RootData: 2024 Web3 Industry Investment Research Report

Author: RootData Research

Abstract

• According to RootData statistics, the global cryptocurrency market capitalization saw significant growth in 2024, with a total financing amount of $10.112 billion for the year, an increase of 8.3% compared to 2023. A total of 1,548 financing events occurred throughout the year, with 102 mergers and acquisitions, setting a historical record; the infrastructure sector continued to lead with a financing scale of $3.995 billion.
• Early-stage investments (under $5 million) dominated, with 627 projects completed throughout the year, a 20.6% increase from 2023, and overall project valuations gradually returned to a rational range; the total amount of the top ten transactions reached $3.028 billion, with payment giant Stripe acquiring the stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion, making it the largest single transaction; OKX Ventures became the most active investment institution in 2024 with 72 investments; Polychain led 30 projects throughout the year, focusing on infrastructure and DeFi sectors.
• The Ethereum ecosystem completed 282 financing events, with a total financing amount of $1.78 billion. The Base and Solana ecosystem projects led in growth numbers among other public chains, with growth rates of 164.8% and 69.6%, respectively. The growth rate of mature Layer 2 ecosystem dApps remained around 20%, showing a trend of self-sufficiency and independence from VC constraints.
• Infrastructure, Layer 1/2, and DeFi remain the hottest sectors in blockchain, while tags like artificial intelligence and DeSci are rapidly gaining traction. Large token unlocks are typically accompanied by positive news to boost prices, and OTC trading has the least impact on token prices.
• The first half of 2025 will see a diversified development trend in the crypto market, with DePIN, RWA, AI, and consumer-grade infrastructure being the key areas of industry development. High-performance public chains like Solana and the Move ecosystem may show impressive performance. Meanwhile, the ETH ecosystem will develop steadily under regulatory integration, promoting the entire industry towards standardization and deep integration with the real economy.

Total financing amount of $10.112 billion in 2024, an increase of 8.3% compared to 2023; the infrastructure sector achieved a financing scale of $3.995 billion

According to RootData statistics, the financing activities in the crypto market in 2024 showed a pattern of high at the beginning and low at the end, with a total financing amount of $10.112 billion for the year, an increase of 8.3% compared to 2023. The first quarter was the most active, with March alone completing $1.139 billion in financing, setting the highest for the year. The average monthly financing amount in the first half remained above $900 million, while the second half stabilized around $700 million, closing December with $742 million.

In terms of the number of financing events, there were a total of 1,548 financing events throughout the year, averaging 129 events per month. March reached a monthly high of 191 events, gradually declining thereafter, with the second half maintaining an average of around 100 events per month. Notably, the number of mergers and acquisitions reached 102, a 34.2% increase from 76 in 2023, setting a historical record. The average financing amount for the year was $9.1352 million, with a median financing amount of $4.1 million.

According to RootData statistics, the financing performance across various sectors in 2024 showed significant differentiation. The infrastructure sector continued to lead with a financing scale of $3.995 billion, an 18.22% increase from 2023, accounting for the largest share of the total financing amount for the year, with significant growth in developer platforms and stablecoins in Q3. The DeFi sector performed outstandingly, with a total financing amount of $1.493 billion, achieving a remarkable growth of 96.57% compared to 2023, ranking second in financing scale, mainly concentrated in modular, parallel EVM, DePin, and RWA directions.

The gaming sector's financing scale reached $814 million, a year-on-year increase of 21.54%. Other category projects received $1.335 billion in financing, although this represented a slight decrease of 6.72% compared to 2023, it included emerging fields such as the Meme sector, AI and Web3 integration projects, and DePin, with FHE, re-staking, and privacy computing performing actively at the beginning of the year, while security solutions and creator economy received more attention in Q3/Q4. Notably, the financing scale in the CeFi sector decreased from $991 million in 2023 to $679 million, a decline of 31.48%, but saw a brief recovery mid-year due to projects like Farcaster.

