Weekly Wrap: Crypto Funding - March 1, 2025

March 4, 2025

Here’s your Weekly Wrap of all things crypto funding, ending March 01, 2025.

This week’s crypto funding landscape was marked by substantial investments across key blockchain sectors, reflecting strong investor confidence and sustained interest in emerging technologies. The total disclosed funding reached $359.75 million across 32 projects, with Stablecoin, Asset Management, and AI emerging as the standout categories. These sectors collectively showcased blockchain’s growing focus on financial stability, institutional investment, and artificial intelligence integration within decentralized ecosystems.

Below is a summary of projects receiving funding this week:

Category	Organization Name	Project Description	Money Raised this Round
AI			23,500,000
	FanTV	An AI agent Content Platform on Sui	8,500,000
	MelodAI	Web3 AI-generated content (AIGC) and AI Agent services	UNDISCLOSED
	Prime Intellect	To build a peer-to-peer compute and AI intelligence protocol	15,000,000
	Spheron	Decentralized AI compute	UNDISCLOSED
Asset Management			70,000,000
	Bitwise	Largest crypto index fund manager in America	70,000,000
CeFI			1,000,000
	Lantern Finance	Institutional-grade crypto loans	1,000,000
Data			4,750,000
	Endless	Decentralized cloud component protocol for Web3	1,000,000
	Finisterra Labs	Decentralized data infrastructure	3,750,000
	Vana	A L1 AI data ownership and interoperability platform	UNDISCLOSED
DeFi			5,500,000
	Byzantine Finance	A Restaking aggregation layer	3,000,000
	Ethic Hub	A Lending & Staking platform for unbanked farmers	1,000,000
	Torch Finance	DeFi on TON	1,500,000
	Vortex	Fiat-crypto gateway built on Polkadot & Pendulum	921,880
DePIN			15,000,000
	GEODNET	Accurate navigation network via Web3 for autonomous vehicles	15,000,000
Gaming			12,000,000
	Boinkers	The Biggest crypto parody game on Telegram	8,000,000
	Shaga	DePIN Cloud Gaming on Solana	4,000,000
Infrastructure			14,500,000
	Electron	Reducing TEE and ZK verification costs by 95%	UNDISCLOSED
	Optimum	Decentralized high-performance memory infrastructure for any blockchain	UNDISCLOSED
	Orochi Network	Verifiable Data Infrastructure	12,000,000
	Tenor Labs	An Onchain Fixed Rate Infrastructure Protocol	2,500,000
Layer 1			6,000,000
	Acki Nacki	Fast TX ‘Proof of Stake’ design network mined over a 60-year schedule	6,000,000
Meme			3,300,000
	Badchain	Memechain L2 on Solana	1,000,000
	MemeMarket	A Decentralized prediction market game & Super App for Memecoins	UNDISCLOSED
	Memes Lab	A Memes infrastructure and app tokenizing on TON	2,300,000
RWA			5,200,000
	Mavryk Network	An RWA focused layer-1 blockchain	5,200,000
Security			10,000,000
	IMUA	Universal protocol for shared security	5,000,000
	Lockchain.ai	AI-powered risk management platform for blockchain	5,000,000
Social			63,000,000
	Raise	Digital gift cards	63,000,000
Stablecoin			122,000,000
	Aegis	Bitcoin-backed stablecoin	2,000,000
	Ethena	Synthetic stablecoin developer of USDe	100,000,000
	Ethena Labs	Synthetic Dollar with Internet Native Yield	20,000,000
ZK			4,000,000
	Ligero	High speed, high scale security and data privacy solutions built on ZKPs	4,000,000
Grand Total			359,750,000

AI

The AI sector attracted $23.5 million across multiple projects, reflecting the growing integration of artificial intelligence within blockchain applications.

• Prime Intellect secured $15 million to develop its peer-to-peer compute and AI intelligence protocol. The platform is designed to enable decentralized AI computation, providing enhanced data privacy and computational efficiency across blockchain networks. By leveraging distributed AI models, Prime Intellect aims to reduce reliance on centralized data centers, ensuring greater accessibility and security for AI-driven applications.

  
  

• FanTV raised $8.5 million for its AI agent content platform built on Sui, which specializes in AI-powered content generation and interaction. FanTV’s platform enables creators to deploy AI-driven agents capable of generating and curating digital content, improving user engagement and streamlining media production in the Web3 ecosystem.

  
  

• MelodAI and Spheron are also making strides in AI-driven blockchain applications. MelodAI focuses on Web3 AI-generated content (AIGC) and AI agent services, allowing users to access AI-driven creative tools for music and media production. Spheron, on the other hand, is developing decentralized AI compute infrastructure, offering scalable and cost-effective computational resources for AI applications. The funding amounts for both companies remain undisclosed.

Asset Management

The Asset Management sector saw a single but significant investment of $70 million, highlighting the continued institutional interest in crypto investment products.

• Bitwise secured $70 million to expand its role as the largest crypto index fund manager in America. The funding will support Bitwise’s efforts to provide diversified exposure to digital assets through professionally managed funds. By offering a range of index-based products, Bitwise aims to make it easier for institutional and retail investors to access the crypto market while ensuring regulatory compliance and transparency.

Stablecoin

The Stablecoin sector led this week’s funding with $122 million, underscoring the increasing demand for stable digital assets within the crypto economy.

• Ethena secured the largest investment, raising $100 million for its synthetic stablecoin, USDe. The funding will be used to advance Ethena’s stable digital asset, which provides a decentralized alternative to traditional fiat-backed stablecoins. USDe aims to offer users a censorship-resistant and scalable stable asset designed for use in DeFi applications.

  
  

• Ethena Labs also raised $20 million to enhance its synthetic dollar offering, which includes an internet-native yield mechanism. This feature enables users to earn yield directly from the protocol without relying on centralized intermediaries, positioning Ethena Labs as a key player in the evolving stablecoin ecosystem.

  
  

• Aegis contributed $2 million to the sector with its Bitcoin-backed stablecoin initiative. Aegis aims to introduce a collateralized stablecoin that leverages Bitcoin as a backing asset, providing a stable and decentralized alternative to fiat-pegged digital currencies. By integrating Bitcoin’s security and liquidity, Aegis seeks to offer a more robust and resilient stablecoin model.

Conclusion

This week’s funding activity highlights continued investor enthusiasm across blockchain sectors, with a total of $359.75 million raised across AI, Asset Management, and Stablecoin categories. The Stablecoin sector led the way with $122 million in funding, driven by Ethena’s $100 million round for its synthetic stablecoin, reinforcing the growing demand for decentralized financial instruments. The Asset Management sector followed with a substantial $70 million investment into Bitwise, reflecting strong institutional interest in digital asset funds.

Meanwhile, the AI sector attracted $23.5 million, with Prime Intellect’s $15 million round emphasizing the need for decentralized AI computation, while FanTV’s $8.5 million funding highlighted the expanding role of AI in content creation.

These developments underscore blockchain’s evolving influence across industries, from AI-driven applications to institutional asset management and stable digital currencies. Investor confidence remains strong, positioning the sector for sustained growth in the coming months.

A central focus of investor activity in the cryptocurrency space is the evaluation of new crypto projects to invest in, particularly those with huge potential. This blog provides insight into what new ventures are benefiting from venture capital support (VC funding in crypto). These new crypto projects, funded by professional investors, can dictate the next narrative in crypto and the next big crypto movers.