Blockchain startups reset and reaccelerate: tokenization, infra, compliance

A cyclical reset gives way to selective growth

After two years of retrenchment, venture funding for blockchain startups shows signs of stabilization and cautious reacceleration. The steep pullback from 2022’s exuberance forced founders to tighten burn, focus on core revenue, and prove real utility. Funding in 2023 fell sharply versus the prior year, but recovered in several 2024 quarters, with late‑stage financing returning for category leaders, according to Crunchbase News.

Deal quality has improved as capital concentrates in durable themes—payments rails, enterprise wallets and custody, compliance tooling, and scaling infrastructure. Analysts observed a sequential uptick in crypto VC activity in 2024, with larger rounds clustering around infrastructure and real‑world asset (RWA) platforms, analysts at Galaxy Research report. This builds on broader Blockchain trends that favor builders with a clear path to regulated markets and enterprise demand.

Where the money is going: tokenization, payments, and data

The RWA thesis has moved from proofs-of-concept to early commercialization. Asset managers, banks, and fintechs are piloting tokenized funds, treasuries, and private credit; fintech-native startups are stitching that demand to compliant issuance, distribution, and reporting stacks. The addressable market is large: tokenization of global financial assets could reach double‑digit trillions by 2030, BCG projects, creating openings for issuers, servicers, and data providers.

Payments and treasury remain hot zones as corporates push for always‑on settlement and programmable cash flows. Startups building on stablecoin rails are targeting lower cross‑border costs, automated reconciliation, and intraday liquidity optimization. In parallel, data companies are graduating from on‑chain analytics dashboards to enterprise‑grade observability, audit, and risk platforms—necessary glue for CFOs, auditors, and regulators.

Builders keep shipping: modular infra and developer momentum

Much of the startup energy is in the plumbing: scaling, security, and data availability. Layer‑2 rollups, modular stacks, and high‑throughput monolithic chains are competing on cost and latency, while new primitives like restaking and shared security seek to professionalize decentralized infrastructure. Developer activity has proven resilient through the market cycle, with senior open‑source contributors remaining near highs even as casual participation ebbed, the Electric Capital Developer Report finds.