coinspress.com
Despite last year's challenges and the collapses of leading industry players, venture capital investors supported startups in the crypto space.
According to a report by European investment firm RockawayX, European-based crypto startups received a record-high of $5.7 billion in VC investment in 2022. Additionally, European decentralized finance startups attracted $1.2 billion in investment, a 120% increase from the previous year.
RockawayX CEO Viktor Fischer noted that the crypto market is cyclical and that investments made during downturns have yielded positive results.
Europe has the highest number of crypto startups globally, with 3,977 headquartered in the region. However, the United States leads in the number of startups with over $1 million in funding and those with a valuation of over $1 billion.
Top global investors in European startups include Animoca Brands, Coinbase, Blockchain Capital, and Digital Currency Group.
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More than half of all investments in European crypto startups in 2022 were in financial services (52%), with infrastructure and Web3 making up 32% and 16%, respectively.
While investment in financial service-based startups declined by 19% compared to the previous year, infrastructure investment increased by 24%.
Europe’s crypto-friendly status is set to receive a further boost with the impending Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations, which lawmakers in the European Union are currently finalizing. A final vote on the MiCA rules is scheduled for April 2023.