RootData: 2024 Web3 Industry Investment Research Report

Reprinted from chaincatcher

01/16/2025·18days ago

summary

According to RootData statistics, the total market value of the global encryption market will increase significantly in 2024. A total of US$10.112 billion in financing was completed throughout the year, an increase of 8.3% compared with 2023. A total of 1,548 financing events occurred throughout the year, and 102 merger and acquisition events reached a record high. ; The infrastructure sector continued to maintain its leading position with a financing scale of US$3.995 billion.
Early-stage investment (under US$5 million) will dominate in 2024, with 627 projects completed throughout the year, an increase of 20.6% from 2023. The overall project valuation gradually returns to a rational range; the top ten transactions totaled US$3.028 billion, and payment giant Stripe The acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge for US$1.1 billion became the largest single transaction; OKX Ventures became the most active investment institution in 2024 with 72 investments; Polychain led 30 projects throughout the year, focusing on infrastructure and DeFi tracks.
The Ethereum ecosystem completed 282 financings throughout the year, with the total financing amount reaching US$1.78 billion. The annual growth of Base and Solana ecological projects led other public chains, with growth rates reaching an astonishing 164.8% and 69.6% respectively. The growth rate of mature Layer 2 ecological dApps remains around 20%, showing a trend of getting rid of VC difficulties and becoming self-reliant.
Infrastructure, Layer 1/2, and DeFi are still the most popular fields in the blockchain, and the number of clicks on labels such as artificial intelligence and DeSci has increased rapidly. Before a large amount of Token is unlocked, it is usually combined with favorable incentives to increase the price, and OTC transactions have the least impact on the Token price.
In the first half of 2025, the encryption market will show a diversified development trend. DePIN, RWA, AI and consumer-grade Infra will be the focus of industry development in 2025. High-performance public chains such as Solana and Move may perform well. At the same time, the ETH ecosystem has developed steadily under regulatory integration, promoting the entire industry to evolve toward standardization and deep integration with the real economy.

Total financing in 2024 will be US$10.112 billion, an increase of 8.3%

from 2023; the infrastructure field will achieve a financing scale of US$3.995 billion

According to RootData statistics, the crypto market financing activities in 2024 will be characterized by highs and then lows, with a total financing amount of US$10.112 billion completed throughout the year, an increase of 8.3% compared to 2023. Among them, the first quarter was the most active, with US$1.139 billion in financing completed in a single month in March, a record high for the whole year. The average monthly financing amount remained above US$900 million in the first half of the year, stabilized at around US$700 million in the second half, and ended at US$742 million in December.

Judging from the number of financing events, a total of 1,548 financing events occurred throughout the year, an average of 129 per month. Among them, March reached a single-month high of 191 cases, and then gradually fell back, with the monthly average remaining at around 100 in the second half of the year. It is worth noting that the number of mergers and acquisitions reached 102, an increase of 34.2% from 76 in 2023, and a record high at the same time. The average financing amount throughout the year was US$9.1352 million, and the median financing amount was US$4.1 million.

According to RootData statistics, the financing performance of each track in 2024 will show obvious differentiation. The infrastructure field continued to maintain its leading position with a financing scale of US$3.995 billion, an increase of 18.22% compared with 2023, accounting for the largest share of the total financing throughout the year. Among them, the developer platform and stable currency direction achieved significant growth in Q3. The DeFi track performed outstandingly, with annual financing reaching US$1.493 billion, a significant increase of 96.57% compared to 2023, ranking second in financing scale, mainly focusing on modularization, parallel EVM, DePin and RWA.

The financing scale of the game track reached US$814 million, a year-on-year increase of 21.54%. Projects in other categories received US$1.335 billion in financing. Although it dropped slightly by 6.72% from 2023, it included the Meme sector, AI and Web3 integration projects, and emerging fields such as DePin. Among them, FHE, re-pledge and privacy computing were active at the beginning of the year, while security Solutions and the creator economy received more attention in Q3/Q4. It is worth noting that the scale of financing in the CeFi field dropped from US$991 million in 2023 to US$679 million, a decrease of 31.48%. However, there was a brief recovery in the middle of the year due to the impact of projects such as Farcaster.

