Crypto venture-capital investment rebounded sharply in the second quarter of 2026, reaching $5.683 billion across 384 deals, according to Galaxy Research's quarterly report published September 16. Capital deployed rose 31% from the first quarter, while transaction count increased 10%. The recovery followed a weak Q1, when crypto and blockchain startups raised roughly $4 billion across 355 deals.
The rebound was concentrated among mature companies. Later-stage startups received approximately 78% of invested capital, while pre-seed rounds accounted for 21% of transactions. Trading, exchange, investing and lending companies attracted the largest share, collecting about $3.523 billion—nearly three-fifths of all Q2 venture capital across 51 deals. DeFi followed with roughly $478 million. Galaxy also reported the median crypto deal size reached a record of about $4.9 million, although valuation data was available for only 16% of transactions.
Geographically, U.S.-headquartered companies captured 73.5% of invested capital and 39.1% of completed deals. The United Kingdom accounted for 4% of capital, and France 3.2%. Galaxy noted the link between bitcoin prices and crypto venture activity remains weaker than in the 2017 and 2021 cycles, even as both bitcoin and venture investment rose during Q2.
First-half crypto venture investment totaled $10.018 billion across 744 deals, an annualized pace of about $20.037 billion, slightly below the $20.3 billion recorded in 2025. However, fund creation stayed constrained: only five new crypto-focused funds raised about $3.9 billion, the fewest since 2019. Galaxy cited competition for institutional capital from artificial intelligence, spot crypto exchange-traded products and digital asset treasury companies as factors. Recent disclosed deals included Payward, Kraken's parent, receiving a $100 million investment from Nasdaq Ventures, Latitude raising $35 million for stablecoin payments, and Antarctic Exchange announcing $7 million for its derivatives platform.
