Crypto funding drops for 5th straight quarter amid regulatory checks
The venture funding in the cryptocurrency space dropped further to $2.34 billion in the second quarter (Q2) globally amid strict regulatory environment around various top-notch crypto exchanges.
It was the fifth consecutive quarter when crypto funding nosedived, according to a report in TechCrunch.
The $2.34 billion were raised across 382 deals, according to PitchBook data.
In comparison, the crypto industry had garnered $12.14 billion in the first quarter of 2022.
The biggest raises during Q2 2023 were LayerZero's $120 million Series B round and Worldcoin's $115 million Series C round.
"This decline in capital deployment could be attributed to regulatory headwinds in the US," the report noted.
US regulators sued Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao last month for allegedly operating a "web of deception" and filed 13 charges in a federal court.
Binance was also ordered by Belgium's Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) to immediately cease all offers of virtual currency services in the country.
The US SEC also charged another crypto exchange Coinbase with operating its crypto asset trading platform as an unregistered national securities exchange, broker, and clearing agency. Several crypto companies have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in recent months like Genesis Global Trading (a subsidiary of the crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG), FTX, BlockFi, Three Arrows Capital, Celsius Network and Voyager.