Early-stage investments dominated in 2024, growing 20.6% compared to 2023; Top 10 financing totaled $3.028 billion, accounting for 29.94% of the annual financing total

From the financing distribution data in 2024, early-stage investments (under $5 million) continued to dominate, with 627 financing events occurring throughout the year, a 20.6% increase from 520 projects in 2023, reflecting a significant acceleration in new project layouts as the market warmed up. Mid-stage investments ($5 million to $10 million) showed steady growth, with 244 projects completed in 2024, a 24.5% increase from 196 projects in 2023, while late-stage and large-scale investments (over $10 million) completed 188 projects, a slight increase from 175 projects in 2023. This change mainly stems from investors' increased risk aversion after experiencing the bear market cycle of 2022-2023, coupled with most funds completing fundraising in 2021, leading to heightened demand for mid to late-stage project investments as exit periods approached.

The top ten transactions in the 2024 Web3 financing market totaled $3.028 billion, accounting for 29.94% of the annual financing total. Among them, payment giant Stripe's acquisition of the stablecoin platform Bridge for $1.1 billion became the largest single transaction, accounting for 10.88% of the annual total financing. Following that were Bitcoin mining company Iris Energy's $413 million financing and Avalanche's $250 million OTC financing. Additionally, multiple merger transactions reflected the trend of industry consolidation. These large transactions were mainly concentrated in infrastructure, mining, and L1 sectors, demonstrating institutional investors' continued optimism towards industry infrastructure development.

OKX Ventures became the most active investment institution in 2024 with 72 investments; Polychain led 30 projects throughout the year, focusing on infrastructure and DeFi sectors

According to RootData data, in the top 10 most active investment institutions in 2024, OKX Ventures ranked first with 72 investments, primarily concentrated in the infrastructure and DeFi sectors. Notably, OKX Ventures was active in the gaming sector, making 34 investments. Following closely were MH Ventures and Cogitent Ventures, each with 56 investments. Overall, the infrastructure sector remained the most favored, with the top 10 institutions making over 38 investments in this area, while investments in DAO and tool information services were relatively low.

From the leading investment activity rankings, Polychain ranked first with 30 leading investments, clearly focusing on the infrastructure and DeFi sectors. The second place, Hack VC, made 24 leading investments, with 17 directed towards the infrastructure sector. Animoca Brands made 17 leading investments, 8 of which were directed towards gaming projects, demonstrating its professional layout in the gaming sector. Overall, sectors like NFT and DAO showed a lackluster performance in leading investments, with most institutions having zero leading investment counts in these areas.

Base and Solana ecosystem projects led in growth numbers, with mature Layer 2 ecosystem dApps maintaining a growth rate of around 20%, showing a trend of self-sufficiency

According to incomplete records, the total number of applications on Ethereum exceeds 2,500, still ranking first among public chains, and this ecosystem remains the most recognized infrastructure by investors and developers, completing a total of 282 financing events with a total financing amount of $1.78 billion.

Base and Solana ecosystem projects led in growth numbers among other public chains, with growth rates of an astonishing 164.8% and 69.6%, respectively. In addition to fast and low gas fees, the combination of blockchain and AI experiments is an important factor driving the prosperity of public chains, with Virtuals Protocol and Pump.Fun attracting a large influx of capital.

In terms of financing capability, mature Layer 2 (such as Optimism and Arbitrum) showed lackluster data, but the growth rate of ecosystem dApps remained around 20%, indicating a trend of self-sufficiency and independence from VC constraints. Hyperliquid created a myth of a tenfold increase in FDV to $30 billion within a month after TGE without any financing.

Infrastructure, Layer 1/2, and DeFi remain the hottest sectors in blockchain, while tags like artificial intelligence and DeSci are rapidly gaining traction

Based on the popular tags from RootData over the past year (with over 5,000 clicks), infrastructure, Layer 1/2, and DeFi remain the hottest sectors in blockchain, while tags like artificial intelligence and DeSci are rapidly gaining traction, with representative projects like Virtuals Protocol and Bio Protocol consistently ranking high on RootData's popularity list.

Some high-click tags typically only maintain their popularity for 1-3 months, such as DePIN, Tap to Earn, and the Bitcoin ecosystem. Besides the selling pressure from VC tokens, the lack of a good growth flywheel in the projects themselves may be one of the factors that prevent sustained capital inflow.

