After a promising start, 2022 turned out to be a difficult year for the cryptocurrency market, with the crashes sparking the latest Crypto Winter.
As the frost set in, VC firms shut their wallets. Global funding for VC-backed crypto businesses decreased from 8.8 billion USD in the first quarter of 2022 to 6.2 billion USD in the second quarter to approximately 3.4 billion USD in the third quarter, according to statistics.
Only about 2.4 million USD has been raised by crypto startups in the fourth quarter in 2022. Some businesses did nonetheless succeed in raising enormous rounds despite the continuous downturn, albeit virtually exclusively in the first part of the year.
Here is the list of the biggest crypto fundings of 2022:
450 million USD crypto funding for Yuga Labs
A 450 million USD financing, in crypto, headed by Andreessen Horowitz was launched by the organisation that runs the well-known Bored Ape Yacht Club in March. Although the company was valued at 4 billion USD during the round. The NFT market has since collapsed, and Yuga Labs is apparently the subject of an SEC probe for selling unregistered securities.
Also read: The Metaverse Tokens Start The Year With A Bang
450 million USD for ConsenSys
ConsenSys, a company headed by Joe Lubin, a co-founder of Ethereum, creates software aimed at the Ethereum ecosystem. Examples are: the MetaMask DeFi wallet, which sees over 30 million monthly active users. ConsenSys raised a 450 million USD in March, with ParaFi Capital as the lead investor and valued the firm at 7 billion USD. Since then, the business has drawn criticism for privacy issues with its software suite, however, Lubin said that the company is resolving these issues.
450 million USD for Polygon
Built on top of Ethereum, Polygon is a Layer-2 blockchain platform that aims to extend the ecosystem for applications ranging from gaming to DeFi. The business announced in February a 450 million USD fundraising headed by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Tiger Global and SoftBank. The market cap of Polygon’s own cryptocurrency, MATIC, was 13 billion USD at the time, but it has subsequently fallen to under 7 billion USD.
Also read: Crypto Evolution in 2023: How Cryptocurrencies Market Will Get Better?
400 million USD for Circle
The creator of USDC, the second-largest stablecoin behind Tether, is Circle. It announced a 400 million USD capital round in April, including contributions from well-known names in traditional finance including BlackRock and Fidelity. The business also intended to go public through a SPAC merger with a 9 billion USD valuation. Later the agreement fell through.
400 million USD for FTX
The offshores FTX exchange also raised 400 million USD in January which valued the company at 32 billion USD. Only a few months had passed since FTX’s infamous “meme round,” in which it raised 420 million USD from 69 investors on October 20, 2021. After selling his personal share, Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly collected 300 million USD of that.
Also read: Binance To Re-Enter South Korea Market With Latest Acquisition
358 million USD for Animoca Brands
The Hong Kong-based software and venture firm secured a 358 million USD, Series A investment in January. It was led by Liberty City Ventures, at a valuation of 5 billion USD, while the cryptocurrency market was still surging. GameFi, a term for “play-to-earn” games that has gained popularity thanks to the scandal surrounding Axie Infinity.
350 million USD for NEAR Protocol
A blockchain called NEAR offers itself as a rival to Ethereum by providing a platform for programmers to create decentralised applications. It received considerable funding after its October 2020 launch, including a 350 million USD round in April 2022. It was led by Tiger Global and came three months after a 150 million USD round in January. Its crypto market valuation has now dropped to just over 1 billion USD after reaching a record of over 12.5 billion USD in April.
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