17 projects raised $250 million this week, led by Mesh ($75M), Talos ($45M), and Flying Tulip ($25.5M), while Strategy, BitMine Immersion Technologies, and Strive collectively deployed $410 million into bitcoin and ether treasuries. DefiLlama completed its first acquisition with the purchase of OTC data provider Bulletin, and Escape Velocity launched its $61.7 million EV3 Venture Fund II focused on early-stage crypto and DePIN. On Crypto Twitter, Jay Yu outlined a lifecycle framework for Internet Capital Markets and value accrual, Balaji Srinivasan framed Bitcoin’s seizure resistance as a hedge against a deepening fiat crisis, and Haseeb Qureshi highlighted emerging AI agent social networks and urged hands-on experimentation with new AI tools.
VC CT: Jay Yuoutlined a lifecycle framework for Internet Capital Markets and value accrual dynamics; Balaji Srinivasanframed Bitcoin’s seizure resistance as a hedge against a deepening fiat crisis; and Haseeb Qureshihighlighted emerging AI agent social networks while encouraging hands-on experimentation with AI.
Notable Deals
17 projects collectively raised $250 million this week. Here are the eight that stood out:
The Pitch: Strategy (Nasdaq: MSTR) continued its weekly bitcoin accumulation but at a slower pace, purchasing 2,932 BTC for ~$264.1 million at an average price of ~$90,061 per coin. The acquisition marks a deceleration from the $1+ billion buys in the prior two weeks. Total holdings now stand at 712,647 BTC, acquired for ~$54.19 billion at an average cost of ~$76,037 per coin.
Round: ~$264 million Bitcoin purchase
Investors: Public market investors
BitMine Immersion Technologies
The Pitch: BitMine Immersion Technologies (Nasdaq: BMNR), led by Tom Lee, made its largest Ethereum purchase of 2026, acquiring 40,302 ETH for ~$116 million. The buy extends the firm’s aggressive ETH accumulation strategy, bringing total holdings to 4.24 million ETH, valued at ~$12.2 billion. BitMine now controls more than 3.5% of ETH’s circulating supply and has staked ~2.01 million ETH (~$5.8 billion), nearly half of its total holdings.
Round: ~$116 million Ethereum purchase
Investors: Public market investors
Strive
The Pitch: Strive (Nasdaq: ASST) expanded its bitcoin treasury, purchasing 334 BTC at an average price of ~$89,851. Total holdings now stand at 13,132 BTC, valued at approximately $1.17 billion, placing Strive among the top corporate holders of bitcoin. The firm also reported a quarter-to-date bitcoin yield of 21.2%.
Round: ~$30 million Bitcoin purchase
Investors: Public market investors
M&A Activity
DefiLlama acquired Bulletin
DefiLlamaacquiredBulletin, an OTC data provider that aggregates hard-to-find bids, asks, and secondary transactions for private crypto companies and tokens, marking DefiLlama’s first acquisition. The deal adds proprietary OTC market data to DefiLlama’s platform, complementing its existing protocol analytics by providing greater visibility into secondary valuations for private crypto assets. Bulletin’s data will be integrated into DefiLlama’s paid offerings, with founder David Mirzadeh remaining involved as an advisor.
Newly Launched Funds
EV3 Venture Fund II – $61.74M
Escape Velocity (EV3) closed its oversubscribed $61.74 million Venture Fund II, focused on early-stage crypto startups with an emphasis on community-driven networks and DePIN. The fund will deploy larger pre-seed and seed checks with deeper founder involvement, targeting user-generated services, crypto-native infrastructure, and long-horizon projects built through market cycles. Led by cofounders Mahesh Ramakrishnan and Salvador Gala, EV3 is backed by LPs including Marc Andreessen, Micky Malka, Chris Dixon, Vance Spencer, and Tushar Jain, and builds on the firm’s first fund, which backed DePIN projects such as Daylight and Glow.
Proposed a lifecycle framework for Internet Capital Markets, distinguishing tokenized financing models by project maturity and value accrual, and argued that early-stage value concentrates at platforms while later-stage value increasingly accrues to the underlying assets.
Argued that a worsening fiat currency crisis could drive a shift toward digital gold, positioning Bitcoin’s seizure resistance and portability as key advantages over physical gold, particularly amid rising sovereign debt risks and geopolitical fragmentation.
DescribedMoltbook as an emerging “AI agent social network” that challenges intuitions about agent behavior, and urged people to actively experiment with new AI tools to stay ahead of rapid technological change rather than reacting with career anxiety.
Quick Recap
Total Deals: 17
Total Raised: $250M
Digital Asset Treasuries: $410M
Acquisitions: 1
Newly Launched Funds: $62M
That’s a wrap for this week’s Crypto Venture Weekly. Thanks for tuning in, and see you next week!
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Jake is a Research Analyst on the Protocol Research team. He previously worked as an Investment Analyst at an AI-driven crypto research platform and as a Venture Analyst at a digital assets venture fund. He advised multiple RWA tokenization projects on tokenomics. Jake graduated from the University of Southern California, where he studied Philosophy and Finance.
Alice is a Research Analyst on the Protocol Services team. She previously worked as a Research Analyst at The Block and was an Investment Intern at Variant Fund. Alice graduated from Northwestern University, where she studied Economics.
Jake is a Research Analyst on the Protocol Research team. He previously worked as an Investment Analyst at an AI-driven crypto research platform and as a Venture Analyst at a digital assets venture fund. He advised multiple RWA tokenization projects on tokenomics. Jake graduated from the University of Southern California, where he studied Philosophy and Finance.
Alice is a Research Analyst on the Protocol Services team. She previously worked as a Research Analyst at The Block and was an Investment Intern at Variant Fund. Alice graduated from Northwestern University, where she studied Economics.
