimistic outlooks. While most agree funding levels are unlikely to return to the peaks seen in 2021–2022, there is growing consensus: startups that demonstrate strong product-market fit and have a real user base will be more likely to attract capital.
Below are specific perspectives on the 2025 fundraising landscape from leaders at Dragonfly, Pantera, Multicoin, Coinbase Ventures, Binance Labs, Galaxy Ventures, and other top firms.
Dragonfly: Betting on DeFi, CeFi, and Stablecoins
Rob Hadick, General Partner at Dragonfly, said that favorable shifts in the U.S. regulatory environment, potential continued token price appreciation, and accelerating institutional capital inflows could drive substantial growth in crypto venture funding in 2025. However, he noted that funding levels are unlikely to return to 2021–2022 highs in the near term—a reflection of VCs’ cautious approach to avoiding past mistakes.
Dragonfly is currently focused on backing exceptional founders who demonstrate clear product-market fit in decentralized finance (DeFi), scaling platforms, centralized finance (CeFi), and stablecoins/payments. While emerging areas such as crypto AI and decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs) remain on their radar, Hadick said these sectors are still in experimental phases.
In contrast, investment in traditional areas like security, tokenization, and interoperability may decline, as market focus gradually shifts toward newer frontiers. He also predicted that decentralized social media would face major challenges due to lack of scalability and product-market fit.
Pantera: Bullish on Crypto AI, DePINs, and New Layer 1s
Lauren Stephanian, General Partner at Pantera Capital, said that with increasing investor confidence in pro-crypto policies in the U.S., crypto venture funding is expected to grow further in 2025.
Still, she cautioned that “bull markets don’t last forever,” and “it remains to be seen when next year we might start seeing a slowdown in capital deployment.”
Pantera continues to make broad investments across the crypto and blockchain space but is particularly bullish on crypto AI, DePINs, and new Layer 1 blockchains that support richer application-level functionality.
Multicoin: Continued Confidence in the Solana Ecosystem
Multicoin Capital is increasing its bets on DeFi applications, especially within the Solana ecosystem. According to Kyle Samani, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Multicoin Capital, Solana outperformed Ethereum and Layer 2 ecosystems across key on-chain metrics this year. “We expect this trend to continue, with Solana-based applications and protocols standing out in the next cycle as more users, capital, token launches, and activity shift to Solana.”
Samani also pointed out that Ethereum may continue to face challenges—“possibly even long-term decline”—due to intense competition from faster, cheaper blockchains like Solana. “Unless Ethereum improves its competitiveness, developers, users, and capital will move to alternative chains that better meet their needs.”
In addition, Multicoin has strong conviction in stablecoins. Samani described them as “potentially one of the most important technological and financial innovations of our generation.”
“Stablecoins are poised to become a major force in 2025,” said Samani. “There’s massive global demand for the U.S. dollar, and stablecoins are the most efficient way to access it. The design space in this sector is vast, and we’re still relatively early in its adoption curve.”
Coinbase Ventures: Focused on On-Chain Economy and Application-Layer Investments
Hoolie Tejwani, Head of Coinbase Ventures, told The Block that the firm expects to remain “highly active” in 2025 and beyond, ready to seize market opportunities. Tejwani expressed optimism about potential positive regulatory developments following the arrival of a pro-crypto Trump administration and a supportive Congress in January 2025.
Tejwani revealed that Coinbase Ventures will continue making broad investments around the on-chain economy, focusing on “where the best builders are spending their nights and weekends.” He is particularly enthusiastic about the application layer, where internet-scale apps are becoming feasible as infrastructure matures. Areas of interest include stablecoin payments and finance, crypto AI cross-applications, on-chain consumer applications (such as social, gaming, and creator tools), and DeFi innovation.
At the same time, Tejwani emphasized that Coinbase Ventures hasn’t completely stepped back from infrastructure, as technical challenges and innovation opportunities still exist in tooling.
Binance Labs: Fundamentals and User Adoption First
Binance Labs, Binance’s $10 billion venture capital and incubation arm, views itself as a “perennial” investor continuously supporting startups in web3, AI, and biotech regardless of market cycles, according to Alex Odagiu, Investment Director.
Odagiu expects crypto venture funding to remain strong in 2025 but stressed that Binance Labs will “focus on fundamentals” rather than chasing price movements or market hype. He noted that projects with real-world use cases, proven product-market fit, strong teams, and sustainable revenue models will be the most competitive.