Large token unlocks are usually accompanied by positive news to boost prices, while OTC trading has the least impact on token prices

In 2024, VC tokens became a daunting term, as the crypto market bore the liquidity for their exit. Projects like Optimism, Sui, Aptos, Ethena, dydx, and Cardano unlocked over 30 million tokens each month. Among them, there were 9 large unlock events (with a single transaction exceeding $100 million), including INJ, MEME, PYTH, AVAX, SUI, W, JTO, APT, and TIA.

Comparing the prices before and after token unlocks, it was found that project parties could significantly boost token prices before large unlocks through advance announcements of positive news and marketing strategies. Additionally, OTC trading is the method with the least impact on token prices, effectively eliminating the risk of significant price drops.

Popular TGE projects in H1 2025 are primarily focused on BTC, artificial intelligence, and high-performance chains

Overview of popular TGE financing in H1 2025 (indicates TGE has been conducted)

• Projects with total financing exceeding $100 million include Monad, Farcaster, *EigenLayer, *Magic Eden, Berachain;
• Projects with total financing between $50 million and $100 million include Babylon, *Scroll, Morpho, Eclipse;
• Projects with total financing between $10 million and $50 million include Sahara, Nillion, *Movement, *Puffer, Initia, Walletconnect, *Usual, Lombard, Solayer, *Bio, Sophon;
• Projects with total financing less than $10 million include Roam, Symbiotic, *deBridge, *Grass.

Representative institutional investors include CEXs like Coinbase, Okex, Binance, and leading institutions like Polychain, Hack VC, IOSG, Robot Ventures, Paradigm, Variant, a16z, and Delphi Digital.

H1 2025 token unlocks and altcoin performance are influenced by tax season and macro liquidity

Macro and TGE price performance

Monad received the highest financing and support from 8 leading institutions, and is expected to be listed on Coinbase, Binance, and Okex. Eigen's actual multiple reached 43 times after its launch, with the token price maintaining excellent performance. The performance of $GRASS, $ME, and $MOVE, which launched on Binance in Q4, has been outstanding, with their launch multiples currently reaching 100-50, while $USUAL's base multiple and the last round have also reached 30 times. The performance of Layer 1 projects supported by 4 to 5 leading institutions varied, with high-performance narratives like Movement performing excellently, while the zero-knowledge proof narrative's $SCR base multiple performed poorly. Currently, the highly popular narratives include high-performance public chains Eclipse/Monad/MegaETH, Ponzi liquidity narratives like Berachain, chain abstraction like Initia, and artificial intelligence and privacy narratives like Sahara and Nillion, as well as BTC narratives like Babylon and Lombard.

Looking at the popular TGE situation in Q4, the market achieved good exit performance during the liquidity unlocking at leading CEXs amid rising blue-chip prices. Macroscopically, Trump's inauguration in January and the return of institutional liquidity after Christmas, along with the TGE tokens released before the liquidity withdrawal in the tax season from March to April, are expected to continue the prosperous scene of Q4 2024. Trump's and his WLF's support for the Ethereum + on-chain DeFi narrative and cash has also led to good token unlock performance for DeFi and dollar-pegged RWA-related concepts (like $USUAL), and the narrative capabilities of unissued projects in these tags and sectors remain promising for 2025.

H1 2025 OTC market led by Solana, high-performance narratives of the Move ecosystem

Overall, the OTC market quotation amount has risen and shows the following characteristics: a total of 262 transactions, a 3% decrease month-on-month; total order quotation amount reached $1.2 billion, a 29% increase month-on-month, with an average transaction amount of $5.2 million, a 34% increase month-on-month, with buyers accounting for 41.98% and sellers accounting for 58.02%.

Market activity has risen overall due to the increasing heat in the crypto market, with recent TGE projects like $NAM and the well-performing $OM, as well as the recently strong-performing $SOL, leading institutions to prefer short-term profits. Solana has been influenced by multiple factors, including but not limited to FTX unlocks and Galaxy Digital's proxy liquidation of staked tokens. The redemption of FTX accounts below $50,000 is expected to inject liquidity into the altcoin market after being received in Q1, with the total unlock amount reportedly as high as $10 billion, referred to by the market as a "quantitative easing" liquidity injection plan for cryptocurrencies ahead of the Federal Reserve.