Early-stage investment will dominate in 2024, with an increase of 20.6%

compared with 2023; the total financing of the Top 10 will reach US$3.028 billion, accounting for 29.94% of the total financing for the year

Judging from the financing distribution data in 2024, early-stage investments (under US$5 million) continue to dominate, with 627 financing events occurring throughout the year, an increase of 20.6% from 520 projects in 2023, reflecting that as the market picks up, new projects The layout is significantly accelerated. Mid-term investment (US$5 million to US$10 million) shows steady growth, with 244 projects completed in 2024, an increase of 24.5% compared with 196 projects in 2023. Late-stage and large-scale investment (more than US$10 million) will complete 188 projects, an increase of 24.5% from 196 projects in 2023. The 175 projects in 2023 increased slightly. This change is mainly due to the increased risk aversion of investors after the bear market cycle of 2022-2023. In addition, most funds will complete fundraising in 2021, and as the exit period approaches, the demand for investment in mid- and late-stage projects increases.

The total transaction volume of the top ten transactions in the Web3 financing market in 2024 will reach US$3.028 billion, accounting for 29.94% of the total financing for the year. Among them, payment giant Stripe’s acquisition of stablecoin platform Bridge for US$1.1 billion became the largest single transaction, accounting for 10.88% of the total annual financing. This was followed by a $413 million financing from Bitcoin mining company Iris Energy and a $250 million OTC financing completed by Avalanche. At the same time, multiple mergers and acquisitions reflect industry consolidation trends. These large transactions are mainly concentrated in infrastructure, mining and the L1 track, reflecting the continued optimism of institutional investors for industry infrastructure construction.

OKX Ventures became the most active investment institution in 2024 with

72 investments; Polychain led 30 projects throughout the year, focusing on infrastructure and DeFi track

According to RootData data, among the top 10 most active investment institutions in 2024, OKX Ventures ranks first with 72 investments. Its investment direction is mainly concentrated in the infrastructure and DeFi fields. It is worth noting that OKX Ventures was active in the gaming circuit, making a total of 34 shots. Followed by MH Ventures and Cogitent Ventures, both with 56 shots. Overall, the infrastructure track is still the most popular, with the top 10 institutions investing more than 38 times in this field, while investment in DAO and tool information services is relatively low.

Judging from the ranking of leading investment activity, Polychain ranks first with 30 leading investments, and its investment focus is obviously focused on infrastructure and DeFi. Among the 24 leading investments by the second-place Hack VC, 17 were invested in the infrastructure field. Eight of Animoca Brands' 17 leading investments have been in gaming projects, showing its professional layout in the gaming industry. Generally speaking, NFT, DAO and other fields have been lukewarm in terms of leading investments, and most institutions have led 0 investments in these fields.

The growth numbers of Base and Solana ecological projects are relatively

leading, and the growth rate of mature Layer 2 ecological dApps remains at around 20%, showing a trend of self-reliance.

According to incomplete collection, the total number of applications of Ethereum exceeds 2,500, and it still occupies the top of the list of public chains. This ecosystem is still the most recognized infra by investors and developers. A total of 282 financings were completed throughout the year, with a total financing amount of US$1.78 billion.

The annual growth of Base and Solana ecological projects led other public chains, with growth rates reaching an astonishing 164.8% and 69.6% respectively. In addition to fast performance and low gas fees, the experiment of combining blockchain and AI is to promote the prosperity of public chains. Important factors include Virtuals Protocol and Pump.Fun attracting a large inflow of hot money.

In terms of financing capabilities, mature Layer 2 (such as Optimism and Arbitrum) data are sluggish, but the growth rate of ecological dApps still remains around 20%, showing a trend of getting rid of VC difficulties and becoming self-reliant. Hyperliquid created the myth that FDV skyrocketed 10 times to US$30 billion within a month after TGE without financing.

Infrastructure, Layer1/2, and DeFi are still the most popular areas of

the blockchain, and the number of clicks on labels such as artificial intelligence and DeSci has increased rapidly.

Based on the popular tags of RootData (more than 5,000 clicks) in the past year, it was found that infrastructure, Layer1/2, and DeFi are still the most popular tracks in the blockchain. The clicks of tags such as artificial intelligence, DeSci, etc. have increased rapidly, and Virtuals Protocol, Representative projects such as Bio Protocol have long been at the top of RootData's popularity list.

