Venture capital and institutional money are returning to digital asset companies as 2026 kicks off, with fresh industry data showing roughly $1.4 billion committed across venture rounds and public market listings. The momentum is being driven by large-scale financing rounds and high-profile tokenized offerings that signal a renewed appetite for infrastructure and on-chain capabilities, even as the broader crypto market faces cyclical pressure from a liquidity-constrained environment. One standout theme is the ongoing diversification of funding sources, spanning traditional venture backers, blockchain-native funds, and strategics drawn to regulated, scalable platforms.

The year’s heavy hitters include a Visa-linked stablecoin issuer that reached a $1.9 billion valuation after a $250 million raise, and a crypto custodian that completed a multi-hundred-million-dollar IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in January. Together, these transactions underscore both the breadth and the depth of institutional engagement, extending beyond early-stage seed rounds to fully public, investor-grade capital markets activity. Despite a fragile market backdrop that erupted in a broad October deleveraging, venture interest in crypto infrastructure, on-chain finance, and tokenized assets remains persistent and increasingly sophisticated.

This edition of VC Roundup highlights traditional venture raises, dedicated blockchain funds, and notable on-chain financing that illustrate broader shifts in how capital flows through the sector. The deals reflect an emphasis on on-chain financial services, cross-chain interoperability, and products designed to lower barriers to retail participation while introducing rigorous verification and risk controls.

Key takeaways

• Bitway, an on-chain financial infrastructure provider, closed a seed round of over $4.4 million led by TRON DAO, expanding on a prior EASYResidency investment from YZi Labs and a slate of strategic backers.
• Everything, a digital trading platform builder, secured $6.9 million in seed funding led by Humanity Investments, with participation from Animoca Brands, Hex Trust, and Jamie Rogozinski, aiming to unify perpetual futures, spot markets, and prediction markets under a single account framework.
• Galaxy completed a $75 million on-chain credit deal on the Avalanche network, anchored by a $50 million institutional allocation, a sign of growing comfort with on-chain securitization and private lending bundled as digital securities.
• Veera raised $4 million in a seed round backed by CMCC Titan Fund and Sigma Capital, bringing total funding to $10 million as it builds a mobile-first, on-chain financial services hub for saving, investing, and spending.
• Prometheum disclosed it has raised $23 million since the start of 2025 to support the rollout of on-chain clearing services for US broker-dealers and the expansion of tokenized securities within traditional custody and settlement ecosystems.
• Solayer launched a $35 million ecosystem fund to back early- and growth-stage teams building on its infiniSVM network, signaling continued investment in Solana-aligned infrastructure and scalable on-chain products.

Tickers mentioned: $AVAX

Market context: Neutral

Market context: The year begins against a backdrop of improved liquidity in select segments of the crypto market and a cautiously optimistic stance among institutional participants, who seem to prefer funding rounds that build real-world use cases and regulated pathways for digital assets.

Why it matters

The surge in seed and early-stage rounds for on-chain infrastructure providers and unified trading platforms matters because it signals a maturation of the crypto ecosystem beyond pure token bets. Investors are increasingly prioritizing products that can operate at scale, comply with evolving regulatory standards, and deliver tangible, regulated services to institutions and retailers alike. Bitway’s seed round illustrates how sophisticated backers are willing to back cross-chain financial services, while Everything’s seed funding points to demand for integrated trading experiences that reduce friction for retail participants without sacrificing compliance or risk controls.

Galaxy’s on-chain credit deal—executed on the Avalanche blockchain (CRYPTO: AVAX)—highlights a broader appetite to tokenize private loans and deliver them as digital securities with on-chain oversight. The move aligns with a growing view that real-world financing can be embedded within decentralized networks, offering speed, transparency, and audited provenance for lenders and borrowers. It’s a sentiment echoed by Prometheum’s ongoing efforts to bring on-chain securities into the regulated brokerage and custody ecosystem, signaling an infrastructural shift that could influence how venture capital and institutional capital allocate capital to crypto startups in the near term.