Since Solana has been referred to as one of the next competitors to go through ETF after ETH joined the ETF in 2024, there has been considerable price controversy. The Solana Foundation is also actively supporting liquidity staking solutions like Solayer and RateX to reduce selling pressure. The Phantom wallet previously raised over $100 million, with the last round valuation reaching $1.2 billion, making it highly favored by institutional buyers in the OTC market, potentially increasing the probability of issuing tokens in 2025. $JTO, as Solana's largest infrastructure and AI + meme coin trading wheel, is also favored by institutions in the OTC market.

$SUI and the SUI ecosystem, as the Move language (a simplified version of Rust) modified from Facebook's Diem chain, saw its price break $4.4 by the end of 2024, a 125% increase compared to before Trump's election victory. $SUI's performance in OTC activities reflects institutional optimism about its development prospects, as its faster and cheaper transaction characteristics make it likely to become a third-generation public chain killer (previously, Solana was referred to as a second-generation public chain killer, while ETH was called the first-generation public chain BTC killer).

AI leads traditional sectors, the three giants of physical assets rise, and innovative sectors compete for over 100% annual growth

Growth rate of investment counts in the primary market tags - trend changes

In 2024, looking at the investment counts of cryptocurrency financing projects, the changes in investment preferences of investors and institutions mainly occurred in:

100 investments: The growth rate of artificial intelligence reached 128%, leading infrastructure/DeFi/gaming.

50 investments: DePin/RWA/LSD all achieved over 100% growth, and DEX/lending/payment/Layer 1/derivatives growth rates are also noteworthy.

< 50 investments: AI agents/re-staking/MEME/cloud computing/launch platforms/IoT/stablecoin issuance/DA/gambling prediction games/DEX aggregation/privacy/Bitcoin ecosystem (BRC20/runic/Ordinals) all saw growth rates exceeding 100%.

Infrastructure AI dominated the first half, DePIN and RWA rose as highlights, stablecoins and privacy broke through in the second half, and traditional sectors showed significant differentiation

Monthly changes in investment counts in the primary market tags - trend changes

In 2024, looking at the time distribution of investment counts in cryptocurrency financing projects, the changes in investment preferences of investors and institutions mainly occurred in:

100 investments: DeFi/infrastructure/artificial intelligence steadily grew, while gaming showed a gradual decline.

50 investments: DePin/RWA/Layer 1 showed increasingly fierce growth trends, while NFT/DeFi-related investments tended to decline after May due to market conditions.

< 50 investments: Stablecoins/AI agents/privacy/MEME showed growth trends in H2 2024, while BTC-related/data/tool-related investments showed a decline after H1 2024.

AI dominated large investments, RWA and DePIN rose as new favorites, while NFT and Bitcoin ecosystems receded

Proportion of investment counts in the primary market tags - trend changes

In 2024, looking at the time proportion of investment counts in cryptocurrency financing projects, the changes in investment preferences of investors and institutions mainly occurred in:

100 investments: The growth proportion of the artificial intelligence sector is significant.

50 investments: RWA/LSD/Layer 1/DePin/payment/derivatives showed significant growth, while NFT/tools/DEX/design/CeFI proportions declined significantly.

< 50 investments: AI agents/stablecoin protocols/privacy/perpetual contracts/wallets/modular/re-staking/gaming solutions/ZK/CEX/gambling/Layer 3/yield aggregators/cross-chain bridges/API/DA/intention showed significant growth, while marketing solutions/Ordinals/Bitcoin ecosystem/creator economy/mining/asset management/NFT/BRC20/DID-related investments showed significant declines.

Stablecoins lead with 433% growth, AI and infrastructure sectors attract significant capital, while FHE, parallelization, RWA, LSD, and oracle projects bloom comprehensively

Growth rate of financing amounts in the primary market tags - institutional capital trends

In 2024, looking at the financing amounts in cryptocurrency projects, the capital trends of investors and institutions mainly occurred in:

$1B tags: Stablecoin issuance/developer platforms/Layer 1/DeFi/infrastructure YoY growth rates all reached over 100%, with stablecoins and developer platforms growing at rates of 433% and 180%, respectively.

