Gone are the days when 'investing in a crypto startup' meant throwing money into a project with a dog on the logo and waiting for Elon to tweet. Now it's all grown-up: in 2025, crypto is back in fashion, but not due to hype, but due to cold calculation, mathematics, and the pain of past losses.

🎯 On the agenda — infrastructure, security, AI, and DeFi, which has finally been understood not only by geeks.

🔍 What has changed?

If earlier VCs (venture capital funds, not to be confused with 'VC shouted buy the token') jumped into every shitcoin like into a pool with inflatable ducks, now they are looking at:

• 📡 L2/L3 networks and cross-chain bridges — no longer a toy, but a foundation;

• 🛡️ Cybersecurity and smart contract protection — lessons learned after $600M hacks have not been in vain;

• 🤖 AI+Crypto — from on-chain analytics to steroid-fueled GPT traders;

• 🏦 Institutional DeFi — when Goldman Sachs and DAOs are already in the same room.

📊 What do the numbers say?

• Total investment volume: $2.7 billion just in the last few months;

• Growth compared to the previous quarter: +2.5%, despite high rates in the US and EU;

• Leaders:

🧬 Farcaster — $150M (hello, decentralized Twitter)

🏗️ MegaETH — $20M for a fast blockchain

🧾 Colb — $7.3M for stock tokenization before IPO (yes, yes, before, Carl!)

📈 Based on the algorithmic regression of fund behavior from 2020 to 2024, it can be assumed that the peak point of capital attraction to startups with tokenized reality (RWA) will be in Q4 2025 – Q2 2026, provided that:

• Federal Reserve rate ≤ 4.25%;

• index of digital asset adoption in institutions > 52% (based on models from Chainalysis + Messari)

🪙 Tokens as an alternative to VC?

Forget about boring SAFE rounds. Many projects now don’t ask, but release:

• tokens backed by cash flows;

• security tokens for real estate and AI models;

• DeFi bonds that look smarter than your bank.

Yes, legally slippery, but VCs are not fools — if they can do without offices, they like it. And considering liquidity — it’s also fast.

💡 Why are funds coming back?

1. Projects have become mature — with UX/UI no worse than banking applications, and sometimes better;

2. Institutions are ready — CBDC, MiCA, BlackRock with ETFs — this is no joke;

3. Liquidity has returned — and where there is liquidity, there is a thirst for risk.

Compare this to the previous cycle — and using the formula R = L \cdot C^{1.6}, where R — growth of interest, L — liquidity, C — maturity of the team, you'll understand: the risk now is in missing out, not in participating.

⚠️ Caution, traps

😬 Real adoption is still not everywhere. There are many products, but few users.

⚖️ Regulation is still dancing the jig — especially in the US.

🎢 The hype hasn’t gone away — now it just wears glasses and says 'AI-driven'.

🤔 Where to look?

🚀 Those who combine the old and the new will win:

• tokenized real estate/debt;

• AI platforms with on-chain support;

• DeFi for institutions;

• And perhaps 2–3 projects that haven’t launched yet.

📉 But stay away from 'crypto-Netflix with NFT subscription and a dog on the logo' — we’ve already been through that.

✅ My personal favorite:

🧊 Infrastructure-level projects with an RWA model and a real token (preferably not on Solana, but something neutral — like EigenLayer + LayerZero integration)

🧮 Algorithmically, based on the volumes and trends of 2021 and 2017, we are currently at an equivalent of Q2 2020 — that is, 'not yet moon, but no longer a doormat.'

Have you already found yourself a crypto startup or are you still waiting for someone to repeat DOGE x100?

#CryptoVC2025 #RWArush #AIchain #DeFiInstitucional #БудуВТопе