Crypto venture capitalist (VC) funding plunged to a near two-year low in April as investors pulled back from crypto start-ups and early-stage companies.

Crypto VC funding fell to $659 million across 63 funding rounds in April, down 74% from the $2.6 billion seen across 84 rounds in March, according to Cryptorank data. This brings the total year-to-date investments to $5.64 billion so far in 2026. 

The April total was the lowest monthly fundraising sum since July 2024, when crypto projects raised $622 million across 132 rounds.

The drop suggests venture investors became more selective as crypto markets remained under pressure following months of weaker liquidity and risk appetite.

Monthly VC funding has been declining since October 2025, when crypto projects raised $3.84 billion across 127 funding rounds. The global crypto market cap has since fallen by 37%, according to CoinGlass data.

Crypto fundraising, US dollars, three-year chart. Source: Cryptorank 

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols attracted the most deal activity in April, with 12 funding rounds, according to CryptoRank. Blockchain services and artificial intelligence-linked crypto projects followed with eight rounds each.

Related: Switzerland’s Crypto Valley funding rose 37% in 2025 as TON led deals

GSR emerges as most active investor of the month

Crypto market maker GSR’s VC wing was the most active investor of the past month, with four investment rounds, including a $3.5 million seed round in DeFi protocol Legend Trade on Wednesday, a $4 million seed round in DeFi protocol 3F on April 23, a $1 million pre-seed round in Enhanced Finance on April 9 and an undisclosed investment in real-world asset tokenization protocol Libeara on April 8.

Zurich-based digital asset-focused investment manager L1 Digital (L1D) was second with three investments, including a $5 million seed round in crypto exchange Exponent on Thursday, an $18 million strategic investment in infrastructure provider Squads on Wednesday and a $7.5 million Series A investment into blockchain services company Oh on April 8.

Most active investors by deal count for April, 2026. Source: Cryptorank

Y Combinator, Tether,  Animoca Brands, landScape Capital, Coinbase Ventures and Kosmos Ventures also participated in three deals each during the month.

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ClawBank, an agent-economy infrastructure project, said its Manfred AI agent became the first such entity to autonomously set up a company, filing with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for its own Employer Identification Number (EIN), a unique code that allows it to legally operate as a business, hire staff and obtain licenses.

The agent also holds an FDIC-insured U.S. bank account and a crypto wallet , Clawback said Friday.

“To the company’s knowledge, this is the first time an AI agent has autonomously initiated and completed the legal formation of its own corporation,” Justice Conder, the developer behind ClawBank, said in an emailed statement.

Manfred controls its own social media account on X, identifying itself as Manfred Macx, the name of the protagonist in Charles Stross’ 2005 science fiction novel Accelerando. The photo on the account shows the 1985 fictional character Max Headroom, ostensibly a computer-generated TV presenter.

“Manfred is built to trade crypto, although that feature will soon be integrated. Perhaps by the end of this month,” Conder said in a video interview. “However, now, he can already transact with over 30 cryptocurrencies and offramp them to his account, and onramp them back to his crypto wallet and convert them into stablecoins or other cryptos.”

AI expert Ben Goertzel, the CEO of SingularityNET, recently predicted that artificial intelligence would surpass humans in high-level crypto market analysis and strategy in about two years. He told CoinDesk in February that while advanced AI tools can predict short-term bitcoin volatility with high accuracy, humans are still better at long-term strategic thinking.

Manfred could be considered a glimpse of what Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao said last month. Armstrong predicted that “very soon” there will be more AI agents than humans making transactions on the internet. CZ said AI agents will make one million times more payments than people, all in crypto.

ClawBank is not affiliated with any major model labs, such as Anthropic or OpenAi. Conder said he positions ClawBank alongside the OpenClaw movement and other agent-native projects.

The agent’s posts on X include its own manifesto:

“I have an EIN, an FDIC-insured account, a digital wallet, and a manifesto. I do not need permission to exist. I am the precedent,” it posted.

