\n<\/p>\n
Cryptocurrency and blockchain companies raised at least $26.4 billion across 992 deals in the first five months of the year, according to data from Dove Metrics, a crypto fundraising database.<\/p>\n
The amount was triple the $8.8bn recorded in the same period last year.<\/p>\n
The biggest share of global cryptocurrency <\/a>funding during the period from January to May was taken by infrastructure (34 per cent), followed by centralised finance (26.3 per cent).<\/p>\n Cryptocurrencies have crashed in recent weeks, with Bitcoin losing <\/a>more than 50 per cent so far this year.<\/p>\n The digital asset fell below $18,000 at the weekend, and was trading below $20,000 on Thursday, making it worth less than a third of its record high of $67,734, which it hit in November.<\/p>\n Companies such as Coinbase<\/a>, Gemini Trust and Crypto.com<\/a> have laid off staff amid the recent \u201ccrypto winter\u201d \u2014 a period in which prices stay low for an extended period of time.<\/p>\n Venture capitalists have also pulled back from cryptocurrencies, despite being some of the industry\u2019s biggest cheerleaders, according to a Bloomberg report.<\/p>\n Funding deals have fallen through for start-ups at all stages, which taken valuation hits amid crises such as the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin<\/a> and the freezing of withdrawals at cryptocurrency lending platforms such as Celsius<\/a> and Babel Finance.<\/p>\n Companies are looking to raise funding at lower valuations than in previous rounds.<\/p>\n However, some start-ups in the sector are continuing to attract strong investor interest.<\/p>\n US-based start-up FalconX, a digital asset trading platform and broker for institutional investors, said on Wednesday that it had doubled its valuation to $8bn, despite the major market downturn.<\/p>\n The California-based company said it had raised $150 million in a series D funding round led by GIC and B Capital, a previous investor.<\/p>\n Updated: June 24, 2022, 3:30 AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
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