Former Goldman Sachs executive Raoul Pal predicts that institutional investment in cryptocurrencies will drive the total market cap to over $10 trillion, more than triple its peak in 2021, as financial institutions follow the lead of family offices in entering the crypto space.
In July, capital inflows from venture capitalists in the crypto sector decreased by 10.26%, with $700 million raised, as macroeconomic conditions and geopolitical events continued to impact investment decisions, although some notable outliers, such as Polychain Capital and CoinFund, launched new funds totaling millions of dollars, and the potential approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the U.S. could bring renewed attention and capital into the industry. Infrastructure and Web3 sectors received the most capital inflows, while overall investor activity in the blockchain industry remained low, suggesting a slow return to a steady upward trend.
Nvidia's market capitalization surpassed that of the entire crypto market, reaching $1.18 trillion, after the chipmaker reported strong financial results, including double the net profit compared to the previous year, highlighting its leadership in AI hardware production and emphasizing the need for the crypto industry to embrace tokenization for similar growth.
Main topic: The capital crunch in the crypto industry and its impact on Bitcoin-focused companies, using Blockstream as an example.
Key points:
1. The crypto industry has experienced a significant decrease in capital deployment due to regulatory scrutiny and skeptical investors.
2. Bitcoin-focused companies, including Blockstream, are struggling to raise funds as fewer checks are being written.
3. Blockstream, which relies on traditional VC investment rather than issuing its own token, has faced challenges amid the funding crunch and the turbulence in the crypto market.
Venture capital firm Vessel Capital has launched a $55 million fund to invest in Web3 infrastructure and applications, aiming to assist early-stage crypto founders in launching and growing their projects by providing guidance and advice. The fund's resources will be deployed over a five-year period, and the team's experience as startup founders will enable them to better understand entrepreneurs' needs.
Five crypto and blockchain-based companies raised a total of $24 million this week, with notable fundraises including $13 million for bitcoin mining company Nodal Power and $5 million for crypto lender Maple Finance.
Decentralized finance (DeFi) has been heavily impacted by the crypto bear market, with the total value locked in DeFi reaching its lowest point since February 2021, as investors withdraw approximately $170 billion in deposits due to decreased yields and increased exploits. However, newer protocols like Unibot are attempting to simplify the DeFi experience and show promising signs for reigniting the DeFi space.
ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood predicts that the market capitalization of cryptocurrencies will increase by over 2,100% in less than seven years, driven by institutional investment and the potential approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), with the total crypto market cap potentially reaching $25 trillion by 2030.
Crypto analyst 'Sunnydecree' highlighted the paradoxical behavior of people being hesitant to buy Bitcoin at $26,000, despite major asset managers like BlackRock seeking to enter the crypto space and the potential for future price increases.
Market makers in the crypto sector are facing increased costs and lower profitability as investors shy away from the industry following a $2 trillion market crash, leading them to diversify their activities, store digital assets away from trading venues, and use them as collateral to borrow tokens for deployment on crypto platforms.
Crypto funding in August appeared promising with a $819 million investment, but without two large funding rounds, it would have actually shown a decline from July and a significant decline from the same time last year, reflecting a continuing slowdown in the industry.
Despite a decrease in venture capital investments in June, new crypto projects are still attracting funding, including Orbital's $6.4 million raise for expanding blockchain payment infrastructure, unshETH's $3.3 million seed round for decentralized finance solutions, ZTX's $13 million funding for Web3 infrastructure development, Stroom Network's $3.5 million raise for Bitcoin staking, and Fxhash's $5 million funding for its digital art platform.
Around $150 billion worth of capital could enter the Bitcoin market if BlackRock's BTC spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) gets approved, according to a senior Bloomberg ETF analyst.
Artificial intelligence and analytics firm Databricks has raised over $500 million in a Series I funding round, including strategic investor Nvidia, as it prepares for an anticipated IPO and expands its partnership with Nvidia to focus on generative AI. The fundraising round values Databricks at $43 billion and positions it as the eighth-most valuable private company globally. The company is closely monitoring the IPO market but will not be quick to go public, waiting for the macro environment to stabilize.
The crypto industry experienced significant capital outflows of $55 billion in August, leading to a liquidity crunch that allows isolated events to have a greater impact on prices and market movements, according to an analysis from Bitfinex.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong advocates for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and suggests legal action to establish a legal precedent, while MakerDAO's founder believes decentralized stablecoins could dominate the crypto market, and Polygon CEO acknowledges the success of their $1 billion investment in zero-knowledge proof rollups. Additionally, market surveillance firm Solidus Labs reveals that decentralized exchanges have become a hotspot for wash trading, and a DeFi advocacy group petitions to stop a patent troll from targeting DeFi protocols. Despite a mixed week for the top 100 DeFi tokens, the total value locked into DeFi protocols remains above $49 billion.