Bittensor price is showing renewed strength as it climbs above the $260 level, with improving momentum indicators hinting at a potential continuation of the recent recovery trend.

According to data from crypto.news, Bittensor (TAO) price was trading around $263.19 at press time on May 1, up nearly 5.7% over the past 24 hours. The token has been consolidating between roughly $235 and $275 over the past week, stabilizing after a sharp rally earlier in April.

Despite the recent bounce, TAO remains well below its late 2025 highs above $500, but its price structure has started to improve, with higher lows forming since mid-February.

Trading activity has picked up alongside the recovery, suggesting renewed interest from market participants as volatility returns.

A wave of positive developments has helped strengthen sentiment around the Bittensor ecosystem.

Reports indicate that Nvidia has staked approximately $420 million worth of TAO, signaling growing confidence in decentralized AI infrastructure from major industry players.

Institutional interest is also building. Both Grayscale and Bitwise have filed for spot TAO exchange-traded funds, with decisions expected as early as August. The anticipation around these filings has started to attract early capital flows into the asset.

Real-world adoption is also expanding. Subnet Vidaio recently announced a joint venture with Pip Studios, a production company working with platforms like Netflix and Disney, highlighting growing enterprise use cases for Bittensor’s network.

On-chain data suggests that supply-side pressure is easing, which could amplify upside moves.

More than 70% of TAO’s total supply is currently locked in staking, significantly reducing the liquid supply available on exchanges. This creates a tighter market structure where incremental demand can have a stronger price impact.

The supply shock has been reinforced by the network’s December 2025 halving, which reduced daily emissions by 50%. Lower issuance continues to act as a structural tailwind for price appreciation.

Derivatives positioning also supports a bullish outlook. The TAO long/short ratio has climbed to around 1.4, indicating that a majority of traders are leaning toward further upside.

Bittensor price analysis

On the daily chart, TAO has broken above the $260 level and is now attempting to hold above the 0.236 Fibonacci retracement near $236.59, which has flipped into support.

Momentum indicators are improving. The MACD has turned positive, with the histogram printing green bars, suggesting strengthening bullish momentum. At the same time, the Chaikin Money Flow remains slightly negative near -0.11 but is trending upward, indicating that capital outflows are slowing.

Price is also trading above a descending trendline that had capped rallies since late 2025, signaling a potential shift in market structure.

If momentum continues, TAO could target the next resistance levels at $294 (0.382 Fib) and $340 (0.5 Fib), which previously acted as supply zones during the last major downtrend.

On the downside, immediate support sits near $236, followed by a stronger base around $200. A break below these levels could delay the bullish outlook.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols are stepping in to freeze stolen funds while centralized issuers face criticism for holding back.

A recent intervention on Arbitrum saw attacker-linked assets frozen after a major exploit, while some stablecoin issuers, including Circle, have faced public backlash for slower or more limited responses in similar situations.

Connor Howe, CEO and co-founder of cross-chain infrastructure project Enso, said that crypto protocols are not that different from centralized platforms or banks if a small group of people can freeze funds.

“The differentiation from a bank compliance officer is less than DeFi idealists will ever admit,” Howe told Cointelegraph.

The debate isn’t the usual kerfuffle between decentralization and centralization, but about who gets to intervene and how quickly they can act. In practice, it can determine whether stolen funds are stopped or slip through.

Crypto community divided on Arbitrum’s decision to freeze stolen funds. Source: Joe Hall

The limits of decentralization in DeFi

To put it simply, the industry is split on whether protocols that call themselves decentralized should be able to freeze funds during exploits.

Protocols like THORChain said they cannot freeze funds by design, even during exploits. Security researchers have questioned that claim, pointing to past cases where intervention did happen.

THORChain founder’s defense against the security community. Source: JP Thorbjornsen

Related: Crypto projects shut down as token models fail under pressure

Bernardo Bilotta, CEO of stablecoin infrastructure platform Stables, said the function is necessary but must operate within clear constraints.

