Crypto VC funding surged to $14.5B in November 2025 despite a sharp drop in deals
A single mega-deal reshaped the month’s funding space, as investors concentrated capital in exchanges, infrastructure, and AI-driven crypto projects.
• Crypto VC deals slowed in November, yet total funding surged past $14 billion, driven by a single massive acquisition.
• Naver’s $10.3 billion purchase of Dunamu accounted for most of the month’s capital.
• Beyond that headline-grabbing deal, investors stayed active in DeFi, AI, and infrastructure projects.
November 2025 felt like two months in one for crypto venture capital. Deal activity slowed, but the money pouring into the sector soared thanks to a single blockbuster transaction.
RootData counted 57 disclosed crypto VC deals in November, down 28% from October and 41% from the same month last year. On the surface, it looked like momentum was fading. But total funding told a different story. Capital jumped to $14.54 billion, a 219% month-over-month spike, almost entirely because of one mega-deal.
That deal was Naver’s $10.3 billion all-stock takeover of Dunamu, the parent company of Upbit. Valued at roughly KRW 15.1 trillion, it marks a major consolidation move in crypto. Upbit alone contributed nearly all of Dunamu’s KRW 1.19 trillion revenue in the first nine months of the year, underscoring just how central trading platforms remain in the ecosystem.
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The notable crypto funding rounds of November 2025
Beyond Naver, several other major rounds also stood out. Prediction-market platform Kalshi raised $1 billion in a round led by Sequoia and CapitalG, pushing its valuation to $11 billion, as speculation grew that rival Polymarket could target a double-digit-billion valuation.
Ripple secured $500 million, lifting its valuation to $40 billion, with backing tied to Fortress, Citadel Securities, and major crypto funds. Meanwhile, Kraken added another $200 million at a $20 billion valuation, following its $600 million raise earlier in the fall.
Infrastructure and finance-focused startups also saw strategic funding. First, with Tharimmune in a $540 million private placement to build out Canton token workflows for institutions, while Bitcoin lender Lava raised $200 million to expand BTC-based financial products. At the same time, newer ecosystem bets, including Monad, raised $188 million through a public sale.
Other small but notable acquisition deals include Exodus Movement picking up payments company W3C in a $175 million cash-and-BTC deal, and Lloyds acquiring Curve for roughly $158 million. Paxos wrapped up the month by acquiring Fordefi in a deal exceeding $100 million.
Looking at the quarter as a whole, crypto venture funding bounced back sharply. Q3 2025 reached $4.65 billion, the second-highest since the FTX collapse in late 2022, a 290% increase from Q2 and close to Q1’s $4.8 billion, according to Galaxy Digital. By sector, DeFi led with 30.4% of deals, followed by CeFi (12.5%), AI (7.1%), RWA/DePIN (7.1%), and tooling/wallets (5.4%), meaning investors are clearly betting on infrastructure and finance-native use cases rather than consumer experiments.
Funding remained concentrated, with just seven deals accounting for half of all capital across 414 transactions. The biggest raises went to established names: Revolut ($1 billion), Kraken ($500 million), and Erebor, a US crypto bank ($250 million). Capital flowed mainly into stablecoins, AI-linked crypto tools, infrastructure, and trading technology, while early-stage fundraising continued at a cautious pace.
What do the funding deals mean for the crypto market?
This split between fewer deals and more capital tells you a lot about where the market is right now. Investors are done spraying money across dozens of early-stage experiments. Instead, they are concentrating capital around proven infrastructure, trading platforms, and financial rails that can actually scale.
Big checks going to exchanges, prediction markets, institutional tooling, and BTC-focused finance show that the industry is maturing under pressure. It’s less about hype cycles and more about plumbing: liquidity, custody, compliance, and real-world financial use cases. The fact that one acquisition could tilt an entire month’s funding data also shows how consolidation is becoming a feature, not a bug. Strong players are swallowing weaker ones, and the industry is starting to look more like traditional finance in how power and capital are distributed.
For builders, this environment favors teams working on infrastructure, interoperability, tokenized assets, and tools institutions can trust. For retail, it means fewer flashy “next big thing” apps and more focus on reliability, security, and long-term systems.
David Adubiina
