Galaxy Research reported on September 16 that venture investment in crypto and blockchain companies rose 31% from the first quarter, while the number of deals increased 10%.

The increase in capital was driven mainly by later-stage financing, with mature companies receiving most of the money deployed during the quarter.

The first half of 2026 produced $10.018 billion in crypto venture investment across 744 deals. If that pace continues through the rest of the year, annual investment would reach roughly $20.037 billion, slightly below the $20.3 billion recorded in 2025, according to Galaxy Research’s Q2 report.

Crypto VC funding has returned above most 2023-2024 levels

Q2’s $5.683 billion investment figure followed a weaker first quarter, when crypto and blockchain startups received around $4 billion across 355 deals. Galaxy’s Q1 report showed capital falling by about half quarter-over-quarter after a large later-stage financing surge in late 2025.

The Q2 rebound was larger in dollar terms than in transaction volume. Capital increased 31%, while deal count rose 10%, indicating that larger financings accounted for much of the quarterly increase. Galaxy said the rise was driven primarily by later-stage transactions.

Galaxy’s data shows that the relationship between bitcoin prices and crypto venture activity remains weaker than during the 2017 and 2021 cycles. Bitcoin reached new highs in late 2025 while venture activity moved unevenly, although both bitcoin and venture investment increased during Q2 2026.

Deal sizes reached a new high in the quarter. Galaxy reported a median crypto deal size of roughly $4.9 million, while noting that valuation information was available for only 16% of Q2 transactions and was heavily weighted toward later-stage companies.

Later-stage companies received most of the $5.68B

Later-stage startups received approximately 78% of the capital invested during Q2, leaving 22% for younger companies. By transaction count, pre-seed rounds accounted for 21% of completed deals, while later-stage investments represented 26%.

The distribution produced a large gap between the number of early-stage transactions and the amount of capital committed to mature companies. Galaxy’s figures show that early-stage businesses continued to attract deals, but larger financing rounds drove the majority of dollars invested.

Trading, exchange, investing and lending companies accounted for the largest category, receiving roughly $3.523 billion during the quarter. The category represented close to three-fifths of all crypto venture capital invested in Q2. DeFi followed with approximately $478 million.

Privacy and security, tokenization, artificial intelligence, infrastructure, Web3, gaming and payments were among the other categories tracked by Galaxy. By deal count, trading, exchange, investing and lending companies recorded 51 transactions, while DeFi and payments/rewards each recorded 40.

Web3, NFT, DAO, metaverse and gaming companies completed 37 deals, followed by tokenization with 36, enterprise blockchain with 34 and infrastructure with 32. More than 90% of the capital invested in the trading, exchange, investing and lending category went to later-stage companies.

The concentration of capital in mature companies comes as other areas continue to attract smaller rounds. crypto venture funding remained active during July even as DeFi investment fell to its lowest quarterly level since late 2023.

U.S. companies captured 73.5% of crypto venture capital

U.S.-headquartered companies captured 73.5% of the capital represented in Galaxy’s Q2 dataset. The United Kingdom followed with 4%, while France accounted for 3.2%.

The U.S. share was smaller when measured by transaction count. American companies represented 39.1% of the 384 deals, followed by the United Kingdom at 7% and Singapore at 5.7%.

The geographic concentration was higher than in Q1, when U.S.-based startups received 70.2% of capital and represented 43.5% of completed transactions, according to Galaxy’s earlier report.

Recent financing activity has included transactions involving exchanges, stablecoin payments and tokenized markets. Payward, the parent company of Kraken, was the largest disclosed crypto funding deal during the September 5-11 period after Nasdaq Ventures agreed to invest $100 million in the company.

Latitude raised $35 million in a Series A during the same week to develop stablecoin-based cross-border payment infrastructure, while Antarctic Exchange announced a $7 million financing tied to its derivatives trading platform.

Five new crypto funds raised roughly $3.9B

Fundraising for new crypto venture funds remained concentrated in Q2. Five new crypto-focused funds raised approximately $3.9 billion, according to Galaxy. The firm said the number of new funds was the lowest for a quarter since Q3 2019.

Galaxy cited macroeconomic conditions, investor interest in artificial intelligence, spot crypto exchange-traded products and digital asset treasury companies as factors competing for allocator capital. The report stated that “fund managers still face a difficult environment.”

The dollar amount raised was higher than the roughly $1.1 billion secured across eight new funds in Q1. Galaxy’s first-quarter report described Q1 as the lowest quarterly new-fund count since Q3 2020.

