Vc Roundup: Selective Capital, Shrinking Rounds Highlight Crypto’s...

Funding now targets infrastructure, stablecoins and payments as big bets fade and Bitcoin projects bootstrap.

The crypto venture capital landscape remains subdued in the fourth quarter, with fewer high-profile funding rounds closing compared to earlier in the year.

Kaden Stadelmann, chief technology officer at Komodo Platform, told Cointelegraph that the “crypto sector is facing pressure from numerous angles,” noting that AI has siphoned considerable demand from crypto, and that “VC investment in AI far outpaces VC investment into crypto.”

Stadelmann also cited macroeconomic uncertainty as a reason venture capital firms are taking a more cautious approach.

At the same time, much of the remaining activity has shifted toward the core Bitcoin (BTC) business ecosystem, which often doesn’t rely on traditional venture funding.

“Bitcoin-focused ventures can bootstrap through community and network support rather than VC,” said Gabe Salinas, CEO of Alamo Labs and founder of the San Antonio Bitcoin Club.

Despite the slowdown, capital is still flowing selectively into projects that build the plumbing of the digital asset economy, particularly in areas such as stablecoins, payment infrastructure and decentralized trading platforms.

The latest edition of VC Roundup explores funding rounds from Telcoin, Hercle, Momentum, Temple Digital Group and Ark Research.

Telcoin, a fintech company developing blockchain-based financial services, has raised $25 million in an ongoing pre-Series A funding round to advance the launch of its digital asset bank, which is expected later this year.

The funding forms part of Telcoin’s capitalization requirements under its conditionally approved Nebraska Digital Asset Depository Institution (N-DADI) charter — a special state-level banking framework that allows institutions to custody digital assets and offer blockchain-based financial services under US banking supervision.

Source: CoinTelegraph