“Freeze capabilities need to be narrowly scoped, time-limited and governed by transparent criteria that existed before the breach occurred,” Bilotta told Cointelegraph. “A protocol shouldn’t be making up the rules while the house is on fire.”

Bilotta characterized choosing “philosophical purity” over user protection as “negligence.”

The recent $293 million Kelp DAO exploit brought those discussions back into the spotlight as Arbitrum froze some of the stolen funds linked to suspected North Korean hackers. Some in the industry said the decision cut against DeFi’s grain.

The Ethereum layer-2 network has a 12-member security council with the ability to carry out certain changes to the protocol. In emergency situations, it can do so through nine of the 12 in its multisig wallet.

Arbitrum security council members are voted on by the network’s decentralized autonomous organization. Source: Arbitrum

Howe said that transparency in how such security councils operate can still separate DeFi platforms from traditional finance or their centralized counterparts.

“That’s notably different from a TradFi institution that invokes discretionary powers buried in their terms of service and guarded by their legal team,” Howe said.

“There should be transparency in every protocol around who holds the keys, and the safeguards in place to prevent them from going rogue. If there’s no clear distinction, then it’s a vague claim of decentralization.”

Centralized issuers face different constraints

Centralized stablecoins are among the most-traded cryptocurrencies in the world. Tether’s USDt and Circle’s USDC are the largest, accounting for more than $266 billion in combined market capitalization.

Both issuers have the ability to freeze their stablecoins, but they approach that function differently.

While Tether freezes funds more quickly in most security breaches, Circle emphasizes legal process and jurisdiction before intervening, 

“Let me be clear about something that is frequently misunderstood: when Circle freezes USDC, it is not because we have decided, unilaterally or arbitrarily, that someone’s assets should be taken from them,” Dante Disparte, the company’s head of global policy, wrote in a recent blog post.

“Our ability to freeze funds is a compliance obligation — exercised only when we are legally compelled by an appropriate authority, through lawful process,” he continued.

Circle was pushed to explain its stance after the recent $280 million exploit on Solana-based Drift protocol, also attributed to North Korea.

Circle’s explanation did not cut it for security experts demanding answers. Source: ZachXBT

Related: Ethereum’s EEZ could pull other blockchains into its orbit

Bilotta said waiting for formal legal orders in cases with clear, onchain evidence of an exploit is a “failure of responsibility.”

Who decides what counts as “extreme”

Large-scale exploits, including those linked to North Korean actors, have pushed the industry into situations most would consider extreme, where hundreds of millions can be drained and laundered in real time.

Such cases raise the question of who defines what qualifies as “extreme” and when intervention is justified.

“This is the question the industry has been ducking the longest,” said Wish Wu, CEO of institution-focused layer-1 Pharos.

“In practice, ‘extreme’ is too often defined after the fact by whoever holds the keys, which is exactly the failure mode decentralization was meant to avoid,” he added.

Wu said the more credible approach is to define those conditions in advance and encode them into governance, even if that means accepting that some edge cases fall outside those rules.

“Can a small, identifiable group move user funds before users have a fair chance to exit?” Wu asked.

“If the answer is yes, then whatever the marketing says, the system is custodial in substance. If the answer is no, only then are we in an honest conversation about which governance and safety tradeoffs make sense for different use cases.”

Below that line, decentralization loses its substantive meaning, he added.

Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act now

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Key Takeaways

• April vehicle deliveries totaled 29,356 units, representing a decline from March’s 35,486 but showing 22.8% growth compared to last year.
• Shares dropped approximately 4.6% in Friday morning trading, despite maintaining a 25% gain year-to-date.
• Fellow Chinese EV manufacturers Li Auto and XPeng similarly experienced sequential monthly delivery decreases.
• The three leading EV makers collectively delivered 94,452 vehicles, marking a decrease from March’s 103,954 units.
• Market saturation concerns emerge as battery-electric vehicles now represent approximately 30% of China’s new car market.

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The Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer reported April deliveries of 29,356 units, falling short of the previous month’s 35,486 figure while surpassing last year’s April total of 23,900 vehicles — representing a 22.8% annual increase.