If first-half fundraising continues at the same pace, Galaxy estimates that crypto venture funds could raise around $10 billion during 2026, above the $8.75 billion raised in 2025. The average fund size reached approximately $377.98 million, while the median fund size stood near $80 million.

The fundraising figures come alongside continuing individual company financing. During September 5-11, five disclosed crypto funding deals totaled $151 million, according to crypto.news. Payward’s $100 million transaction accounted for roughly two-thirds of the weekly total.

During the first half of 2026, venture capitalists invested $10.018 billion across 744 crypto and blockchain deals, according to Galaxy. The firm’s next quarterly dataset will provide the next measurement of venture activity after the Q2 rebound.

Privacy token Zcash surged 23% over the past 24 hours as bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies rose overnight into Asian morning hours Thursday, alongside a recovery in stock futures following the Federal Reserve’s first interest-rate increase since 2023.

ZEC traded near $1,369, while bitcoin edged up less than 1% to about $76,258. Solana gained nearly 3% to just below $100. BNB and HYPE, the token of crypto trading platform Hyperliquid, added more than 2%, while ether, XRP and dogecoin rose between 1% and 2%.

ZEC’s surge coincided with comments from Matt Huang, co-founder of prominent crypto investment firm Paradigm, who discussed its role as a privacy complement to bitcoin and disclosed that his firm owns ZEC, per an X post.

Zcash lets users send money without publicly revealing who paid whom or how much. Its holders recently backed proposals to make payments faster while keeping scheduled cuts to the creation of new coins, a feature it shares with bitcoin.

Huang, whose firm owns ZEC, described Zcash as “a private complement to Bitcoin.” He supported continued funding for its developers, while arguing that votes by coin holders should be combined with other ways of deciding changes to the network.

South Korean retail investors have reported roughly $250 million in fraud losses tied to stock-tip chatrooms during the first half of 2026, while police investigated 3,506 related cases involving 336 billion won.

Reuters reported on Sept. 16 that the money involved rose 19.8% from the same six-month period in 2025, while the number of investigated cases increased 4.1%. At the exchange rate used in the report, 336 billion won equaled $246.57 million.

Anchorage Digital Bank, the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States, has expanded its custody offering to include Etherlink assets on the Tezos layer-2 network. The new support covers Etherlink token custody via segregated accounts at Anchorage for institutional clients, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.

The update adds custody support for Etherlink and seven specific assets, including xU3O8—an asset designed to provide tokenized exposure to physical uranium—alongside several other Etherlink-issued tokens.

Key takeaways

• Anchorage now supports custody for Etherlink assets through segregated accounts at the federally chartered bank.
• Among the newly supported tokens is xU3O8, which represents ownership exposure to physical uranium without requiring direct commodity handling.
• The Etherlink assets added include wrapped and liquid staking variants (WXTZ, stXTZ) as well as stablecoins (USDT, USDC, USDSM) and wrapped Ether (WETH).
• CoinMarketCap data shows xU3O8 has a market capitalization just above $9 million at current price levels.
• Tokenized commodity exposure has drawn more institutional interest as settlement mechanics move from “weeks” to “minutes,” Anchorage says.

Anchorage adds Etherlink custody for institutional segregated accounts

Anchorage’s integration enables institutional clients to custody assets issued on Etherlink—an Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible layer-2 network that settles on Tezos—through segregated custody accounts at the bank. This matters for regulated participants that want crypto asset storage within a bank-grade framework, rather than relying solely on exchange custody or non-bank intermediaries.

In practical terms, segregated accounts are intended to keep client holdings segregated from other assets under the custodian’s control, which is typically a key requirement for institutions managing risk, compliance obligations, and reporting.

Seven new Etherlink assets, including tokenized uranium exposure

Alongside Etherlink itself, Anchorage said it now provides custody support for seven assets on the network. The list includes wrapped XTZ (WXTZ) and liquid staking token stXTZ, as well as wrapped Ether (WETH). It also covers stablecoins USDT, USDC, and USDSM.

The headline addition is xU3O8, a token that represents ownership exposure to physical uranium. Rather than requiring investors to source, store, or manage the physical commodity directly, xU3O8 is structured to offer a more accessible route to uranium exposure within crypto infrastructure.

At current price levels, CoinMarketCap data shows xU3O8 has a market cap just above $9 million.

