25 Apr 2022
Private capital continues to flow into the crypto industry
2022 has started where 2021 ended, with several enormous capital raises in the crypto industry. How long will the money keep flowing into this market?
In 2022, we have seen 36 crypto capital raises of more than $100 million. The biggest was Luna Foundation Guard's $1 billion raise to form a bitcoin reserve for the UST stablecoin. The second-largest was institutional crypto platform Fireblocks' $550 million raise.The international unit of crypto exchange FTX raised $400 million in January at a $32 billion valuation, while their American arm FTX US raised $400 million the same month at an $8 billion valuation.The largest raise in April was Circle's $400 million raise from Fidelity and Blackrock, giving the USDC stablecoin issuer a valuation of $9 billion.2022 started with significant capital raises, and the pace hasn't slowed down, even though the crypto market has performed worse than most investors hoped.Last year’s SPAC and IPO boom has stopped, with some companies canceling their upcoming public listings. Crypto stocks have also performed poorly recently, exemplified by Coinbase's stock dropping 55% from its listing day one year ago.With both crypto and traditional financial markets struggling, it will be interesting to see how long the private capital will continue to flow into the crypto industry.