Crypto Venture Weekly: December 8-12, 2025

Introduction

22 projects raised $176 million this week, led by LI.FI and Real Finance ($29M each), while Strategy and Apimeds Pharmaceuticals announced over $1 billion in Bitcoin treasury allocations. Stripe acquired the Valora team, Jupiter acquired Rain.fi, Nexo acquired Buenbit, and ProCap BTC completed its public-market merger with Columbus Circle Capital, as Nyx Group launched a new $100 million liquid-focused investment vehicle. On Crypto Twitter, Ryan Watkins argued Ethereum’s neutral settlement layer is increasingly defensible, Spencer Applebaum highlighted stablecoins as the foundation for a new generation of fintechs, Dougie DeLuca warned that token unlocks are reshaping liquid market structure, and Nic Carter responded to critiques of crypto’s “casino” dynamics by reframing them as an inherent tradeoff of permissionless financial systems.

Key Highlights

• Notable Deals: LI.FI ($29M), Real Finance ($29M), Surf ($15M), Cascade ($15M), Crown ($13.5M), TestMachine ($6.5M), Magma Finance ($6M), AllScale ($5M), Pye Finance ($5M), and Goblin Finance ($1M).
• Digital Asset Treasuries: Strategy ($963M for BTC) and Apimeds Pharmaceuticals ($100M for BTC).
• M&A Activity: Stripe acquired the team behind Valora, Jupiter acquired Rain.fi, and Nexo acquired Buenbit. ProCap Financial merged with Columbus Circle Capital.
• New Funds: Nyx Group ($100M) launched.
• VC CT: Ryan Watkins argued that Ethereum’s neutral, globally shared settlement layer is now near-impossible to replicate; Spencer Applebaum explained that stablecoins are enabling a new wave of specialized fintechs; Dougie DeLuca framed token unlock schedules as the core market-structure problem in crypto; Nic Carter responded to Ken Chang’s article about crypto becoming a speculative “casino” by arguing that such outcomes are an unavoidable byproduct of permissionless financial systems.

Notable Deals

22 projects collectively raised $176 million this week. Here are the ten that stood out:

LI.FI

• The Pitch: API for swaps and bridging across EVM, Solana, and Bitcoin
• Round: $29 million Extended Series A
• Investors: Led by Multicoin Capital and CoinFund

Real Finance

• The Pitch: Real-world asset tokenization network
• Round: $29 million funding
• Investors: Led by Nimbus Capital with participation from Magnus Capital and Frekaz Group

Surf

• The Pitch: AI model built for crypto markets
• Round: $15 million funding
• Investors: Led by Pantera Capital with participation from Coinbase Ventures and DCG

Cascade

• The Pitch: 24/7 brokerage-style app for perpetual markets
• Round: $15 million funding
• Investors: Coinbase Ventures, Polychain Capital, Variant, and Archetype

Crown

• The Pitch: Creator of BRLV stablecoin, which is pegged to the Brazilian real
• Round: $13.5 million Series A at a $90 million valuation
• Investor: Led by Paradigm

TestMachine

• The Pitch: AI-driven blockchain security company
• Round: $6.5 million funding
• Investors: Led by Blockchange Ventures, Delphi Digital, New Form Capital, and Decasonic, with participation from Contango Digital Assets and more

Magma Finance

• The Pitch: Permissionless AMM DEX built on Sui
• Round: $6 million Strategic
• Investors: HashKey Capital, SNZ Holding, SevenX Ventures, Puzzle Ventures, and Topspin Venture

AllScale

• The Pitch: Self-custody stablecoin neobank
• Round: $5 million Seed
• Investors: Led by YZi Labs, Generative Ventures, and Informed Ventures, with participation from Aptos Labs, V3V Ventures, and more

Pye Finance

• The Pitch: Protocol for managing and trading stake accounts on Solana
• Round: $5 million Seed
• Investors: Led by Coinbase Ventures and Variant, with participation from Nascent, Gemini, Solana Labs, and more

Goblin Finance

• The Pitch: Building enhanced yield infrastructure on Aptos
• Round: $1 million Strategic
• Investors: Led by OKX Ventures, Gate Ventures, and Blockbooster, with participation from Aptos Labs, Avery Ching, and Hyperion

Digital Asset Treasuries

Strategy

• The Pitch: Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) disclosed its largest Bitcoin purchase in over three months, deploying ~$963M to acquire 10,624 BTC, primarily funded through common stock issuance. The transaction lifts total holdings to ~660,600 BTC (~$60B at current prices) and follows the establishment of a ~$1.4B cash reserve to support dividends and balance-sheet flexibility.
• Round: ~$963 million BTC purchase
• Investors: Public market investors

Apimeds Pharmaceuticals U.S. Inc.

