PANews reported on May 15 that, according to Cointelegraph, on May 14, Dan Tapiero, CEO of crypto venture firm 10T Holdings, pointed out at the Consensus conference in Toronto that too many crypto startups are pursuing valuations that far exceed their revenues, making it difficult for venture capitalists to achieve returns. Tapiero stated, 'For some reason, founders and CEOs believe they should raise funds at 50 to 80 times revenue. This makes it hard for us to create returns for liquidity providers.' Tapiero revealed that his firm has rejected over 200 projects due to excessive valuations, including the bankrupt FTX, BlockFi, and Celsius. The investment criteria for 10T Holdings is a company valuation of over $400-500 million, with a price-to-sales ratio no more than 10 times.
Despite concerns about valuation bubbles, PitchBook data shows that in the first quarter of 2025, crypto venture capital transaction volume grew by over 100% quarter-over-quarter, reaching $6 billion. Dan Morehead, CEO of Pantera Capital, who was discussing the topic at the same event, suggested that venture capital should adopt a 'equity + token' combination investment strategy, with 86% of the projects his firm invested in becoming profitable, and 22 of them becoming unicorn companies.