$0.25-1B tags: Modular/parallel EVM/DePin/RWA/LSD/mining all achieved over 130% growth, with artificial intelligence/mining/gaming each receiving over $0.8B in funding, while DA/Bitcoin ecosystem/derivatives/L2/ZK growth rates maintaining at 100% should not be overlooked.

< $250M tags: FHE/AI agents/oracle machines achieved over 300% growth, while social/environmental/card/gambling/Layer 3/IoT/stablecoin protocols/perpetual contracts/launch platforms saw over 150% growth.

Infrastructure sector shows steady growth, developer platforms break through in Q3, social gambling rises in Q2, and security creation gains traction in Q4

Monthly changes in financing amounts in the primary market tags - institutional capital trends

In 2024, looking at the time distribution of financing amounts in cryptocurrency projects, the capital trends of investors and institutions mainly occurred in:

$1B tags: Developer platforms and stablecoins saw significant growth in Q3, while infrastructure maintained stable growth throughout the year.

$0.25-1B tags: Modular/parallel EVM/DePin/RWA/payment/artificial intelligence showed stable growth throughout the year, with digital nation cities experiencing significant growth in Q2.

< $250M tags: FHE/re-staking/privacy/card games/studios/MEV/cross-chain saw significant growth at the beginning of the year, while Layer 3/social graphs/CeFi/gambling games experienced significant growth mid-year due to the elections and Farcaster, with security solutions/creator economy/custody/interoperability receiving more attention from institutions in Q3/Q4.

Developer platforms and stablecoins lead strongly in Q3, cloud computing and FHE rise, while NFT and metaverse show significant retreat

Proportion of financing amounts in the primary market tags - institutional capital trends

In 2024, looking at the time proportion of financing amounts in cryptocurrency projects, the changes in investment preferences of investors and institutions mainly occurred in:

$1B tags: Developer platforms/stablecoin issuers/Layer 1/DeFi saw a significant increase in proportion after Q3.

$0.25-1B tags: DA/data nations saw a significant increase in proportion after Q3, while modular/parallel EVM/DePin/RWA/LSD/mining/lending saw an increase in proportion throughout the year, and wallets/payment/CEX/gaming/social/ZK saw a decline in proportion.

< $250M tags: Cloud computing/FHE/AI agents/social graphs/Layer 3/oracles/prediction markets/environmental solutions/card games/gambling games/launch platforms/chain abstraction/NFT lending/CeFi/DID saw a significant increase in proportion starting from Q1, while re-staking/gaming solutions/privacy/DEX/staking services saw a steady increase in proportion throughout the year, and NFT/metaverse/tools/custody/cross-chain/interoperability/music/CeFi asset management saw a significant decline in proportion.

Bitcoin ecosystem grows 162% to a record high, Cosmos/Solana grow 144/93% closely behind, TON, SUI, and DOT see 100% growth, while Ethereum maintains a strong lead with $1.1 billion

Growth rate of financing amounts in the primary market ecosystems - ecosystem potential

In 2024, looking at the financing amounts in the primary market ecosystems, the ecosystems attracting investor and institutional capital mainly include:

$200M total financing: BTC/Cosmos/Solana saw growth rates close to 100%, with BTC growing by 162%, Cosmos by 144%, and Base by 67%, with total amounts surpassing BNB/OP/Polygon/AVAX, while Ethereum maintained steady growth with $1.13B total financing and a 61% growth rate.

$30-200M total financing: Ton achieved the largest increase with a 316% growth rate and $66M, followed closely by SUI and DOT with 175% ($37M) and 158% ($50M) growth rates, respectively. Scroll secured the first place with $112M in financing, while others receiving over $50M in financing include Mantra/Linear/Zksync/Blast/Sonic.

ETH ecosystem leads in Q1 but declines, while Solana and Base steadily attract capital, and TON and SUI lead the new forces

Monthly changes in financing amounts in the primary market ecosystems - ecosystem potential

In 2024, looking at the financing amounts in the primary market ecosystems, the ecosystems attracting investor and institutional capital mainly include:

$200M total financing: BTC/ETH/Avalanche/Polygon/Optimism saw strong growth in Q1 but experienced significant declines throughout the year, while Solana/Base/Arbitrum/BNB/Cosmos maintained stable financing amounts throughout the year.