The popularity of some high-click tags usually only lasts for 1-3 months, such as DePIN, Tap to Earn, Bitcoin Ecology, etc. In addition to the factors of selling pressure on VC coins, the lack of a good growth flywheel of the project itself may be one of the factors that prevent it from continuously attracting capital inflows.

Before a large amount of Token is unlocked, it is usually combined with

favorable incentives to increase the price. OTC transactions have the least impact on the Token price.

In 2024, VC coins will become a daunting word, and the crypto market will carry its exit liquidity. Projects such as Optimism, Sui, Aptos, Ethena, dydx, and Cardano will unlock more than 30 million Tokens every month. Among them, 9 large-amount unlocking events occurred (a single transaction exceeded US$100 million), namely INJ, MEME, PYTH, AVAX, SUI, W, JTO, APT, and TIA.

Comparing the prices before and after the Token is unlocked, it is found that the project party can significantly increase the Token price before large-amount unlocking by announcing good information in advance, marketing and other methods. In addition, over-the-counter OTC trading is the exit method with the least impact on the Token price, which can eliminate the risk of a sharp decline in the Token.

The popular TGE projects in 2025 H1 are mainly BTC, artificial

intelligence and high-performance chains

2025H1 Popular TGE Financing Overview (* represents TGE that has been carried out)

Projects with total financing exceeding US$100 million include Monad, Farcaster, *EigenLayer, *Magic Eden, and Berachain;
Projects with total financing between US$50 million and US$100 million include Babylon, *Scroll, Morpho, and Eclipse;
Projects with total financing between US$10 million and US$50 million include Sahara, Nillion, *Movement, *Puffer, Initia, Walletconnect, *Usual, Lombard, Solayer, *Bio, Sophon;
Projects with total financing of less than US$10 million include Roam, Symbiotic, *deBridge, *Grass.

Representative institutional investors include CEXs institutions such as Coinbase, Okex, and Binance, as well as leading institutions such as Polychain, Hack VC, IOSG, Robot Ventures, Paradigm, Variant, a16z, and Delphi Digital.

2025 H1 Token Unlocking and Altcoin Performance Affected by Tax Season

and Macro Liquidity

Macro and TGE price performance

Monad has received the highest financing and support from 8 leading institutions, and is expected to be listed on Coinbase, Binance and Okex. After Eigen went online, its actual TGE multiple reached 43 times, and the token price remained excellent. $GRASS, $ME and $MOVE listed on Binance in Q4 performed well and their listing ratios are currently as high as 100-50, while the base ratio of $USUAL is 30 times since the last round. Among them, Layer 1, which is supported by 4 to 5 leading institutions, has different performance. High-performance narratives such as Movement perform well, while zero-knowledge proof narratives perform poorly in terms of $SCR basic multiplier. Currently, the most popular narratives include the high-performance public chain Eclipse/ Monad/MegaETH, Berachain for Ponzi’s liquidity narrative, Initia for chain abstraction, Sahara and Nillion for artificial intelligence and privacy, and Babylon and Lombard for BTC narrative.

Looking at the situation of popular TGE in Q4, the market achieved better exit performance when the top CEXs unlocked liquidity during the period of rising blue chip prices. From a macro perspective, Trump came to power in January and the liquidity of institutions returned after Christmas. The price of TGE tokens released before the withdrawal of liquidity during the tax filing season from March to April is expected to continue the prosperity in Q4 of 2024. Trump and his WLF's support for DeFi narrative and cash on the Ethereum+ chain has enabled DeFi and US dollar-pegged RWA related concepts (such as $USUAL) to also achieve good token unlocking performance. Unissued tokens on such labels and tracks The project’s narrative capabilities in 2025 are still exciting.

2025 H1 OTC market is led by Solana, Move series high-performance

narrative

The OTC market quotation amount increased overall and showed the following characteristics: the total transaction volume was 262 orders, a month-on-month decrease of 3%; the total order quotation amount reached $1.2B, a month-on-month increase of 29%, the average transaction amount per transaction was $5.2M, a month-on-month increase of 34%, and the buyer accounted for The ratio is 41.98%, and sellers account for 58.02%.

