Key facts
- Crypto VC disclosed 79 deals in May 2026, up 23.4% MoM.
- Total crypto VC funding in May 2026 was approximately $2.92 billion, up 88.1% MoM.
- Hana Bank invested $670 million for a stake in Dunamu, operator of Upbit.
- Payward, parent of Kraken, is acquiring Reap Technologies for ~$600 million.
- Circle raised $222 million in a presale of its new token Arc.
- Prediction market Kalshi raised an additional $200 million.
In May 2026, venture capital investment in the cryptocurrency sector showed a significant month-over-month increase in both deal count and funding amount. According to RootData, 79 public venture deals were disclosed, marking a 23.4% rise from April 2026, although this represents a 13.2% decrease compared to May 2025. Total funding for May 2026 reached approximately $2.92 billion, an 88.1% surge from the previous month, but a 31.3% decline from May 2025. The distribution of deals across sectors included CeFi at 17.7%, DeFi at 32.9%, NFT/GameFi at 2.5%, L1/L2 at 3.8%, RWA/DePIN at 3.8%, Tool/Wallet at 6.3%, and AI at 17.7%. Notable transactions included Hana Bank's $670 million investment for a 6.55% stake in Dunamu, the operator of South Korea's Upbit exchange, followed by Samsung Securities' $204 million investment for a 2% stake, implying a Dunamu valuation of around $10.2 billion. Payward, the parent company of Kraken, acquired Reap Technologies for approximately $600 million, valuing Payward at $20 billion, and also previously acquired Bitnomial for $550 million. Kraken's co-CEO Arjun Sethi indicated the company is about 80% ready for an IPO. Circle, the issuer of USDC, raised $222 million in a presale for its new token Arc, with a fully diluted valuation of $3 billion, attracting investments from a16z, BlackRock, Apollo Management, and ICE. Prediction market Kalshi secured an additional $200 million from Baillie Gifford and Layer Global, maintaining its $22 billion valuation, following a prior $1 billion round led by Coatue Management. Kalshi reported over $14 billion in trading volume and annualized revenue exceeding $1.5 billion in April. Other significant funding rounds included Elliptic's $120 million Series D, Coinone's $106 million investment from OKX Ventures and KIS for a 19.6% stake, Gemini's $100 million strategic investment from Winklevoss Capital, Fun's $72 million Series A, and Coincheck's $65 million investment from KDDI. Capital allocation was heavily concentrated in DeFi, payments, market infrastructure, and prediction markets.