Why tokenized commodities are changing the settlement playbook

Anchorage pointed to a structural shift that tokenization can bring to traditional commodity workflows. Heavier involvement from intermediaries, longer settlement timelines, and higher minimum investment sizes have historically limited physical uranium exposure for many investors, the bank said.

According to Anchorage, tokenization enables transfers and settlement in minutes rather than weeks. For institutional users—especially those operating with tighter operational cycles—shorter settlement windows can reduce time-to-execution and operational friction, even when the underlying exposure is still tied to physical assets.

That said, investors should still distinguish between the asset’s representation on-chain and the physical asset’s custody and settlement logistics, which are not always identical across tokenization offerings. Anchorage’s update focuses on custody at the bank level; questions about redemption mechanics, governance, and physical asset arrangements would ultimately depend on the token’s broader ecosystem documentation.

Not the first custodian—Hex Trust also supports xU3O8 on Etherlink

Anchorage is not the only institutional custodian moving into Etherlink-based uranium exposure. In August 2025, digital asset custodian Hex Trust integrated Etherlink to offer custody for xU3O8 and other Etherlink-issued assets, as earlier coverage from Cointelegraph reported in an article on the Hex Trust integration.

By adding Etherlink custody now, Anchorage is effectively broadening the set of federally chartered or bank-oriented custody options for tokenized physical commodity exposure on the Tezos ecosystem.

For institutional allocators, the competitive implication is clear: more qualified custodians supporting the same token ecosystem can reduce operational complexity when building multi-asset portfolios and may improve availability for investors who already require bank-style custody controls.

Even so, institutional demand will likely remain sensitive to details beyond custody—such as liquidity, issuance and settlement structures, and the practical ability to enter and exit exposure efficiently. Investors watching this space should track how Ethereum-compatible layer-2 adoption on Tezos progresses, and whether additional custodians expand support for Etherlink token ecosystems that include real-world asset representations like xU3O8.

Goldman Sachs now expects the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark interest rate again in October, a 180-degree pivot from its earlier call for a September hike followed by a pause.

The shift comes after the Fed on Wednesday lifted rates by 25 basis points to a 3.75%–4.00% target range. The central bank’s updated rate projections revealed a strong majority of policymakers expecting at least one more increase this year.

At the post-meeting press conference, Fed Chair Kevin Warsh struck a hawkish tone, saying inflation remains “too high” and that the latest hike merely removed a “dose of accommodation,” implying policy is still not restrictive enough and more rate hikes may be in the pipeline.

As of this writing, traders are pricing just over 50% chance of another 25 basis points hike in October, according to the CME’s FedWatch tool.

Bitcoin continues to trade near $76,260, up just 0.5% on a 24 hour basis.

Bitcoin price fell toward $75,500 after the U.S. Senate rejected the CLARITY Act, while bearish momentum and nearby liquidation clusters raised the risk of another decline before the Federal Reserve’s rate decision.

According to data from crypto.news, Bitcoin (BTC) price traded at approximately $75,940 at press time, according to the 4-hour chart. The price had recovered slightly from an intraday low of $75,350 but remained under pressure after the CLARITY Act failed to advance in the U.S. Senate.

The procedural vote ended 49-50, leaving the proposed crypto market structure legislation 11 votes short of the 60 required to move forward. The setback weighed on digital assets and U.S.-listed crypto companies as traders reassessed the outlook for federal market rules.

Derivatives amplified the initial decline. Approximately $771 million in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated over 24 hours, including about $568 million in long positions, according to market data cited after the vote. The imbalance showed that traders positioned for higher prices were caught by Bitcoin’s move below $76,000.

Bitcoin price loses 4-hour Bollinger midpoint

Bitcoin’s 4-hour chart shows that the price has moved below the Bollinger Band midpoint at $77,080. The level now forms the first major barrier for any short-term recovery.

BTC also briefly fell through the lower Bollinger Band, which stood near $75,244, before returning inside the indicator. A move outside the lower band can signal heavy selling, but re-entry alone does not confirm that the correction has ended.

The 4-hour relative strength index stood at 37.23, below its signal average of 45.70. RSI remains above the conventional oversold boundary of 30, leaving room for further weakness if buyers fail to defend the $75,000 region.

The Bollinger Band structure places immediate resistance at $77,080, followed by the upper band near $78,918. Bitcoin would need to reclaim the midpoint and establish support above it to weaken the current bearish setup.

A failure to recover $77,000 could keep the focus on the lower band and the recent $75,350 low. A confirmed break below that area would expose the psychological $75,000 level.