Market activity has increased overall due to the increasing popularity of the crypto market. Institutions holding recent TGE projects such as $NAM and $OM, which have performed well in price, and $SOL, which has performed well in the past year, tend to make short-term profits. Among them, Solana is affected by many factors including but not limited to FTX unlocking and Galaxy Digital’s agent liquidation pledge token unlocking. FTX's account redemptions below $50,000 are expected to be reversely injected into the altcoin market after being obtained in Q1. The total unlocked amount was previously reported to be as high as $10B, which is said by the market to have preempted the Federal Reserve's cryptocurrency "quantitative easing" liquidity injection plan.

Since Solana has been called one of the next competitors to pass ETF since ETH joined ETF in 2024, the price is highly controversial. The Solana Foundation is also actively supporting liquidity staking solutions such as Solayer and RateX that reduce selling pressure. Phantom Wallet has previously raised more than $100M, and its last round valuation was as high as $1.2B. It is favored by institutional buyers in the OTC market and may have an increased probability of issuing coins in 2025. As Solana's current largest infrastructure and an indispensable part of the AI+ meme currency trading wheel, $JTO is also favored by institutions in the OTC market.

As the Move language (an easy version to get started with Rust) that was modified by the Facebook Diem chain, the price of $SUI and SUI Ecology exceeded $4.4 at the end of 2024, an increase of 125% from before Trump won the election. $SUI’s OTC activities show that institutions are optimistic about the development prospects of SUI. Because of its faster and cheaper transaction characteristics, it is expected to become the third-generation public chain killer (Solana was previously called the second-generation public chain killer and ETH was called the third-generation public chain killer). Generation of public chain BTC killer)

AI leads the traditional track, the three giants of real assets rise, and

the innovation track competes to break through 100% annual growth

Growth rate of number of primary market tag investments - changing wind direction

Judging from the number of investments in cryptocurrency financing projects in 2024, changes in the investment preferences of investors and institutions mainly occur in:

100 investments: Artificial intelligence growth rate reached 128%, ahead of infrastructure/DeFI/games

50 investments: DePin/RWA/LSD all achieved 100+% growth rate, and the growth rate of DEX/loan/payment/Layer1/derivatives is also worthy of attention

<50 investments: AI agent/re-pledge/MEME/cloud computing/launch platform/IoT/stable currency issuance/DA/gambling prediction game/DEX aggregation/privacy/Bitcoin ecology (BRC20/Rune/Ordinals) and other growth rates More than 100%

Infrastructure AI dominated the first half of the year, with DePIN and

RWA emerging as highlights. Stablecoins and privacy broke through in the second half of the year, and traditional tracks differentiated significantly.

Monthly changes in the number of primary market tag investments - changes in wind direction

Looking at the time distribution of the number of investments in cryptocurrency financing projects in 2024, changes in the investment preferences of investors and institutions mainly occur in:

100 investments: DeFi/infrastructure/artificial intelligence is growing steadily, and games have a gradual downward trend

50 investments: DePin/RWA/Layer1 has an increasingly strong trend of growth, while NFT/DeFi related financing times may tend to decrease after May due to market conditions.

<50 investments: Stablecoin/AI agent/privacy/MEME showed a growth trend in 24H2, BTC related/data/tool related performance declined after 24H1

AI dominates large investments, RWA and DePIN emerge as new favorites,

and NFT and Bitcoin ecology recede

Share of primary market label investment times - changing trends

Looking at the time share of the number of investments in cryptocurrency financing projects in 2024, changes in the investment preferences of investors and institutions mainly occur in:

100 investments: The artificial intelligence sector has a significant growth rate

50 investments: RWA/LSD/Layer1/DePin/payment/derivatives have grown significantly, and the proportion of NFT/tools/DEX/design/CeFI has declined significantly.

<50 investments: AI Agency/Stablecoin Protocol/Privacy/Perpetual Contract/Wallet/Modularity/Re-Staking/Game Solutions/ZK/CEX/Gaming/Layer3/Income Party/Cross-Chain Bridge/API/DA/Intention The growth is obvious, and the marketing plan/Ordinals/Bitcoin Ecology/Creator Economy/Mining/Asset Management/NFT/BRC20/DID related decline is obvious.

