Venture capital funding in the cryptocurrency sector remained muted in November, continuing a broader slowdown that has persisted through late 2025. Deal activity was once again concentrated in a small number of large raises by established companies.
As Cointelegraph previously reported, the third quarter saw a similar pattern: total funding climbed to $4.65 billion, according to Galaxy Digital, but deal counts lagged as capital flowed primarily to bigger, more mature firms.
November reflected the same divergence. Figures from RootData showed only 57 disclosed crypto funding rounds during the month — one of the weakest tallies of the year — despite headline-grabbing raises such as Revolut’s $1 billion round and Kraken’s $800 million raise ahead of its anticipated initial public offering.
According to RootData, the majority of deals in November were in the centralized finance, decentralized finance, and NFT–GameFi sectors.
While some of the slowdown in deal volume can be attributed to broader market conditions, the trend poses longer-term risks, said Sarah Austin, co-founder of the real-world-asset gaming platform Titled. “Ultimately, this has a negative consequence on the entire industry because investing in tough times is when the best deals are made,” she told Cointelegraph.
The latest edition of VC Roundup highlights just three funding deals across the decentralized perpetuals, onchain-yield and Web3–AI sectors.
Ostium secures $24 million to scale onchain perpetuals protocol
Ostium, a decentralized perpetuals platform founded by former Harvard classmates, has raised $24 million in new funding to scale its onchain perpetuals protocol across non-crypto markets such as stocks, commodities, indexes and currencies.
The raise supports the company’s broader push to position Ostium as a leading perpetuals protocol for real-world assets, expanding access to traditional markets through self-custodial infrastructure.
Ostium said the capital will go toward strengthening its underlying systems, including smart contracts, pricing infrastructure and liquidity engines, to support higher trading volumes.
The company is backed by investors including General Catalyst, Jump Crypto, Susquehanna International Group, and angel investors from Bridgewater, Two Sigma and Brevan Howard.
Related: Decentralized exchange volumes soar on memecoin trading rush: CoinGecko
Axis raises $5 million for onchain yield protocol
Onchain revenue protocol Axis has raised $5 million in a private funding round led by Galaxy Ventures, as the company prepares to launch an onchain yield protocol offering exposure to Bitcoin (BTC), gold and the US dollar. Axis said the capital will support the development of what it describes as a transparent, onchain yield infrastructure for digital assets.
The round also included participation from OKX Ventures, Maven 11 Capital, CMS Holdings and FalconX, among other investors.
Axis said that $100 million in private capital from investors has already been deployed through its beta platform to stress-test the protocol’s engine.
Related: VC Roundup: Selective capital, shrinking rounds highlight crypto’s cautious reset
PoobahAI closes $2 million seed round for no-code platform
PoobahAI, a Texas-based startup that enables users to build tokenized Web3 networks and AI agents without writing code, has raised $2 million in seed funding to expand its no-code development platform. The company’s tools are designed to let creators, developers and businesses launch onchain ecosystems and deploy AI agents without technical expertise.
The emerging AI–Web3 ecosystem, which combines artificial intelligence with decentralized infrastructure, is viewed as a means to create more autonomous and user-controlled digital systems, enabling applications to operate without centralized oversight.
The round was led by FourTwoAlpha, a venture firm known for early investments in Ethereum and Cosmos.
Related: AI hedge fund Numerai wins backing from top university endowments, token soars