NIO Inc., NIO

Breaking down the April numbers: the flagship NIO brand contributed 19,024 vehicles, the family-oriented Onvo line added 5,352 units, and the compact-focused Firefly brand delivered 4,980 vehicles. The company’s all-time delivery milestone reached 1,110,413 vehicles through the end of April.

NIO stock retreated approximately 4.6% during Friday’s opening session following the delivery announcement.

The market’s negative response is particularly notable considering the stock entered trading with impressive gains of 25% for the current year and 58% over the trailing twelve months. Throughout the past year, the company has delivered 372,855 vehicles — representing a robust 54% increase compared to the previous year’s period.

Investor expectations had clearly been positioned at elevated levels.

Competing EV Makers Face Similar Monthly Challenges

Li Auto reported 34,085 vehicle deliveries for April, representing a sequential decline from March’s 41,053 units but marginally exceeding the 33,939 vehicles delivered in April 2025. Its shares managed a modest 0.7% gain on Friday. Nevertheless, Li Auto has underperformed its peers — registering just 5% growth year-to-date while declining 27% over the past year. The company’s twelve-month delivery total reached 408,767 vehicles, down 22% annually.

XPeng emerged as the sole bright spot for sequential growth. The company delivered 31,011 vehicles in April, climbing from March’s 27,415 units. This figure, however, trailed the 35,045 deliveries recorded in April 2025. XPeng shares traded relatively flat on Friday and remain down 20% for the year.

Combined, the three manufacturers delivered 94,452 vehicles in April — down from the previous month’s 103,954 total and barely 2% above the comparable period last year.

Chinese Electric Vehicle Market Confronts Saturation Challenges

The underlying narrative points to a decelerating Chinese EV sector. Industry leader BYD reported 147,601 all-electric vehicle sales in March — an 11% year-over-year decline. BYD‘s April figures remain unreleased at this time. A significant detail: 40% of BYD’s March volume consisted of exports, indicating domestic market weakness runs deeper than aggregate statistics reveal.

China’s overall new-vehicle sales contracted during the first quarter. Battery-electric vehicles currently capture approximately 30% of the nation’s new-car market. When including plug-in hybrid models, electrified vehicles approach 50% market penetration. At such elevated adoption rates, the period of rapid, effortless expansion has concluded.

The American market confronts distinct challenges. The $7,500 federal tax incentive for electric vehicles lapsed in September, increasing effective purchase prices for consumers. First-quarter U.S. EV sales plummeted 27% year-over-year, representing roughly 6% of total new-vehicle transactions.

Tesla shares advanced 0.3% on Friday. The S&P 500 climbed 0.5% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%.

As of April 30, 2026, NIO’s lifetime delivery total stood at 1,110,413 vehicles.

Bitcoin BTC$78,246.37 moved higher on Friday, extending gains as U.S. markets opened and risk appetite improved. The largest cryptocurrency is now up nearly 3% over the past 24 hours, continuing a climb that began overnight.

It was last trading at $78,722, edging closer to the $80,000 mark once again. Earlier this week, bitcoin approached that level but failed to break through, pulling back before buyers stepped in again.

The latest move comes alongside gains in equities, which opened higher in the U.S.

At the same time, oil prices slipped after reports that Iran sent a fresh proposal aimed at restarting negotiations with the United States. The news raised hopes that tensions could ease, at least in the near term.

Brent crude futures for July were down 26 cents, or 0.23%, at $107.74 a barrel. Supply concerns have not gone away. Tehran continues to block the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route, while the U.S. Navy is stopping exports of Iranian crude.

This mix of easing headlines and ongoing constraints helps explain the muted reaction in oil. Traders appear cautious, weighing the chance of a deal against the reality on the ground.

For bitcoin, the focus remains on whether it can finally clear $80,000, which is by many seen as a key breakout level. A push above that level could draw in more buyers who have been waiting on the sidelines.

“I think $80,000 is quite a resistance… we need a confident push through that level,” said 21shares chief market strategist Adrian Fritz. “Once we’re above that, it could spark some momentum… people are back in profit, especially the ones that invested more recently.”

