Written by: Dudu Bitcoin
Compiled by: Saoirse, Foresight News
In 2025, the rebound in cryptocurrency funding has momentum comparable to Dennis Rodman (the former American professional basketball player known for his explosive power and stable competitive form) in his prime.
The total annual funding reached $25 billion, making it the second-highest year on record, second only to the frenzy of 2021.
But there's a key difference this year:
The current funding heat is actually more sustainable.
To figure out where the money is flowing, I spent weeks analyzing 6723 funding rounds.
Winning Sectors: Prediction Markets, AI Storage & RWA
Prediction markets emerged as the biggest winners, which is actually not surprising.
For prediction markets, 2025 was a bumper year — it is the only sector in Web3 that has successfully attracted mainstream consumer groups.
Platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi are locked in fierce competition, both striving to secure more top-tier partnerships.
Now, prediction markets are embedded in Google Search and major mainstream media outlets, further integrating into mainstream scenarios.
The fact that Real World Assets (RWA) and cybersecurity sectors ranked among the top funding hotspots also confirms a core view: Cryptocurrency is gradually maturing and becoming an increasingly solid part of the financial system.
However, for entrepreneurs focused on NFT development, the situation this year was not optimistic.
Seed Round Funding is Maturing
The era of launching projects with small seed funds is long gone. In the AI era, the resources required to develop a usable product have significantly reduced. This means entrepreneurs can bootstrap (self-fund) for longer periods and only need to seek funding when they have tangible results to show.
Advice: Strive to Partner with Coinbase Ventures
I've seen too many so-called 'VC matchmakers' — they connect entrepreneurs with investors but take a commission. More importantly, these matchmakers mostly only know third-tier investors, making the time cost for entrepreneurs simply not worth it. So, aim to find someone who can connect you with top-tier institutions like Coinbase Ventures, not niche ones like the 'Soulja Boy Fund' (Note: Soulja Boy is an American rapper, and his namesake fund is relatively small with limited investment influence).
Cryptocurrency is Gradually Maturing
Looking at the projects with the largest funding rounds this year, the trend is quite clear.
Of course, the crypto space still has some of its 'speculative vitality' (referring to the high-risk, high-speculation trends unique to the crypto field):
- Binance: Secured massive funding from the UAE to build a top altcoin trading platform;
- Pump.fun: Set records for the number of Meme coins issued per second;
- TON: Gained significant attention leveraging Telegram's widespread adoption in crypto;
- Monad: Its L1 blockchain built substantial community hype, but the subsequent TGE performance was disappointing.
Every industry cycle needs some 'stimulating elements,' but if you look beyond the short term, you can clearly see the maturing trend of the crypto space.
Two of the largest funded projects this year came from prediction markets — Polymarket and Kalshi.
As mentioned before, 2025 was a banner year for prediction markets, the only Web3 sector that truly attracted mainstream consumers. Polymarket and Kalshi are still fiercely competing, striving to secure more top-tier partnerships, and their services are now embedded in Google Search and major mainstream media.
The stablecoin sector also performed exceptionally well in 2025:
- Bullish: Co-founded by Brendan Blumer, previously controversial for the EOS project, raised $1 billion in its IPO;
- Ripple: Successfully attracted Wall Street capital to enter the stablecoin space;
- Circle: Raised $1 billion through its IPO, followed by a significant surge in its stock price;
- Payment giant Stripe: Its launched L1 blockchain 'Tempo' proves that fintech companies are also actively entering the crypto space;
- Figure: Completed a billion-dollar IPO, also focused on stablecoin-related business.
Finally, cryptocurrency exchanges Kraken and Gemini also completed funding rounds, likely their last before their IPOs.
The total funding for the aforementioned 4 'speculative' projects was approximately $3.27 billion;
The prediction market sector raised a total of $3 billion;
While projects in the more mature sectors of Web3 raised a total of $3.4 billion.
Cryptocurrency today is no longer confined to a single attribute.
It is splitting into three parallel tracks:
- The speculation and culture track (e.g., Meme coins, niche blockchains);
- The information and truth market track (centered around prediction markets);
- The financial infrastructure for the real economy track (e.g., stablecoins, RWA).
