Venture capital (VC) funding rounds are skyrocketing as the cryptocurrency bull market is back in full swing.
Aquarius, a crypto venture firm, recently announced the launch of a $600 million multistrategy liquidity fund aimed at boosting on-chain liquidity for blockchain foundations and ecosystem projects. The fund is supported by Bitrise Capital, leading miners, family offices, and influencers, according to a statement to Cointelegraph from Aquarius staff.
The $600 million strategy fund will not only assist with liquidity needs but also help build communities and develop go-to-market products for blockchain infrastructure, decentralized finance, artificial intelligence, the Bitcoin ecosystem, modular architecture, and early-stage data layer projects. Aquarius claims to be the first institutionalized fund of its kind that systematically manages on-chain liquidity for various blockchain projects.
Aquarius, founded in 2018 by venture capitalist Lin Yang in Singapore, has been involved in notable projects such as Conflux and has made investments in emerging Web2 sectors like new energy, advanced manufacturing, and finance. The firm recently moved its headquarters to New York.
As the bull market in the crypto industry heats up, crypto ecosystem projects are receiving significant funding. In April, crypto VC funding surpassed $1 billion for the second consecutive month this year. This trend hasn’t been observed since late 2022.
In a recent funding round, digital securities platform Securitize raised $47 million, led by BlackRock. Other investors included blockchain developer Aptos Labs and stablecoin issuers Paxos and Circle. Joseph Chalom, BlackRock’s global head of strategic ecosystem partnerships, will join the Securitize board of directors. He sees the investment as a step in the evolution of their digital assets strategy to meet future client needs.
Puffer Finance, a liquid staking project built on Ethereum layer-2 solution EigenLayer, secured $18 million in a Series A funding round. Investors included Coinbase Ventures and Kraken Ventures. Puffer Finance’s technology allows Ethereum validators to reduce their initial capital requirement to just 1 Ether (ETH), down from the previous 32 ETH requirement. The protocol has quickly surpassed a total value locked of $1.4 billion since its debut in February.
The cryptocurrency market has changed significantly compared to a year ago. In September 2023, Tony Cheng, a partner at Foresight Ventures, advised projects to secure as much capital as possible to survive the uncertain market conditions. Since then, Bitcoin has experienced a massive recovery, gaining over 300% since its low point in November 2022. The approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds globally and the gradual repayment of creditors’ money from the defunct exchange FTX have fueled this growth. Some venture capitalists predict that the current bull market will lead to another initial coin offering boom, surpassing the previous highs seen in early 2018.
Overall, the crypto industry is experiencing a surge in venture capital funding as the bull market gains momentum.