24 projects raised $912 million this week, led by Kraken ($500M) and Fnality ($136M), while Strive and ETHZilla announced over $1.03 billion in digital asset treasury allocations. Naver acquired Upbit, Strive acquired Semler Scientific, and Honeycomb Protocol acquired GameShift. Archetype also launched its $100 million third fund. Jon Charbonneau proposed cutting HYPE’s supply by 45% to improve valuation metrics, Ryan Watkins argued digital asset treasuries are evolving into long-term economic engines, and Tushar Jain assessed Tether’s $500B valuation, highlighting both risks and enduring brand loyalty. Here’s the breakdown of this week’s top deals and insights.
VC CT: Jon Charbonneauproposed cutting HYPE’s supply by 45% to improve valuation metrics; Ryan Watkinsargued digital asset treasuries are evolving into long-term economic engines; and Tushar Jainassessed Tether’s $500B valuation, noting earnings risks but strong brand loyalty.
Notable Deals
24 projects collectively raised $912 million this week. Here are the 13 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:
Strive
The Pitch: Strive, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASST) added 5,816 BTC to its corporate treasury at an average price of $116,047 per Bitcoin, for a total of $675 million. The purchase brings Strive’s total Bitcoin holdings to 5,886 BTC.
Round: $675 million Bitcoin purchase
Investors: N/A
ETHZilla
The Pitch: ETHZilla Corporation (Nasdaq: ETHZ) announced a $350 million add-on convertible debenture investment from an institutional investment partner. The company amended the terms of its existing $156.5 million debenture (reduced interest rate from 4% to 2%) and raised additional capital, bringing the total convertible debentures to approximately $500 million. ETHZilla aims to deploy ETH into Layer-2 protocols and tokenized real-world assets, leveraging Ethereum’s yield opportunities.
Round: $350 million add-on convertible debenture
Investors: Undisclosed
M&A Activity
Naver acquired Upbit
Naver, South Korea’s dominant internet platform, acquired leading crypto exchange Upbit via a comprehensive stock swap through its fintech arm, NAVER Financial. With 25 million daily users and recent acquisitions in unlisted stocks and OTC licenses, Naver now consolidates crypto, stock trading, and payments under one roof. Upbit, which commands around 69% of Korea’s crypto market, adds 16 million crypto traders to Naver’s ecosystem.
Strive acquired Semler Scientific
Strive, Inc. (Nasdaq: ASST) entered into a definitive agreement to acquireSemler Scientific (Nasdaq: SMLR) in an all-stock transaction, valuing Semler at a 210% premium. As two pioneering Bitcoin treasury companies, the merger creates a scaled platform positioned to rapidly grow BTC holdings and strengthen capital efficiency. Each Semler share will be exchanged for 21.05 Strive Class A shares. Semler’s Executive Chairman, Eric Semler, will join Strive’s Board of Directors.
Honeycomb Protocol acquired GameShift
Honeycomb ProtocolacquiredGameShift from Solana Labs to launch the first consumer-ready Web3 gaming platform on Solana. The acquisition combines Honeycomb’s modular onchain systems, like player profiles and mission frameworks, with GameShift’s gasless wallets, fiat payments, and embedded marketplaces, aiming to eliminate technical friction for both developers and players. GameShift will now serve as the consumer portal within Honeycomb’s unified platform to drive seamless onboarding and cross-game identity.
Newly Launched Funds
Archetype III – $100M
Archetypeclosed its $100 million third fund to back early-stage blockchain startups, with support from pensions, endowments, sovereign wealth funds, and institutional investors including Accolade Partners, TrueBridge Capital, and Sapphire Ventures. Led by founder and general partner Ash Egan, the firm positions the current market as “post-AOL, pre-Uber” for crypto adoption and will continue focusing on seed-stage investments in infrastructure, consumer applications, and onchain financial primitives. Archetype has already begun deploying Fund III into stealth startups, adding to a portfolio that includes Privy (acquired by Stripe), Monad, Farcaster, Ritual, and Hut 8.
Proposed reducing HYPE’s total supply by over 45% through burning reserves and revoking unissued allocations, framing the change as improved accounting that better aligns valuation metrics with protocol economics.
Argued that digital asset treasuries are evolving from speculative vehicles into long-term economic engines, using programmability to manage balance sheets and compete as institutional-scale capital allocators.
Commented on Tether’s reported $20B raise at a $500B valuation, noting earnings risks from falling rates, rising stablecoin competition, and pressure to share yield, while highlighting its strong brand loyalty in developing markets.
Quick Recap
Total Deals: 24
Total Raised: $912M
Digital Asset Treasuries: $1.03B
Acquisitions: 3
Newly Launched Funds: Archetype III ($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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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.
