- Coinbase Ventures ranked first in crypto VC investment in the first half, participating in 30 deals.
- The broader crypto VC market contracted as fundraising, investment rounds and the number of unique investors all declined.
- Over the past year, projects tied to DeFi, payments and AI were the main investment targets.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
Coinbase Ventures, the venture investing arm of Coinbase, led crypto venture capital activity in the first half of 2026 by deal count.
Cointelegraph reported on July 13 that Coinbase Ventures participated in 30 crypto investment deals in the first six months of the year.
Animoca Brands ranked second with 19 deals, according to CryptoRank data. Andreessen Horowitz, known as a16z, made 18 investments, while stablecoin issuer Tether completed 15.
Coinbase Ventures also led over the past 12 months with 75 deals. It was followed by Animoca Brands with 40, YZi Labs, formerly Binance Labs, with 39, GSR with 31 and a16z with 30.
Cointelegraph reported that Coinbase’s venture unit has led crypto investment in 2026 despite the bear market.
The broader crypto VC market, however, has contracted. Crypto companies raised $1.4 billion in June, and the number of investment rounds fell to 61 from 89 in May. So far in July, 12 rounds have raised $456 million.
The number of participating investors also declined. CryptoRank data showed the number of unique investors dropped to 242 in June from 452 in October 2025.
Over the past six months, Coinbase Ventures took part in seven investments tied to payment protocols, four decentralized finance, or DeFi, projects, and three deals each in infrastructure and real-world asset, or RWA, tokenization projects.
Over the past year, DeFi, payments and artificial intelligence were the main areas of investment. DeFi protocols logged 216 funding rounds, while payment startups raised capital in 131 rounds and AI-crypto companies completed 128.
By region, U.S.-based venture firms invested $5.8 billion over the past six months, while Australia-based firms invested $3.6 billion. Investment from undisclosed regions exceeded $11.6 billion.