Daily indicators point to $72,547 support

Bitcoin remains above the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level at $72,547 on the daily chart. The retracement is measured between the broader low at $57,893 and the high near $126,369.

The $72,547 level is the clearest major support below the current price. A drop from $75,940 to that zone would represent a decline of about 4.5%.

Daily momentum has already turned lower. The Aroon Down reading stood at 92.86%, compared with an Aroon Up reading of 7.14%. The wide gap indicates that recent lows are arriving much more frequently than recent highs.

The Awesome Oscillator also registered a negative reading of 1,413.58, with red histogram bars extending below zero. The indicator supports the bearish Aroon signal and shows that downside momentum remains dominant.

BTC has formed lower highs since its early September move above $81,000. The price would first need to recover the $78,000–$80,000 region before challenging the larger technical barrier around $83,000–$84,051.

The $84,051 level aligns with the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement and sits close to the $83,000 resistance identified by market analyst Gerla. In a Sep. 16 post, Gerla said the CLARITY Act reaction had removed weak positioning but argued that reclaiming $83,000 could open a move toward $100,000.

Gerla’s projection remains conditional because BTC currently trades roughly 8.5% below $83,000, while the daily indicators favor sellers.

Bitcoin liquidation map places liquidity on both sides

CoinGlass’s three-day Bitcoin liquidation heatmap shows concentrated leverage above and below the current price.

The strongest nearby downside pool appears around $74,700–$74,900. Additional liquidity is visible near $74,000, making the broader $74,000–$75,000 area a possible target if Bitcoin loses its latest low.

Larger upside concentrations sit near $77,700–$78,000 and around $78,300–$78,700. A recovery could draw BTC toward those areas as short positions become vulnerable to forced closure.

A separate band appears around $80,000, although Bitcoin must first overcome the 4-hour Bollinger midpoint and the nearer liquidation zones. Heatmaps identify areas where leveraged positions may be forced out, but they do not predict which level the market will approach first.

Federal Reserve decision could trigger another sweep

Trader Lennaert Snyder said Bitcoin swept the $75,500 low after the CLARITY Act vote produced the bearish reaction he had expected. Snyder said he was watching for consolidation before the Federal Open Market Committee announcement, followed by a possible second sweep of the lows.

The Federal Reserve’s Sep. 15–16 meeting adds event risk to an already fragile market. Rate decisions and accompanying guidance can affect Treasury yields, the dollar, and demand for risk assets, including Bitcoin.

For the bullish case, BTC must hold $75,000 and retake $77,080. A move above $78,918 would return the price to the upper part of its recent 4-hour range, while a break above $83,000 would change the broader structure.

The bearish case gains strength below $75,000. Such a move could pull Bitcoin toward the liquidation concentration near $74,800 before testing the daily Fibonacci support at $72,547.

Circle’s new Arc blockchain went live on September 16 with a design choice that inverts the usual layer-1 model: transaction fees are paid in USDC, the stablecoin itself, not in Arc’s own freshly minted ARC token.

Arc, Circle’s layer-1 network for payments and financial markets, launched its public mainnet on September 16 with EVM compatibility and sub-second settlement finality, according to the launch announcement on Arc’s blog.

“This is, I believe, the most consequential major platform launch in our history, and I think an even more consequential launch than USDC itself,” Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire said at a press briefing.

The company targets roughly one cent per transaction, and because fees are paid in USDC, that price stays predictable in dollar terms rather than moving with a volatile native token.

Why not ARC?

Circle minted the full initial supply of 10 billion ARC tokens at genesis, but the token is not publicly available, and the company said the mint is not a commitment to launch ARC publicly. Its stated role is coordination for security, utility and governance. USDC stays the fee currency.

The pitch is aimed at exactly the institutions Arc launched with. Founding validators named in August include BlackRock, Visa, Mastercard, ICE and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), with more than 100 institutions and companies involved at launch. A treasury desk that must budget costs in dollars has no reason to want its fee line item denominated in a token whose price it cannot control.

The permissioned structure supports the same goal. Arc currently runs on approved proof-of-authority validators, and Circle says it is exploring a transition to proof of stake in 2027, which could eventually give ARC a role in network security. The network also carries more than 20 fiat-backed stablecoins, including EURC, JPYC, KRW1 and TRYB, and connects to more than 20 blockchains through Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP).

Circle is also working on an opt-in privacy feature, with confidential transactions and balances readable through view keys by authorized parties, that has not yet shipped. The company is positioning Arc to serve banks and asset managers that need to use a public chain without exposing positions.