Wu Says May VC Monthly Report: Coinbase's $2.90 billion acquisition of Deribit marks the largest merger in crypto history, with numerous publicly listed companies raising funds to buy cryptocurrencies, among others.

According to RootData statistics, in May 2025, Crypto VC publicly disclosed a total of 62 venture capital projects, a month-on-month decrease of 6.1% (66 projects in April 2025), and a year-on-year decrease of 61.3% (160 projects in May 2024). The number of small-scale financings continues to decline. Note: Since not all financings are announced within the same month, the above statistics may increase in the future. The number of projects in various sectors are as follows:

Among them, CeFi accounts for approximately 12.9%, DeFi about 27.4%, NFT/GameFi about 8.1%, L1/L2 about 11.3%, RWA/DePIN about 11.3%, Tool/Wallet about 6.5%, and AI about 11.3%.

Total financing in April 2025 was 3.95 billion USD, a month-on-month increase of 32.3% (2.99 billion USD in March 2025), and a year-on-year increase of 289.5% (1.01 billion USD in April 2024). Large-scale mergers and acquisitions amounts continue to rise. Among them, the top 10 financing rounds by amount are as follows:

Coinbase has agreed to acquire Deribit, the world's largest crypto derivatives exchange, for 2.90 billion USD, marking the largest acquisition in the history of the digital market. Coinbase will pay 700 million USD in cash, with the remainder paid in stock.

Nasdaq-listed company SharpLink Gaming has signed a securities purchase agreement to conduct a private investment in public equity (PIPE), planning to issue approximately 69,100,313 common shares at a price of 6.15 USD per share, expecting to raise about 425 million USD. This financing round is led by Consensys Software, with participation from ParaFi Capital, Electric Capital, Pantera Capital, Arrington Capital, Galaxy Digital, Ondo, White Star Capital, GSR, Hivemind Capital, Hypersphere, Primitive Ventures, and Republic Digital. The company plans to use the raised funds to purchase ETH as its primary treasury reserve asset, as well as for operating expenses and other general corporate purposes.

World Foundation’s subsidiary World Assets sold 135 million USD worth of WLD at market price to Andreessen Horowitz and Bain Capital Crypto on May 21, supporting the expansion of the World network in the US and globally. Previously disclosed investors also included Selini Capital, Mirana Ventures, and Arctic Digital.

Bitcoin investment firm Twenty One Capital added 100 million USD in convertible senior secured notes financing, bringing total financing to 685 million USD, in preparation for its merger with Nasdaq-listed Cantor Equity Partners. The new financing comes from existing investors and sponsors who exercised purchase options in the April financing round, with the notes bearing a 1% annual interest and maturing in 2030. Previously disclosed financing included 385 million USD in bonds and 200 million USD in PIPE financing.

Stablecoin payment company Conduit announced the completion of a 36 million USD Series A round, led by Dragonfly Capital, with Sound Ventures, Altos Ventures, DCG, and Commerce Ventures participating. The company’s total financing now reaches 53 million USD. Conduit offers cross-border payment solutions via stablecoin technology, currently supporting 14 fiat currencies and operating in 9 countries including the US.

Doppel announced the completion of a 35 million USD Series B round, led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from new institutions such as 9Yards Capital and Sozo Ventures. Existing shareholders including a16z, South Park Commons, SCV, Script Capital, and Sabrina Hahn continued their support. Founded three years ago, Doppel focuses on building social engineering defense platforms, covering brand impersonation, executive protection, and multi-channel phishing attacks.

DeFi data analytics company IntoTheBlock and liquidity solutions provider Trident Digital announced a merger to form a new entity, Sentora, dedicated to providing institutional investors with a one-stop compliant DeFi platform. They are currently advancing a 25 million USD financing round led by New Form Capital, with participation from Ripple and Tribe Capital. Sentora will integrate both parties’ expertise in DeFi data analytics and liquidity structure design, providing asset managers with yield strategies, risk control, compliance, and structured products services.

Japan-listed company Metaplanet announced the issuance of its 14th series of common bonds, raising 21.25 million USD, all of which will be used to purchase Bitcoin. The bond issuance was approved at the board meeting on May 9 and was fully subscribed by EVO FUND. Previously, Metaplanet purchased 53.40 million USD worth of 555 bitcoins, bringing its Bitcoin holdings to 5,555 bitcoins, with a total investment of 4 billion...USD 81.50 billion, with an average purchase price of USD 86,672 per Bitcoin. This makes Metaplanet the largest publicly listed Bitcoin holder in Asia and ranks it ninth globally.

Catena Labs, a crypto asset startup founded by Sean Neville, co-founder of Circle, has completed an USD 18 million seed funding round, led by a16z Crypto, with participation from Breyer Capital, Circle Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and others. Sean Neville left the Circle board in early 2020 but still serves as a director. Catena Labs aims to build an AI-native bank.

Bitcoin project Roxom Global announced a total funding of USD 17.90 million to build a BTC-denominated securities exchange and a 24/7 Bitcoin media network RoxomTV. The exchange received USD 7.90 million in investments from Draper Associates and others, while RoxomTV secured USD 10 million in private financing. The exchange focuses on Latin America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East markets, offering BTC-denominated futures, spot, and synthetic instrument trading, and has not yet launched in the United States.