Stablecoins lead by 433%, AI and infrastructure track attract significant

funds, FHE, parallelization, RWA, LSD, and oracles are in full bloom

Primary market tag financing amount growth rate - institutional amount trends

Judging from the amount of cryptocurrency financing in 2024, the movements of investors and institutional funds mainly occur in:

$1B tag: Stablecoin issuance/developer platform/Layer1/DeFi/infrastructure YoY growth rates all reached 100+%, of which stablecoin and developer platform growth rates were 433% and 180%

$0.25-1B tag: Modular/parallel EVM/DePin/RWA/LSD/mining all received a 130+% increase, of which artificial intelligence/mining/games received a total of more than 0.8B of funds each, DA/bitcoin ecology/derivatives The growth rate of product/L2/ZK should not be underestimated if it remains at 100%.

<$250M Tags: FHE/AI agent/prophecy machine achieved 300+% growth rate, social/environmental protection/card/gambling/Layer3/IoT/stable currency protocol/perpetual contract/launch platform achieved over 150+% growth rate

The infrastructure track has grown steadily, development platforms have

made breakthroughs in Q3, social gambling has risen in Q2, and security creation has gained momentum in Q4.

Monthly changes in primary market tag financing amount - Institutional amount trends

Judging from the time distribution chart of cryptocurrency financing amount in 2024, the movements of investors and institutional funds mainly occur in:

$1B tag: Developer platforms and stablecoin discovery achieved significant growth in Q3, and infrastructure maintained steady growth throughout the year

$0.25-1B Tags: Modular/Parallel EVM/DePin/RWA/Payment/Artificial Intelligence grew steadily throughout the year, among which digital national cities achieved greater growth in Q2

<$250M Tags: FHE/Re-staking/Privacy/Card Game/Studio/MEV/Cross-chain all achieved greater growth at the beginning of the year, Layer3/Social Graph/CeFI/Gaming Games achieved greater growth in the middle of the year due to the impact of the election and Faracaster Great growth, security solution/creator economy/hosting/interoperability received more attention from institutions in Q3/Q4

Development platforms and stablecoins are strongly leading the way in Q3,

cloud computing power and FHE are rising, and NFT and the Metaverse are declining significantly.

Share of tag financing amount in the primary market - Institutional amount trends

Looking at the time share of cryptocurrency financing amount in 2024, changes in the investment preferences of investors and institutions mainly occur in:

$1B tag: Developer platform/stable currency issuer/Layer1/DeFi accounted for a significant increase after Q3

$0.25-1B Tags: DA/data country’s proportion has increased significantly after Q3, modular/parallel EVM/DePin/RWA/LSD/mining/loan has increased its proportion throughout the year, wallet/payment/CEX/game/social/ ZK’s share declined

<$250M tags: cloud computing power/FHE/AI agent/social graph/Layer3/oracle/prediction market/environmental protection solution/card game/gambling game/launch platform/chain abstraction/NFT lending/CeFi/DID starting from Q1 The proportion has increased significantly, and the proportion of re-staking/game solutions/privacy/DEX/staking services has increased steadily throughout the year. The proportion of NFT/Metaverse/Tools/Custody/Cross-chain/Interoperability/Music/CeFI asset management amount has declined significantly

The Bitcoin ecosystem increased by 162% to a new high, followed by

Cosmos/Solana with an increase of 144/93%, TON, SUI, and DOT grew at 100%, and Ethereum firmly took the lead with US$1.1 billion.

Growth rate of ecological financing amount in primary market - ecological potential

Judging from the amount of ecological financing in the primary market in 2024, the ecology that attracts investors and institutional funds is mainly:

$200M total financing: BTC/Comos/Solana increased by nearly 100%, BTC increased by 162%, Comos increased by 144%, Base increased by 67%, the total amount is almost more than BNB/OP/Polygon/AVAX, Ethereum has a total of $1.13B Financing and a 61% increase maintained steady growth.

Total financing amount of $30-200M: Ton achieved the largest increase with 316% increase and $66M. SUI and DOT followed closely with 175% ($37M) and 158% ($50M). Scroll ranked first with total financing amount of $112M. , the others that received more than $50M in financing include Mantra/Linear/Zksync/Blast/Sonic.

