2023 was a tough year for crypto funding, with a significant 68% drop in investments, plunging to $10.6 billion from the previous year’s $33.2 billion. This downturn, the lowest since 2020, was influenced by a mix of high interest rates, the AI boom, regulatory pressures, and major crypto downfalls like FTX, Celsius, and BlockFi.
As we look ahead to 2024, the mood among top crypto venture capitalists is surprisingly upbeat. Here’s what some of the big names have to say:
Coinbase Ventures: A Bright Future Ahead
Despite the challenges of 2023, Coinbase Ventures remained active and is now looking forward to a promising 2024. They’re focusing on regulatory clarity, evolving protocol infrastructure, growing institutional participation, and innovative user engagement with on-chain products. Their plan includes investing in crypto infrastructure and consumer applications, particularly in social and gaming sectors, and exploring the AI-crypto intersection.
Galaxy Ventures: Bracing for More Challenges
Galaxy Ventures is preparing for a tough road ahead. Mike Giampapa from Galaxy expects the venture landscape to remain challenging, with businesses likely facing flat or lower fundraising rounds. He predicts industry consolidation and sees potential in startups focusing on blockspace and stablecoins, with a particular interest in the growing on-chain tokenization of assets.
Animoca Brands: High Hopes for the Future
Animoca Brands is quite optimistic, expecting a healthier funding environment in 2024. Yat Siu, co-founder, anticipates a new bull cycle in the crypto market, with gaming and AI integrated with web3 components gaining traction, especially in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.
Shima Capital: Early Days in Crypto
Shima Capital, an early-stage investor, remains cautiously optimistic, focusing on infrastructure, gaming, and tokenization. They believe we’re still in the early phases of crypto’s evolution.
HashKey Capital: Bullish Outlook
HashKey Capital foresees a bullish market next year, planning to diversify their investment strategies and expand their asset management business into new areas.
Multicoin Capital: The AI-Crypto Nexus
Multicoin Capital’s Kyle Samani and Tushar Jain are bullish about 2024, especially for the Solana ecosystem. They see a significant opportunity for crypto in the AI revolution, predicting a rise in crypto-enabled compute marketplaces and new DeFi projects surpassing previous generations in terms of user experience.
Polygon Ventures: Positive Vibes for Web3
Polygon Ventures is optimistic about the web3 sector’s recovery in 2024. Abhishek Saxena believes that developer activity during the bear market indicates a strong foundation for future growth, particularly in consumer-facing applications.
NGC Ventures: A Bull Market on the Horizon
NGC Ventures is gearing up for what they believe will be a full-blown bull market in 2024. Their focus includes AI, Bitcoin Layer 2 networks, decentralized physical infrastructure networks, and decentralized science projects, expecting these areas to drive mass adoption and innovation.
In summary, while 2023 was a year of building and coping with challenges, 2024 is shaping up to be a year of optimism and growth in the crypto venture capital world.