Galaxy Ventures: Positive on Stablecoins and Tokenization
Will Nuelle, General Partner at Galaxy Ventures, said that stablecoins—particularly in payments—continue to show strong product-market fit and remain a core focus for capital deployment. While tokenization has so far lagged behind stablecoin adoption, he believes the investment potential in this area is significant and worth deeper exploration.
Although tokenization trails stablecoins in adoption, Nuelle sees great potential among investors. Galaxy Ventures plans to further explore these opportunities. However, he is less optimistic about metaverse-related projects, expecting funding delays in 2025 due to a lack of clear adoption signals.
Hashed: Cautious Positioning and Global Expansion
Simon Seojoon Kim, CEO and Managing Partner at Hashed, holds a cautiously optimistic view of the 2025 market outlook. He noted that Trump’s comments suggesting Bitcoin could become a U.S. Treasury asset may signal a potential shift in institutional sentiment. However, he believes funding levels are unlikely to return to 2021–2022 highs in the short term unless a “black swan” event occurs in macroeconomics or geopolitics.
Kim believes the 2025 market will be shaped by greater clarity in U.S. regulation, rising institutional activity in Asian markets, and infrastructure advancements enabling real-world applications. Still, he warned that regulatory uncertainty, macroeconomic pressures, and geopolitical tensions could dampen market growth.
Hashed’s investment focus will center on data infrastructure, institutional-grade DeFi applications, regulated stablecoin payment systems, and crypto AI infrastructure—areas seen as having clear product-market fit and mature business models. In contrast, he expects reduced funding for speculative GameFi projects, undifferentiated Layer 1 and Layer 2 protocols, and NFT platforms lacking viable revenue models.
Hashed plans to close its third venture fund in Q1 2025 and launch a new investment vehicle in Abu Dhabi to enable direct token investments under local regulatory frameworks. Kim said this aims to overcome limitations faced by South Korea-registered funds in directly investing in tokens.
Hack VC: Betting on Crypto AI, Infrastructure, and DeFi
Ed Roman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Hack VC, expressed optimism about the 2025 crypto VC landscape, expecting significant market growth barring unforeseen “black swan” events. He highlighted pro-crypto policy shifts and a resurgence in web3 entrepreneurial enthusiasm as key drivers.
Hack VC is concentrating its investments in three core areas: crypto AI, infrastructure, and DeFi. Roman explained that decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs), powered by GPUs, offer a low-cost way to build multi-layer AI tech stacks compared to traditional web2 cloud services. When serving web2 customers, the crypto sector’s total addressable market could reach multiple trillions of dollars.
In infrastructure, Hack VC is bullish on scaling protocols, modular architectures, web3 security, MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) improvements, and account abstraction—all of which significantly enhance the user experience for decentralized applications.
In DeFi, Hack VC sees a “once-in-a-century opportunity” to rebuild the financial system. Roman is especially positive about stablecoin-based payments, believing their widespread practical use could create a “multi-trillion-dollar market.” However, the firm is less optimistic about NFTs, expecting most to lose value while only a few blue-chip assets retain theirs.
Portal Ventures: Backing Platforms Bridging Infrastructure and Applications
Evan Fisher, Founder and General Partner at Portal Ventures, expects market sentiment to improve in 2025, though funding levels may struggle to return to the 2021–2022 peaks due to the unique macroeconomic conditions during those years.
In an interview with The Block, Fisher said Portal Ventures favors platforms that can deliver both infrastructure and applications. Such platforms allow projects greater control over user experience and help drive real-world use cases. However, he noted that investment in heavier infrastructure projects—such as zero-knowledge development platforms and middleware—may slow down due to insufficient customer traction and sustainable business models.
Blockchain Capital: Focused on Stablecoin Infrastructure and DeFi Innovation
Kinjal Shah, General Partner at Blockchain Capital, expects funding levels to rise in 2025 as market performance remains positive. However, she believes the peak funding levels of 2021–2022 are unlikely to return, as that surge was largely driven by broader macroeconomic trends.
Shah said Blockchain Capital will maintain a flexible investment strategy, focusing on key areas including stablecoin infrastructure, innovative distribution models, and DeFi platforms that effectively bridge institutional and retail participants.
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