Veera’s seed round underscores a push to make on-chain financial tools accessible to everyday users, not just sophisticated traders. By funding a mobile-first interface that consolidates savings, asset swaps, and spending, backers are signaling confidence in consumer-grade on-chain experiences that maintain security and user-friendly design. Meanwhile, Solayer’s ecosystem fund underscores the ongoing effort to cultivate builders on Solana-aligned infrastructure, pointing to continued diversification of the base technology stack and incentive structures that can sustain a broad developer ecosystem.

In aggregate, these moves suggest a broad-based trend toward infrastructure-first capital, where the objective is to reduce friction, increase transparency, and broaden access to tokenized financial products. That shift can create a more robust pipeline for venture funding, with follow-on rounds likely to reward teams delivering scalable, compliant on-chain solutions that can operate within traditional financial rails or alongside them.

What to watch next

• Regulatory progress around on-chain securities and broker-dealer infrastructure, particularly as Prometheum advances its clearing services and custody capabilities.
• Next-stage funding rounds for Things like Bitway, Everything, and Veera, including any strategic partnerships with traditional financial players or issuers of regulated digital assets.
• New tokenized asset offerings and on-chain lending products that demonstrate real-world use cases beyond speculation, especially those tied to institutional capital allocations.
• Follow-on rounds and potential IPOs or SPAC-like paths for blockchain-native infrastructure firms that attract a broad base of backers.

Sources & verification

• Bitget data on 2026 venture rounds and public listings as the starting point for this year’s fundraising momentum.
• Rain’s $250 million raise and the subsequent $1.9 billion valuation as reported in coverage of a Visa-linked stablecoin issuer.
• BitGo’s $200 million-plus IPO on the NYSE in January as cited in market roundups.
• Galaxy’s $75 million on-chain credit deal on the Avalanche network, including the $50 million anchor allocation, as reported in on-chain financing briefs.
• Veera’s $4 million seed round led by CMCC Titan Fund and Sigma Capital, bringing total funding to $10 million.
• Prometheum’s $23 million funding since early 2025 for on-chain securities infrastructure and broker-dealer support.
• Solayer’s $35 million ecosystem fund to back infiniSVM-based projects on its Solana-aligned network.

Market reaction and key details

Institutional confidence in crypto infrastructure appears to be strengthening as 2026 unfolds. A wave of seed rounds and targeted funding for on-chain financial services suggests that investors are favoring real-world use cases that can scale and integrate with regulated markets. Bitway’s seed round, supported by TRON DAO and YZi Labs, signals enthusiasm for cross-chain financial infrastructure that can support a broader ecosystem of on-chain lending, settlement, and custody. The Everything project, pursuing a unified trading platform, demonstrates a clear intent to marry derivatives, spot trading, and predictive markets into a single user experience—an innovation that could reshape how retail traders access crypto markets while maintaining guardrails against automated manipulation.

Perhaps most notable is the Avalanche-based financing move by Galaxy, where a $75 million on-chain credit facility demonstrates not only liquidity depth but a willingness among institutional participants to engage with digital securities on a public blockchain. The combination of a $50 million anchor and the machinery to tokenize private loans offers a blueprint for how venture capital and risk capital might flow into crypto startups through more mature, securitized structures. Prometheum’s ongoing capital raise to expand its clearing and custody capabilities reinforces the theme of deeper integration between crypto markets and traditional brokerage infrastructures, a development that could lower barriers for regulated players to participate in tokenized asset ecosystems.

On the consumer-facing side, Veera’s seed funding underscores a push to package on-chain tools—savings, investing, and payment options—into a mobile-centric interface that non-technical users can navigate. Solayer’s fund, meanwhile, signals continued interest in the broader Solana ecosystem and in scalable, revenue-generating on-chain products, a trend that could diversify the tech stack beyond Ethereum-native architectures and encourage a broader set of application developers to pursue on-chain solutions.

Taken together, the data points suggest a sector that remains deeply capital-intensive but increasingly disciplined. The year’s early rounds reflect a structural shift toward infrastructure-enabled growth, with more capital targeting platforms that can deliver regulated, auditable, and scalable on-chain financial services. That trajectory, if sustained, could accelerate the maturation of crypto markets, attract more traditional investors, and embed digital assets more deeply into mainstream financial activity.