Surge in Crypto VC Funding in November Following Naver's $10.3B Acquisition

In November 2025, the landscape of crypto venture capital revealed a mixed picture: while the number of deals slumped, the overall funding in the sector surged dramatically.

Key Takeaways:

Although crypto VC deals decreased significantly in November, total funding soared to $14 billion, largely due to a major acquisition.
Naver’s acquisition of Dunamu for $10.3 billion constituted the majority of this month's total funding.
Outside of this landmark deal, investors concentrated on sectors such as DeFi, AI, and infrastructure.

According to data from RootData, there were 57 reported crypto VC deals in November, reflecting a 28% drop from October and a 41% decrease compared to the same month last year.

However, total funding leaped to $14.54 billion, an impressive month-over-month increase of 219%, primarily driven by a single major transaction.

Crypto VC Funding Surges in November Despite Fewer Rounds on Naver’s $10.3B Deal

Naver’s $10.3 Billion Purchase of Dunamu: Crypto's Largest Transaction

This standout transaction was Naver’s acquisition of Dunamu for $10.3 billion in all-stock. This deal marks the largest financing event ever in the crypto sector, valuing Dunamu at approximately KRW 15.1 trillion. It signals a revitalized interest in scaling through consolidation in the market.

Dunamu reported revenues of KRW 1.19 trillion for the first nine months of the year, primarily driven by its trading platform Upbit, demonstrating that trading platforms remain vital for generating revenue, even as the market matures.

When excluding the Naver-Dunamu mega-deal, November presents a more cautious landscape, with capital increasingly concentrating on fewer, larger investments, while early-stage funding showed signs of cooling.

In terms of sector focus, DeFi (30.4%) and CeFi (12.5%) led the count of deals, followed by AI (7.1%), RWA/DePIN (7.1%), and Tooling/Wallets (5.4%). This trend indicates that investors are prioritizing infrastructure and finance-specific applications over consumer-focused projects.

Significant Funding Rounds in November

Noteworthy investment rounds included:

Kalshi, a prediction-market operator, closed a $1 billion funding round led by Sequoia and CapitalG, raising its valuation to $11 billion. There are also discussions that rival Polymarket might aim for a similar multi-billion valuation.
Ripple, a key player in payment solutions, secured $500 million, boosting its valuation to $40 billion with support from Fortress, Citadel Securities, and prominent crypto investment funds.
Kraken successfully raised $200 million, elevating its valuation to $20 billion, following a successful $600 million capital raise earlier in the fall.
Tharimmune, a market-infrastructure provider, arranged a $540 million private placement to facilitate the use of Canton tokens for institutional workflows. At the same time, Bitcoin lender Lava raised $200 million to introduce BTC-based financial instruments.
New ecosystem projects also made strides, with Monad, an aspiring Layer 1 solution, garnering $188 million through a public sale. Exodus Movement, a wallet service provider, acquired payments group W3C with a deal valued at $175 million funded by cash and BTC, while Lloyds announced the purchase of Curve for around $158 million.
Paxos Trust Company closed out the month with its acquisition of Fordefi in a deal exceeding $100 million.

Q3 Crypto VC Funding Recap

As previously reported, crypto venture funding saw a strong rebound in the third quarter, reaching a total of $4.65 billion—marking it as the second strongest quarter since the collapse of FTX in late 2022.

This total represented a remarkable 290% increase from Q2 and was close to Q1's $4.8 billion, according to data provided by Galaxy Digital.

Funding was heavily concentrated, with seven deals accounting for half of all capital invested across a total of 414 transactions. The largest amounts went to seasoned players, including $1 billion for Revolut, $500 million for Kraken, and $250 million for Erebor, a crypto bank based in the U.S.

Investments were primarily directed toward stablecoins, AI-driven crypto tools, infrastructure, and trading tech, as early-stage fundraising remained subdued after nearly two years of careful deal-making.