• The Pitch: Apimeds Pharmaceuticals (NYSE American: APUS) closed a $100M PIPE financing to strengthen its balance sheet. As part of the transaction, ~1,000 BTC held by MindWave were transferred into a segregated, risk-managed treasury structure designed to preserve capital while generating programmatic yield.
• Round: $100 million PIPE
• Investors: Undisclosed institutional investor

M&A Activity

Stripe acquired Valora

Stripe acquired the team behind Valora, a mobile-first, self-custody wallet focused on stablecoin payments on Celo, as part of its broader push into stablecoin infrastructure. The transaction was structured as an acqui-hire, with Valora’s team joining Stripe to support product development across issuance, payments, and wallet experiences, while the Valora app and underlying technology will return to cLabs, Celo’s core development studio, for continued stewardship. The move further reinforces Stripe’s strategy to build end-to-end stablecoin services following its prior acquisitions of Bridge and Privy.

Jupiter acquired Rain.fi

Jupiter acquired Rain.fi, a fixed-term lending protocol scaling onchain credit markets on Solana, to deepen its presence in credit and structured lending. Rain’s core products and team will be gradually integrated into Jupiter’s product suite, while the Rain app will continue operating under its own banner during a transition period before being sunset. A snapshot of Rain’s Droplets community was taken on Dec. 10, 2025, with eligible users set to receive JUP allocations in early 2026 as they are onboarded into the Jupiter ecosystem. The acquisition strengthens Jupiter’s strategy to pair liquidity and distribution with credit primitives, expanding its role as a full-stack DeFi platform on Solana.

Nexo acquired Buenbit

Nexo acquired Buenbit, a CNV-registered crypto platform with a strong presence in Argentina and Peru, to accelerate its expansion across Latin America and establish Buenos Aires as its regional hub. The deal brings Buenbit’s local regulatory standing, fiat-to-crypto onramps, and customer base into Nexo’s global platform, giving Buenbit users access to Nexo’s broader suite of trading, yield, and crypto-backed credit products. Subject to regulatory approvals, the acquisition reflects Nexo’s strategy to pair global liquidity and product infrastructure with locally compliant operators in high-demand markets, as it scales across Argentina, Peru, and Mexico.

ProCap BTC merged with Columbus Circle Capital

Anthony Pompliano's bitcoin treasury firm ProCap BTC completed its SPAC merger with Columbus Circle Capital, forming a publicly traded company now renamed ProCap Financial. The combined entity will begin trading on Nasdaq under the BRR ticker, marking ProCap’s transition to the public markets as a dedicated Bitcoin treasury vehicle following its over $750M capital raise.

Other mergers and acquisitions include Inveniam acquiring Swarm Markets and Lead acquiring Loop Crypto.

Newly Launched Funds

Nyx Group – $100M

Nyx Group was launched by former Movement Labs co-founder Rushi Manche as a multi-strategy crypto investment vehicle planning to deploy up to $100 million into liquid markets. The firm targets founders it knows directly, providing liquidity alongside hands-on operational support across areas such as go-to-market strategy, community building, treasury management, tokenomics, and regulatory coordination. Backed by a group of partners and family offices, Nyx Group has already begun investing and expects to deploy capital over the next several years, positioning itself as an active partner to teams navigating the complexities of launching and scaling tokens in public markets.

VC CT: What VCs are saying on Crypto Twitter

Ryan Watkins (Syncracy Capital)

• Argued Ethereum’s neutral, globally shared settlement layer is now near-impossible to replicate, with compounding network effects from tokenization, institutional adoption, and rollup anchoring widening its moat.

Spencer Applebaum (Multicoin Capital)

• Explained that stablecoins are enabling a new wave of specialized fintechs by replacing legacy banking rails with cheaper, faster, programmable settlement.

Dougie DeLuca (Figment Capital)

• Framed token unlock schedules as the core market-structure problem in crypto, turning the 1-3 years post-TGE into a period that liquid investors avoid.

Nic Carter (Castle Island Ventures)

• Responded to Ken Chang’s article about crypto becoming a speculative “casino” by arguing that such outcomes are an unavoidable byproduct of permissionless financial systems, while reframing crypto’s purpose around pragmatic long-term goals like sound money, capital markets modernization, and global financial access.

Quick Recap

• Total Deals: 22
• Total Raised: $176M
• Digital Asset Treasuries: $1.1B
• Acquisitions: 6
• Newly Launched Funds: $100M

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

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