Crypto Venture Capital Sees $1.059 Billion Boost: Tempo Leads with $500M Round, Kraken Acquires Small Exchange for $100M
The week of October 12–18, 2025, marked a significant surge in cryptocurrency venture capital investment, with a total of $1.059 billion raised across 22 projects. The standout player was Tempo, a payment infrastructure startup, which secured an impressive $500 million in Series A funding. This singular deal accounted for nearly half of all capital raised during the week, underscoring the increasing investor focus on projects enhancing financial and transactional infrastructure in the crypto ecosystem.
Meanwhile, major crypto exchange Kraken made headlines with its $100 million acquisition of the Small Exchange, a move that signals Kraken’s continued expansion into traditional finance and its intent to bridge the gap between crypto and conventional trading environments. The Small Exchange, known for offering simplified futures products, is expected to bolster Kraken’s derivatives offering and broaden its appeal to retail and institutional traders alike.
Other notable funding rounds included Daylight Energy, which raised $75 million to accelerate the development of its decentralized energy network. The project aims to revolutionize how electricity is delivered by leveraging blockchain technology to create a more affordable, reliable, and abundant energy grid — a much-needed innovation in aging national power infrastructures.
Jito, a project focused on optimizing staking and trading on Solana, also attracted investor attention. Although the exact figures were not disclosed, its inclusion among the week’s key funding recipients suggests solid backing from venture capital firms.
In another significant development, YZi Labs led a $50 million investment round into the Better Payment Network (BPN), a global payment protocol designed to streamline cross-border transactions and improve settlement speeds. This funding will support the scaling of BPN’s infrastructure and adoption across major financial institutions.
The dominance of payment systems and trading platforms among the funded projects indicates a clear trend: investors are gravitating toward startups that aim to resolve long-standing inefficiencies in financial systems, whether by improving payments, enhancing liquidity, or creating more resilient decentralized infrastructure.
Beyond the headline deals, several smaller but strategically important projects received funding under the $50 million mark. These initiatives span a variety of use cases — from Layer 2 scaling solutions to crypto custody services — reflecting the broadening scope of blockchain innovation.
The influx of capital into these domains also coincides with growing governmental and institutional interest in digital assets. For instance, there are recent discussions around allowing retirement funds to invest in cryptocurrencies, a move that could unleash billions in new capital into the market.
Additionally, U.S. regulators are showing signs of catching up with their European counterparts in terms of crypto regulation. Policy shifts could bring greater clarity and investor confidence, potentially fueling further venture capital inflows.
Meanwhile, crypto custody is emerging as a lucrative business model on its own. Companies focused on secure storage and compliance are not only gaining traction but also generating real revenue — a crucial factor in a market where many projects struggle to monetize.
There’s also growing debate around the role of automated de-leveraging (ADL) in market volatility. The recent downturn, dubbed a “crypto bloodbath,” has brought renewed scrutiny to risk management practices in decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. As investors seek safer and more predictable instruments, this may influence funding toward projects with strong governance and risk frameworks.
The emergence of creative use cases — such as integrating crypto in home energy systems or treasury management — suggests that the next wave of adoption will be driven not just by technology, but by storytelling and user-centric design. As projects like Daylight and Upexi demonstrate, innovation at the intersection of real-world utility and blockchain is gaining momentum.
With over a billion dollars flowing into crypto startups in just one week, the message from venture capital is clear: while markets may fluctuate, conviction in blockchain’s long-term potential remains strong. As the landscape evolves, funding is increasingly targeting infrastructure, compliance, and real-world application — laying the groundwork for the next phase of mainstream adoption.