$30-200M total financing: TON/SUI/Babylon/Scroll/Berachain/Sonic.

BTC and Cosmos expand steadily, Solana and Base emerge strongly, while TON and SUI lead the new forces, and the AVAX ecosystem gives way

Proportion of financing amounts in the primary market ecosystems - ecosystem potential

In 2024, looking at the financing amounts in the primary market ecosystems, the ecosystems attracting investor and institutional capital mainly include:

$200M total financing: BTC/Cosmos/Solana/Base showed significant growth throughout the year, while Avax/Polygon saw significant declines.

$30-200M total financing: TON/SUI/DOT/Starknet/Babylon/Aurora showed significant growth throughout the year, while others showed little change in proportion.

From speculation to value: ETH leads the standardization of DeFi, regulatory integration promotes industry upgrades, performance innovation leads the future, and deep integration with the real economy

In 2024, the investment landscape in the crypto market underwent a significant shift. Although the total financing amount in the fields of artificial intelligence, infrastructure, and DeFi reached $9.346 billion for the year (basically on par with $9.615 billion in 2023), the focus of investment has shifted significantly. Financing for Bitcoin-related projects grew by 162% year-on-year, mainly benefiting from the renaissance of Bitcoin's BRC20/BTC scripts and the push for ETFs; the artificial intelligence sector performed outstandingly in Q4, with a surge in financing frequency, highlighting the accelerating integration of AI and crypto technology; at the same time, RWA, Layer 1, and DePin have risen as new investment hotspots, while traditional NFT and GameFi sectors have gradually cooled down. From the perspective of ecosystem development, Ethereum maintained its dominant position with $1.13 billion in financing and a 61% growth rate, while the Cosmos and Solana ecosystems achieved significant growth rates of 144% and nearly 100%, respectively. Emerging ecosystems performed even more brightly, with TON growing by 316% and SUI by 175%.

It is worth noting that while traditional sectors (infrastructure, DeFi) maintained stability in 2024, the market focus is accelerating its shift. The Bitcoin ecosystem is undergoing structural changes; although Layer 2 scalability solutions have made technical progress, they still face challenges in user adoption and liquidity decentralization, and the development of the BRC20 ecosystem has encountered issues such as network congestion and infrastructure support. However, traditional investors are gradually participating in BTC investments through ETF products. At the same time, the success of AI meme coins in 2024 has also attracted the attention of institutional investors, driving a large amount of capital towards supporting the development of AI infrastructure.

Looking ahead to 2025, with a large influx of capital, the AI sector is expected to move from concept to implementation, focusing on developing decentralized training, reasoning, data governance, privacy protection, and AI autonomous trading infrastructure. Under the clarification of the regulatory framework in the United States, especially with policies like the SEC simplifying token registration processes and the repeal of SAB 121, the RWA market is expected to flourish, with explosive growth anticipated in the tokenization of U.S. Treasury bonds, institutional-grade bonds, and real estate. High-performance public chain sectors (such as Solana, SUI, and emerging Monad and Eclipse) will be validated in terms of trading performance, scalability, and complex application scenarios. DePin and IoT infrastructure will begin to scale, combining with the real economy and cash flow income, integrating decentralized computing, distributed storage, and other technologies to form product forms aimed at traditional consumers. Meanwhile, DeFi 2.0 will develop under a clear regulatory background, with institutional-level DeFi liquidity provision becoming a new standard.

In 2025, the market will shift from chasing short-term hotspots to building long-term value, with project valuations increasingly based on actual adoption and cash flow performance rather than speculative expectations. This transition process will change the business and development logic of the entire industry, marking an important turning point towards maturity in the crypto industry.

“RootData: 2024 Web3 Industry Investment Research Report” PDF version

“RootData: 2024 Web3 Industry Investment Research Report” PDF version

“RootData: Báo cáo nghiên cứu đầu tư ngành Web3 năm 2024” Phiên bản PDF