Crypto Venture Weekly: Feb. 9-13, 2026

Introduction

18 projects raised $62 million this week, led by Inference Research ($20M), Avenia ($17M), and LevlFi ($7M), while Strategy, Bitmine, and DDC Enterprise added roughly $91.5million in digital asset treasury allocations. Inveniam merged with MEASA Partners. On Crypto Twitter, Chris Dixon stated that crypto remains in its financial infrastructure phase, Jonah Burian argued that Aave had matured into a bank-scale DeFi lender, and Jay Yu explained how crypto neobanks were forming.

Key Highlights

• Notable Deals: Inference Research ($20M), Avenia ($17M), LevlFi ($7M), Superset ($4M), Birch Hill ($2.5M), edgeX ($Undisclosed)
• Digital Asset Treasuries: Strategy ($42.8M for BTC), Bitmine ($42M for ETH), and DDC Enterprise ($6.7M for BTC).
• M&A Activity: Inveniam merged with MEASA Partners
• VC CT: Chris Dixon stated that crypto is still in its financial infrastructure phase, with non-financial use cases delayed until adoption and regulatory clarity improve; Jonah Burian argued that Aave had matured into a bank-scale DeFi lender; and Jay Yu explained that crypto neobanks were forming by combining wallets, stablecoins, and DeFi into permissionless banking apps.

Notable Deals

18 projects collectively raised $62 million this week. Here are the six that stood out:

Inference Research

• The Pitch: A quant trading firm leveraging AI across digital assets and traditional finance
• Round: $20 million Seed
• Investors: Led by Avenir Group

Avenia

• The Pitch: Stablecoin payment rails for LATAM and global markets
• Round: $17 million Series A
• Investors: Led by Quona Capital and Big_Bets with participation from Sequoia Capital, Accel, Headline, Endeavor, and more

LevlFi

• The Pitch: Stablecoin infrastructure for fintechs
• Round: $7 million Seed
• Investors: Led by Galaxy Ventures with participation from CMCC Global, Stanford Blockchain Builders Fund, Protagonist, FalconX, Deus X Capital, and OpenFX

Superset

• The Pitch: Unified liquidity execution layer for stablecoins, tokenized deposits, and onchain FX
• Round: $4 million Seed
• Investors: Led by 7RIDGE and Exponential Science with participation from Orange DAO, DWF Labs, Contribution Capital, Distributed Capital Partners, and more

Birch Hill

• The Pitch: Institutional onchain credit infrastructure
• Round: $2.5 million Pre-Seed
• Investors: Led by ParaFi Capital and Castle Island Ventures with participation from Nascent, EV3, Flowdesk, FalconX, The Operating Group, and more

edgeX

• The Pitch: A DEX offering perpetual futures and spot trading
• Round: Strategic pre-TGE
• Investors: Circle Ventures

Digital Asset Treasuries

Strategy

• The Pitch: Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) made a modest bitcoin acquisition during last week's crypto market crash, purchasing 555 BTC for approximately $42.8 million at an average price of around $77,117 per coin. The purchase was made amid significant market volatility and steep price declines across crypto markets. Total holdings now stand at approximately 528,185 BTC.
• Round: ~$42.8 million Bitcoin purchase
• Investors: Public market investors

Bitmine

• The Pitch: Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: BMNR) acquired approximately 20,000 ETH for $41.98 million, expanding its holdings to 4.29 million ETH as the asset trades near yearly lows around $2,117. The purchase moves the firm past 70% of its long-term goal to control 5% of Ethereum's total circulating supply.
• Round: ~$42 million ETH purchase
• Investors: Public market investors

DDC Enterprise

• The Pitch: DDC Enterprise (NYSEAMERICAN: DDC) added 100 BTC to its treasury, marking its fifth consecutive week of bitcoin acquisitions. Total holdings now stand at 1,988 BTC, acquired at an average cost basis of ~$85,756 per coin. The company is pursuing an aggressive 36-month plan to accumulate 5,000 BTC for its strategic reserve.
• Round: ~$6.7 million Bitcoin purchase
• Investors: Public market investors

M&A Activity

Inveniam merged with MEASA Partners

Inveniam merged with MEASA Partners to target the fast growing tokenized real-world asset market, combining decentralized asset data infrastructure with a $700B+ institutional investment network. The deal aims to improve transparency, pricing, and liquidity for private RWAs and expand regulated digital market access.

VC CT: What VCs are saying on Crypto Twitter

Chris Dixon (a16z crypto)

• Stated that crypto remains in its financial infrastructure phase and that non-financial use cases are delayed rather than failed, with broader tokenized ownership applications expected to emerge as adoption scales and regulatory clarity improves.

Jonah Burian (Blockchain Capital)

• Argued that Aave had matured into a bank-scale DeFi lender and that its next step was owning the product layer, with DAO-aligned app teams sending product revenue to the treasury to compete with fintechs and institutions.

Jay Yu (Pantera Capital)

• Explained that crypto neobanks were forming by combining wallets, stablecoins, and DeFi into permissionless banking apps, with trading and lending as the main growth wedges and privacy, compliance, and credit as the next unlocks.

Quick Recap

• Total Deals: 18
• Total Raised: $62M
• Digital Asset Treasuries: $91.5M
• Merges: 1
• 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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