Bitcoin is expected to experience a significant increase in value and reach a fair value of $100,000, driven by institutional capital inflows and the approval of Bitcoin ETFs, according to Mark Yusko, founder of Morgan Creek Capital.
Blockchain Capital has raised $580 million for two new funds, with $380 million allocated for early-stage companies and protocols, and $200 million for late-stage investments, indicating continued investor interest despite the subdued state of the digital asset market.
Crypto funds have experienced outflows of $455 million over the past nine weeks, with bitcoin accounting for 85% of the outflows, as investors continue to withdraw funds despite recent legal victories for the industry.
Summary: Economic activity in the DeFi sector dropped by 15.5% in August, according to an analysis by investment management fund VanEck, while blockchain capital announced two new crypto-focused funds totaling $580 million, and Balancer protocol attributed its recent exploit to a vulnerability in its DNS service provider. Additionally, Chainlink and Arbitrum have partnered for decentralized application development, and the top 100 DeFi tokens experienced a bearish week.
Blockchain Capital closes two new funds with $580 million to be invested in crypto gaming and decentralized finance projects, while venture capital firms SkyBridge Capital, Atlas Merchant Capital, and Vector Capital are among the final bidders to acquire SVB Capital, the venture arm of Silicon Valley Bank. Additionally, Nomura launches a new Bitcoin fund, and Citi Token Services provides payments and liquidity through its private blockchain. Hut 8 also receives final approval for its merger with US Bitcoin.
Crypto analyst Nicholas Merten predicts a significant contraction in the total market capitalization of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, with Bitcoin potentially facing a plunge of over 43% and stabilizing between $15,000 and $16,000 as the market potentially finds a foothold around the $650 billion cap.
Cryptocurrency funds are expected to grow from $50 billion to $650 billion in the next five years, according to analysts.
The crypto fund management business could see assets of up to $650 billion in five years due to the expected launch of spot-based bitcoin ETFs, according to a research report by broker Bernstein.
The global blockchain finance market is predicted to become a $79.3 billion industry by 2032, driven by the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the potential for reduced operational costs, with collaborations and acquisitions being heavily explored as a top strategy by market players.
Crypto investments surged by $78 million, with Bitcoin and Solana leading the way, according to CoinShares' latest investment report. Bitcoin received $43 million in inflows, while Solana experienced its largest weekly inflow since March 2022.
Crypto investors have moved over $500 million worth of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital assets to cryptocurrency exchanges and unknown wallets, according to data from Whale Alert.
Investors have poured $2.3 billion into the crypto gaming sector in the first nine months of 2023, with $600 million invested in the last quarter, making it the leading decentralized application (DApp) category, according to blockchain intelligence platform DappRadar; however, this figure represents only 30% of last year's total, suggesting external market conditions may be a factor.
The market for tokenized assets, including crypto and traditional financial products, could reach $10 trillion by 2030, according to a report by digital asset manager 21.co, as crypto and traditional finance merge through tokenization.
According to data analytics firm CryptoQuant, the approval of bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) could lead to bitcoin becoming a $900 billion asset and the total crypto market growing by $1 trillion, with the potential inflow from ETFs being larger than that of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) in the last bull market cycle. This scenario could push bitcoin's price to between $50,000 and $73,000, and historically, for every $1 of fresh money entering the bitcoin market, the market capitalization could increase by $3-$5.
Bitcoin's market cap could reach $900 billion if spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are approved next year, leading to an influx of institutional money into the market, according to a report by CryptoQuant. This could also raise the entire crypto market cap by $1 trillion.
Crypto analyst DonAlt has re-entered the market with a long position on Bitcoin, buying in at $27,000, while fellow analyst Credible Crypto is also bullish on Bitcoin, stating that the cryptocurrency has "launched" and could see significant gains if it stays above $28,600.
Bitcoin strengthens as its trading volume surges, reaching the third-highest level in the last 60 days, driven primarily by bitcoin trading; Hong Kong eases restrictions on the sale of spot products to professional investors, potentially paving the way for spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs); The first-ever coins released by Uniswap creator Hayden Adams, called HayCoin (HAY), are now trading at over $3 million per token after Adams burned the majority of the token supply.
Blockchain security startup Blockaid has raised $33 million in Series A funding, led by Ribbit Capital and Variant, to scale its technology that prevents malicious transactions, and has announced partnerships with customers including MetaMask and OpenSea. Blockaid's security platform has scanned 450 million transactions in the past three months, thwarting 1.2 million malicious transactions and protecting $500 million in user funds. The funding will be used to further develop its blockchain security offering.
Cryptocurrency funds received over $61 million in new capital, with the majority being invested in Bitcoin funds, as investors await the arrival of a Bitcoin ETF in the US market.
