Crypto venture funding reached $1.2 billion in July, even as DeFi investment fell to its lowest quarterly level since late 2023.
As of July 20, investors completed around 25 funding rounds in July, according to CryptoRank data, and capital remains active despite a significant drop in the number of announced deals.
Monthly funding remained uneven throughout 2026. According to CryptoRank, crypto companies raised $1.14 billion in January, but the total amount decreased to $896.3 million in February. Funding has since increased to $2.2 billion in March, supported by about 85 deals. This is the highest monthly amount shown on a six-month chart.
April brought about the sharpest reversal of the year. CryptoRank recorded $698.2 million for the month, while a previous crypto.news report put the amount at $659 million across 63 funding rounds. crypto.news’ numbers are down 74% from March’s roughly $2.6 billion and 84 transactions, with monthly funds returning to levels last seen in 2024.
The difference between the two totals for April could be due to subsequent database updates or different methods used to classify transactions. Nevertheless, the current chart of CryptoRank confirms the same direction. Both the amount raised and the number of completed rounds have declined sharply since March.
May funding rebounded to $3.89 billion, the highest monthly total for CryptoRank in six months. Although the number of transactions was still below the March peak, the size of transactions increased and the total was significantly higher than the bimonthly figures shown in the dataset.
By June, funding had cooled to $1.44 billion as the number of monthly deals fell to about 60. The $1.2 billion that CryptoRank partially indicated in July has fallen further to around 25 rounds, suggesting that smaller trading pools are accounting for much of the funding.
Major crypto investors continue to support selected projects
Coinbase Ventures remains the most active fund in CryptoRank’s six-month rankings, participating in 33 investments and leading one. Although the data does not indicate the value of these trades, Coinbase Ventures significantly outperformed other funds tracked during the period in terms of number of trades.
According to CryptoRank, Animoca Brands ranked second with 19 deals, followed by Andreessen Horowitz’s a16z cryptocurrency with 18 deals and Tether with 17 deals. Becker Ventures, Castrum Capital, and Galaxy each participated in 10 deals, while GSR, YZi Labs, Y Combinator, and Circle Ventures completed 9 deals each.
According to the same ranking, Paradigm also remains active with eight investments. In early July, crypto.news reported that Paradigm had raised $1.2 billion for its fourth fund, giving the company new capital for investments across cryptocurrencies, artificial intelligence, robotics, software, and hardware.
Co-founder Matt Huang and managing partner Alana Palmedo announced the vehicle on July 8th. Paradigm described the mandate as an expansion into other technology markets rather than an exit from digital assets, telling investors that the company would continue to invest “in cryptocurrencies first.”
Across individual categories, exchanges raised the most money in CryptoRank’s six-month period, raising around $2.5 billion. Prediction markets followed with approximately $1.9 billion, payments secured approximately $1.6 billion, and AI projects secured approximately $1.3 billion.
Blockchain companies raised nearly $767 million, while infrastructure projects secured $533 million, according to CryptoRank’s category rankings. Mining and computing companies raised $433 million, followed by brokerage firms with $393 million and real-world property projects with $340 million.
Geographically, the US remains the most active crypto VC jurisdiction, with 249 projects in the past six months, according to CryptoRank data. The UK followed with 67 projects, followed by Singapore with 57, China with 32 and Japan with 30. Canada accounted for 16 projects, compared to the United Arab Emirates with 14 and Seychelles with 12.
DeFi funding lags behind competing crypto sectors
DeFi projects raised approximately $654 million in six months, placing the sector behind exchanges, prediction markets, payments, AI, and blockchain in CryptoRank’s category table. This total also shows that DeFi continues to receive funding despite its weakened position within the venture market.
According to quarterly data from CryptoRank, VC investment in DeFi has declined for three consecutive quarters. The latest quarterly amount fell to its lowest level since Q4 2023, and the number of DeFi funding rounds in Q2 2026 fell to its lowest level since 2020.
CryptoRank numbers show that investors are becoming more selective in backing DeFi companies, with fewer projects securing funding despite continued activity elsewhere in the crypto market. At the same time, the concentration of funds in exchanges, prediction markets, and payments shows where investors put the most money during the measurement period.
Recent numbers show that the overall crypto VC market is active but uneven. CryptoRank’s monthly data shows that funding can still grow quickly when large deals close, but on the other hand, a decline in the number of deals and a slump in DeFi funding indicates increased competition among early-stage projects.
