Crypto Venture Weekly: August 18-22, 2025

Introduction

16 projects raised $80 million this week, led by DigiFT ($11M) and Irys ($10M), while LM Funding America and Amdax expanded their Bitcoin treasury strategies with fresh allocations. Kraken acquired Capitalise.ai, Valantis acquired stakedHYPE, and Kerberus acquired Pocket Universe. On the investor side, Jon Charbonneau contrasted fundamentals-driven investing with flows-driven speculation, Regan Bozman warned founders against launching on unproven L1s, and David Sverdlov & Aiden Slavin clarified misconceptions around blockchain privacy. Here’s the breakdown of this week’s top deals and insights.

Key Highlights

• Notable Deals: DigiFT ($11M), Irys ($10M), OVERTAKE ($7M), Legion ($5M), LO:TECH ($5M), o1.exchange ($4.2M), LYS Labs ($4M), and Loop Crypto ($2M).
• Digital Asset Treasuries: LM Funding America ($23M for BTC) and Amdax (BTC).
• M&A Activity: Kraken acquired Capitalise.ai, Valantis acquired stakedHYPE, and Kerberus acquired Pocket Universe.
• VC CT: Jon Charbonneau outlined a framework contrasting fundamentals-driven investing with flows-driven speculation; Regan Bozman argued that early-stage crypto founders often make the strategic mistake of launching on emerging L1s; and David Sverdlov & Aiden Slavin explained how blockchain privacy is misunderstood.

Notable Deals

16 projects collectively raised $80 million this week. Here are the eight that stood out:

DigiFT

• The Pitch: A Singapore-based real-world asset (RWA) exchange
• Round: $11 million Strategic
• Investors: Led by SBI Holdings with participation from Polygon, Mirana Ventures, Offchain Labs, and more

Irys

• The Pitch: Building a programmable datachain for decentralized storage
• Round: $10 million Series A
• Investors: Led by CoinFund, with participation from Hypersphere Ventures, Amber Group, WAGMI Ventures, Breed VC, and more

OVERTAKE

• The Pitch: A peer-to-peer marketplace on Sui for trading gaming assets
• Round: $7 million Strategic
• Investors: Sui Foundation, Immutable, Green Whale Ventures, JB Investment, and more

Legion

• The Pitch: Fundraising platform offering early access to ICOs and pre-token sales
• Round: $5 million Seed
• Investor: Led by VanEck and Brevan Howard Digital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, GSR, Bitscale Capital, Crypto.com Capital, and more

LO:TECH

• The Pitch: A London-based digital asset trading firm
• Round: $5 million Seed
• Investor: Led by 13books Capital with participation from Faction VC, CRIT Ventures, Veris Ventures, Mark Ransford, and more

o1.exchange

• The Pitch: Building a fully-fledged onchain trading terminal on Base
• Round: $4.2 million funding
• Investor: Led by Coinbase Ventures and Alliance DAO

LYS Labs

• The Pitch: Building machine-ready contextualized data for the internet capital markets
• Round: $4 million Seed
• Investors: Led by Alchemy, Auros Global, and Frachtis, with participation from dingaling, Scott Moore, Public Works, and more

Loop Crypto

• The Pitch: A crypto and stablecoin payment processor
• Round: $2 million Strategic
• Investors: Led by Fabric Ventures and VanEck, with participation from a16z crypto, Archetype, Mert Mumtaz, and more

Digital Asset Treasuries

In recent months, digital asset treasury activity has accelerated, with corporate and structured vehicles increasingly accumulating tokens at scale. Here are notable examples from the past week:

LM Funding America

• The Pitch: LM Funding America (Nasdaq: LMFA), a Bitcoin treasury and mining company, raised $23 million through a $12.6 million registered direct offering and a $10.4 million private placement to expand its Bitcoin holdings. The company, which launched its Bitcoin treasury strategy in 2021 and mining operations in 2022, has accumulated 150 BTC alongside 26 MW of mining capacity and recently agreed to acquire an additional 11 MW site in Mississippi.
• Round: $23 million Registered Direct Offering and Private Placement
• Investors: N/A

Amsterdam Bitcoin Treasury Strategy

• The Pitch: Amdax, an Amsterdam-based cryptocurrency service provider, plans to launch Amsterdam Bitcoin Treasury Strategy (AMBTS) on the Dutch stock exchange Euronext Amsterdam. The firm will raise capital from private investors in an initial financing round, with the long-term goal of acquiring at least 1% of the total bitcoin supply.
• Round: N/A
• Investors: N/A

M&A Activity

Kraken acquired Capitalise.ai

Kraken acquired the assets and technology of Capitalise.ai, a no-code trading automation platform founded in 2015, to strengthen Kraken Pro. Capitalise.ai enables users to research, design, and automate strategies across equities, crypto, FX, and derivatives using natural language inputs. A phased rollout into Kraken Pro will begin later this year, giving traders the ability to automate cross-asset strategies directly on the platform. Capitalise.ai’s co-founders and key team members will join Kraken to advance the technology within the Pro business unit.

Valantis acquired stakedHYPE

Valantis acquired stakedHYPE, the protocol behind stHYPE, a liquid staking token (LST) for the Hyperliquid ecosystem. The acquisition unifies development under Valantis, which will oversee stHYPE’s transition to CoreWriter and expand integrations, liquidity, and yield opportunities. stHYPE will be upgraded into a modular LST with synchronous liquidity across HyperEVM and HyperCore, enabling deeper DeFi interactions while maintaining security. Community Codes, stHYPE’s referral system for integrators, will also be expanded.

Kerberus acquired Pocket Universe

Kerberus acquired Pocket Universe, a browser extension that protects users from malicious Web3 transactions across 11 chains, with features like rug detection and coverage on transactions up to $20,000. The acquisition combines Pocket Universe’s transaction-level safeguards with Kerberus Sentinel3’s real-time scam site detection, onchain protection, and $30,000 coverage guarantee. Pocket Universe will continue operating with its existing user experience while integrating Sentinel3’s technology, expanding protection to all EVM chains and Solana, and introducing mobile and desktop security products. Pocket Universe’s founders will step back, while Kerberus adds Crypto Banter’s Ran Neuner as a strategic advisor to help scale adoption.

VC CT: What VCs are saying on Crypto Twitter

Jon Charbonneau (DBA)

• Outlined a framework contrasting fundamentals-driven investing with flows-driven speculation, arguing that focusing more on fundamentals could produce alpha as the crypto industry matures.

Regan Bozman (Lattice)

• Argued that early-stage crypto founders often make the strategic mistake of launching on emerging L1s, which add unnecessary risks compared to deploying on established ecosystems like Ethereum or Solana.

David Sverdlov | Aiden Slavin (a16z crypto)

• Explained how blockchain privacy is misunderstood, dispelling myths through historical context and showing how cryptographic tools like zero-knowledge proofs and encryption can protect users while supporting compliance.

Quick Recap

• Total Deals: 16
• Total Raised: $80M
• Digital Asset Treasuries: $23M
• Acquisitions: 3
• Newly Launched Funds: 0

That’s a wrap for this week’s Crypto Venture Weekly. Thanks for tuning in, and see you next week!

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