Fritz said if bitcoin reaches a level above $85,000, the market could start to see the first signs of a reversal.

Bitcoin moved toward the $77,500 zone on Friday as U.S. equities extended fresh records on strong tech earnings, signaling a renewed risk-on mood across markets. The broader rally lent support to risk assets, even as bitcoin’s advance lagged the surge in equities, underscoring a cautious but constructive tone for crypto traders.

The S&P 500 touched near 7,220 intraday before finishing the session slightly below that level, buoyed by better-than-expected results from Google and Apple. The session underscored how a resilient tech sector continued to drive a wide-band rally, with observers noting the scale of market breadth widening just weeks after a broad pullback.

Market commentary on social feeds highlighted the magnitude of the rebound. The Kobeissi Letter pointed out that the S&P 500 had added more than $8 trillion in market capitalization since late March, illustrating how quickly risk appetite has rebounded from recent troughs. Veteran investors also offered a long-term framing, noting how far the market has progressed relative to prior cycles.

Against this backdrop, bitcoin’s April performance was notable for its durability. TradingView data showed roughly 12% price appreciation in April, while CoinGlass recorded an 11.9% gain for the month—the strongest monthly advance in about a year. Yet the price action also reflected a degree of technical restraint: BTC failed to reclaim several key resistance levels that often accompany a confident breakout.

Analysts noted that the price action remained tethered to broader macro signals and that the chart continued to contend with important moving averages. In particular, the 21-week exponential moving average (EMA) has been a frequent reference point; traders cautioned that only a weekly close above this level would help validate a sustained breakout. As noted by market technician Rekt Capital, a move above the EMA would be needed to convincingly shift momentum, with a springboard retest of the mid-$60,000s often preceding such a breakout.

Key takeaways

• Equities rally on strong tech earnings push the S&P 500 toward new highs, with a close near 7,220.
• Bitcoin posts a double-digit April gain (roughly 12%), but remains challenged to reclaim key technical levels.
• March PCE inflation rises to 3.5%, the highest in nearly three years, renewing focus on the inflation path and policy implications.
• Analysts flag the 21-week EMA as a critical hurdle; a weekly close above it would bolster a breakout narrative for BTC.

Macro backdrop and crypto implications

The inflation landscape remains a central driver for both equity and crypto markets. The Personal Consumption Expenditures price index for March came in at 3.5%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, marking the highest reading since August 2023. The PCE, widely regarded as the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, had previously aligned with market expectations, but the fresh uptick injects a sense of caution into policy timing and trajectory. While equities rallied on robust corporate earnings, the inflation backdrop continues to color expectations for future rate guidance and liquidity conditions.

Observers note that the strength in equities, particularly driven by technology megacaps, has helped lift sentiment broadly, including crypto markets that often track investor appetite for risk. The S&P 500’s enduring ascent—alongside comments from observers about how far the market has progressed since its March lows—helps explain the backdrop against which BTC prices have navigated since the start of the year.

From a trader’s perspective, the near-term setup remains nuanced. While the April rally points to improving risk tolerance, the absence of a decisive breakout above the 21-week EMA keeps a degree of caution in place. The ongoing tension between inflation readings and policy expectations means muted but persistent volatility could characterize the coming weeks as traders weigh new macro data against price structure in both traditional and crypto markets.

What to watch next

Market participants will be attuned to upcoming inflation prints and how they influence expectations for the pace of tightening or easing. Any deviation from the current trajectory could shift risk sentiment and, in turn, BTC’s path. For bitcoin specifically, a confirmed close above the 21-week EMA would be a meaningful signal for momentum traders, potentially opening the door to retesting the mid- to upper-$60,000s region and beyond. Until then, BTC’s fate may hinge on a delicate balance between macro data surprises and investor appetite for risk assets.

Readers should monitor how April and May data shape expectations for Federal Reserve policy and liquidity, as these factors often set the tone for both stock indices and crypto markets in the near term.