In the first quarter of 2021, venture capital funding for crypto companies totalled about $2.6 billion. That exceeds the entire previous year, in which the sector attracted $2.3 billion, according to Bloomberg , citing CB Insights.
The analytics firm tallied 129 deals for the period, versus 341 in 2020.
Much of the uptick was driven by several large rounds for blockchain startups, including the crypto-lending platform BlockFi, the NFT-platform developer the Dapper Labs project and the exchange Blockchain.com. Collectively, they raised more than $950 million.
Investment inflows were also aided by Bitcoin hitting new highs and by the growing number of corporate buyers of digital gold, such as Tesla, analysts noted.
The Block estimated last year that venture funding in the crypto industry stood at $3.1 billion and 774 deals.
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