More than a third of all funds raised went to the centralized finance (CeFi) sector, with $10.2 billion in funding.
Investments in various cryptocurrency projects in the first two quarters of 2022 totaled $30.3 billion, with 1,199 funding rounds during that period. The amount of funds raised already exceeds the same figure for the entire 2021, in which $30.2 billion was attracted in 1,313 funding rounds. This data can be found in a joint report by the analytics company Messari and Dove Metrics service.
CeFi sector projects raised the most money — $10.2 billion, of which $3.2 billion was used to finance cryptocurrency exchanges. Services providing payment solutions are in second place in attracting funds to the sector — they raised $1.58 billion. Other popular areas include market makers, savings accounts, and asset management.
The NFT sector attracted $6.7 billion in six months, $4.2 billion of which went to the NFT gaming sector. By comparison, $937 million was collected for marketplace development, $681 million for art projects, and $203 million for infrastructure.
In the Web3 sector, the most popular among investors were media, entertainment, and DAO projects. The sector attracted a total of $1.9 billion in investment. Media projects accounted for $529 million.
Investments in DeFi projects amounted to $1.8 billion. DEXs attracted the most — $450 million. Other popular investment areas are asset management, yield farming, and stablecoins.
According to a PwC report, 38% of hedge funds currently invest in digital assets. By comparison, the figure was 21% in 2021. John Garvey, Global Financial Services Industry Leader at PwC, sees investors’ focus on cryptocurrency projects as an attempt to gain an edge over the competition by trying “something different and new and unorthodox.”
Previously, analysts at The Block Research found that venture capitalists funding of blockchain projects fell 22% in Q2 2022. Meanwhile, large public investment funds, such as Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), are expressing interest in the blockchain technology sector.
Moreover, every tenth U.S. insurance company plans to use cryptocurrency as an investment asset.
