31 projects raised $197 million this week, led by Pave Bank ($39M) and Sign ($25.5M), while Greenlane Holdings allocated $110 million to Berachain in digital asset treasuries. Coinbase, FalconX, Modern Treasury, and Aave led a wave of nine acquisitions, marking one of the most active M&A weeks of the year. On Crypto Twitter, Chris Dixon highlighted crypto’s institutional and regulatory maturation in a16z’s State of Crypto report, Kyle Samani outlined Multicoin’s thesis on fully homomorphic encryption as the key to private DeFi, and Sunny Shi urged optimism amid industry pessimism, drawing parallels between crypto’s evolution and the early internet. Here’s the breakdown of this week’s top deals and insights.
VC CT: Chris Dixon highlighted crypto’s maturation across infrastructure, adoption, and regulation in a16z’s2025 State of Crypto report; Kyle SamanioutlinedMulticoin’s thesis that fully homomorphic encryption is the most scalable path to private DeFi; and Sunny Shiargued against rising industry pessimism, comparing crypto’s evolution to the early internet’s trajectory.
Notable Deals
31 projects collectively raised $197 million this week. Here are the ten that stood out:
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:
Greenlane Holdings
The Pitch: Greenlane Holdings (Nasdaq: GNLN) raised $110 million through a private placement to initiate its Berachain (BERA) cryptocurrency treasury strategy, becoming one of the largest publicly traded BERA holders.
CoinbaseacquiredEcho, an onchain capital formation platform founded by Cobie, for $375 million to expand its role in powering decentralized fundraising. Echo enables projects to raise directly from their communities through private sales or self-hosted public token offerings via its Sonar product, having facilitated over $200 million across 300 deals to date. The acquisition complements Coinbase’s earlier purchase of LiquiFi, extending its stack from token creation and cap table management to fundraising and secondary trading. Together, these integrations position Coinbase to offer a full lifecycle platform for crypto issuers and investors.
FalconX acquired 21shares
FalconXacquired21shares, an issuer of cryptocurrency ETPs managing over $11 billion in assets, to expand its institutional prime brokerage platform. The acquisition combines FalconX’s global trading, credit, and infrastructure capabilities with 21shares’ expertise in ETP product development and distribution. 21shares will continue operating independently under FalconX, maintaining its existing products and leadership team while advancing a shared goal of bridging traditional finance and digital assets.
Modern Treasury acquired Beam
Modern TreasuryacquiredBeam, a payments platform specializing in instant fiat and stablecoin transfers, to unify traditional and blockchain-based payment rails within a single infrastructure. The acquisition expands Modern Treasury’s capabilities beyond ACH, wires, and RTP to include stablecoin, Push-to-Card, and FedNow payments through one API, while handling KYC, KYB, and AML compliance natively. Beam’s founder, Dan Mottice, will join as Head of Beam, as the company integrates Beam’s orchestration technology to enable instant payouts, improved FX efficiency, and next-generation liquidity management for global enterprises.
Aave acquired Stable Finance
AaveacquiredStable Finance, a fintech company specializing in consumer-focused stablecoin savings applications, to accelerate its expansion into mainstream onchain finance. The acquisition brings Stable’s engineering team and founder, Mario Baxter Cabrera, who joins as Aave Labs’ Director of Product, to advance the firm’s roadmap for accessible DeFi products. Stable’s technology, which streamlines stablecoin savings via bank and card integrations, will be integrated into Aave’s upcoming consumer offerings, complementing institutional products like Horizon.
Pump.fun acquired Padre
Pump.funacquiredPadre, a professional trading terminal serving Solana, BNB Chain, Base, and Ethereum, to strengthen its product offering for traders and liquidity providers. Padre provides a high-speed trading interface with advanced analytics, competitive fees, cashback rewards, and dedicated user support. The acquisition supports Pump.fun’s goal of expanding access to tokenized opportunities by integrating professional trading tools within its launchpad ecosystem. Padre will continue operating independently while receiving upgrades in user experience, data, and performance, particularly for tokens launched on Pump.fun. The PADRE token will no longer have utility on the platform.
Released a16z’s 2025 State of Crypto report highlighting the industry’s maturation through institutional adoption, stablecoin growth, improved infrastructure, new consumer applications, and advancing regulatory clarity.
Outlined Multicoin’s thesis on onchain privacy, arguing that fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) offers the most scalable path to private DeFi compared to TEEs and ZKPs, and highlighted Zama’s progress toward launching its FHE-based mainnet.
Published an article rejecting growing pessimism within the crypto industry, arguing that market frustration has overshadowed genuine technological progress and drawing parallels between crypto’s current stage and the early internet’s long path to mainstream success.
Quick Recap
Total Deals: 31
Total Raised: $197M
Digital Asset Treasuries: $110M
Acquisitions: 9
Newly Launched Funds: 0
That’s a wrap for this week’s Crypto Venture Weekly. Thanks for tuning in, and see you next week!
Powered by Messari, our comprehensive fundraising dashboard allows you to navigate 19,400 crypto venture rounds, over 1,200 M&A deals, and access profiles for 17,200 investors.
All content was produced independently by the author(s) and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Messari, Inc. Author(s) may hold cryptocurrencies named in this report. This report is meant for informational purposes only. It is not meant to serve as investment advice. You should conduct your own research and consult an independent financial, tax, or legal advisor before making any investment decisions. Nothing contained in this report is a recommendation or suggestion, directly or indirectly, to buy, sell, make, or hold any investment, loan, commodity, or security, or to undertake any investment or trading strategy with respect to any investment, loan, commodity, security, or any issuer. This report should not be construed as an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any security or commodity. Messari does not guarantee the sequence, accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any information provided in this report. Please see our Terms of Service for more information.
No part of this report may be (a) copied, photocopied, duplicated in any form by any means or (b) redistributed without the prior written consent of Messari®.
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.