ETH ecology led in Q1 and then declined, Solana and Base steadily

attracted funds, TON and SUI led the new forces

Monthly changes in the amount of ecological financing in the primary market -ecological potential

Judging from the amount of ecological financing in the primary market in 2024, the ecology that attracts investors and institutional funds is mainly:

$200M total financing: BTC/ETH/Avalanche/Polygon/Optimism experienced a serious decline throughout the year after strong growth in Q1, Solana/Base/Arbitrum/BNB/Cosmos received stable financing throughout the year

$30-200M total financing: TON/SUI/Babylon/Scroll/Berachain/Sonic

BTC and Cosmos are expanding steadily, Solana and Base are emerging, TON

and SUI are leading the way, and the AVAX ecosystem is giving way.

Share of ecological financing amount in the primary market - Ecological potential

Judging from the amount of ecological financing in the primary market in 2024, the ecology that attracts investors and institutional funds is mainly:

$200M Total Financing: BTC/Cosmos/Solana/Base grew significantly throughout the year, Avax/Polygon declined significantly

Total financing amount of $30-200M: TON/SUI/DOT/Starknet/Babylon/Aurora grew significantly throughout the year, while the remaining proportions did not change much

From speculation to value: ETH leads the standardization of DeFi,

regulatory integration promotes industry upgrading, performance innovation leads the future, and the real economy is deeply integrated

In 2024, there will be a significant change in the investment landscape of the crypto market. Although the total financing for the year in the fields of artificial intelligence, infrastructure and DeFi reached US$9.346 billion (basically the same as US$9.615 billion in 2023), the focus of investment has shifted significantly. Bitcoin-related project financing increased by 162% year-on-year, mainly benefiting from the renaissance of Bitcoin's BRC20/BTC script and the promotion of ETFs; the artificial intelligence sector performed outstandingly in Q4, with a surge in financing frequency, highlighting the trend of accelerated integration of AI and encryption technology ;At the same time, RWA, Layer 1 and DePin have emerged as new investment hotspots, while the traditional NFT and GameFi tracks are gradually cooling down. From the perspective of ecosystem development, Ethereum maintained its dominance with $1.13 billion in financing and a growth rate of 61%, while the Cosmos and Solana ecosystems achieved significant growth of 144% and nearly 100% respectively. The performance of emerging ecosystems is even more impressive, with TON growing by 316% and SUI growing by 175%.

It is worth noting that although the traditional tracks (infrastructure, DeFi) will remain stable in 2024, the market focus is accelerating. The Bitcoin ecosystem is showing structural changes. Although Layer 2 scalability solutions have made technical progress, they still face challenges such as user adoption and liquidity decentralization. The development of the BRC20 ecosystem also encounters problems such as network congestion and infrastructure support. However, traditional investors are gradually participating in BTC investment through ETF products. At the same time, the success of AI meme coins in 2024 has also attracted the attention of institutional investors, driving a large amount of funds to support the development of AI infrastructure.

Looking forward to 2025, with the injection of large amounts of capital, the AI track is expected to move from concept to implementation, focusing on the development of infrastructure such as decentralized training, reasoning, data governance, privacy protection, and AI autonomous transactions. Under the clarification of the U.S. regulatory framework, especially driven by policies such as the SEC's simplified token registration process and the abolition of SAB 121, the RWA market will flourish. It is expected that the tokenization of U.S. Treasury bonds, institutional-grade bonds, and real estate tokenization will explode. sexual growth. High-performance public chain tracks (such as Solana, SUI and emerging Monad, Eclipse) will be verified in terms of transaction performance, scalability and complex application scenarios. DePin and the Internet of Things infrastructure have begun to be implemented on a large scale, combining the real economy and cash flow income, integrating decentralized computing, distributed storage and other technologies to form a product form for traditional consumers. At the same time, DeFi 2.0 will develop under a clear regulatory background, and institutional-level DeFi liquidity provision will become the new standard.

In 2025, the market will shift from chasing short-term hot spots to building long-term value, and project valuations will be based more on actual adoption and cash flow performance rather than speculative expectations. This transformation process will change the business and development logic of the entire industry and become an important turning point for the encryption industry to mature.

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