Key Takeaways:

• DePIN investments surge: VCs bet big on decentralized infrastructure, disrupting traditional industries
• Web3 gaming gets a power-up: Investment in both gaming and infrastructure suggest a growing belief in blockchain-driven entertainment.
• RWAs are unlocking new DeFi opportunities: Layer-1 solutions specializing in real-world asset tokenization are perceived as a crucial bridge connecting traditional finance with the digital economic landscape.

Q1 2025 was clearly a rollercoaster for the crypto market. Bitcoin, the industry bellwether, swung from record highs to a gut-wrenching correction and back up again, thanks in part to a surprising endorsement from former (and maybe future) President Donald Trump. The fluctuations of the market mirrored broader economic uncertainties and shifting regulatory landscapes, sending many investors into a whirl.

But under this chaotic market lay a sense of quiet confidence among venture capitalists. Investors with deeper pockets focused on the long-term vision continued to deploy capital in blockchain and crypto startups. They continued to prioritize key verticals with immense growth potential, including Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePINs), Web3 gaming, Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization, and the rapidly expanding derivatives exchange markets.

This week’s edition of VC Roundup takes a deeper look into seven recent funding news stories that not only showcase the vibrant nature of the industry, but also grant key information on the emerging trends that are helping to shape the future of blockchain as we know it.

Alchemy Launches $5M Web3 Adoption Fund to Fuel the Web3 Explosion on Ethereum

Alchemy, the preeminent blockchain developer platform, is putting its money where its mouth is with the launch of its $5 million “Everyone Onchain Fund”. This program is a concrete step toward accelerating Web3 adoption on Ethereum, the leading blockchain platform.” The fund will allocate developers constructing on Alchemy as much as $10,000 in gasoline credit and to $20,000 in computing credit, lowering the barrier to entry for new initiatives in a sustainable manner. Initially, the fund will focus on supporting developers building on two of Alchemy’s most popular Layer-2 scaling solutions, OP Stack and Arbitrum Orbit.

Alchemy’s commitment builds on the recognition that developer adoption is critical to the long-standing success of any blockchain ecosystem. Alchemy offers Rollups-as-a-Service, allowing developers to build their blockchains, launch them, and scale them to expand the Ethereum network’s capabilities and capacity.

A prime example of the influence of Alchemy is its collaboration with World (the biometric digital identity project previously known as WorldCoin). The project aims to deliver a digital identity that is globally accessible to and already has more than 23 million worldwide users, showing how blockchain has the potential to reach a mainstream audience. World’s integration of Alchemy has been instrumental in scaling the infrastructure of World’s ecosystem, making sure that the user experience remains seamless.

This is indicative of an understanding that to harness talent and encouraging innovation in the Web3 space requires the right tools and a clear demonstration of what is possible.

Introduction to Mavryk Dynamics: Connecting TradFi and DeFi through RWA Tokenization

Mavryk Dynamics, the developer of a cutting-edge layer-1 RWA network, has secured $5 million in funding, signaling strong investor confidence in the future of real-world asset tokenization. Ghaf Capital and Big Brain were among several other prestigious venture capital firms that joined the funding round that confirms Mavryk’s vision.

Mavryk is building a real-world asset (RWA) tokenization platform that aims to connect TradFi and DeFi. The platform will focus on providing non-custodial features, including a protocol treasury, grants, and liquidity mining, empowering users to participate in the DeFi ecosystem without relinquishing control of their assets. The company claims that its Mavryk Network has already secured more than $360 million in RWAs, a substantial figure that underscores the growing appetite for on-chain representation of real-world assets.

According to RWA.xyz data, the nascent RWA market has an early March market capitalization of $17.9 billion. Such phenomenal growth shows that tokenization of assets like real estate, commodities, and securities is now going mainstream. RWAs have strong potential benefits, such as increased liquidity, fractional ownership, and access to investment opportunities for a much larger number of people.

By honing in on building a strong layer-1 architecture tailored towards RWAs, Mavryk could become an integral force in the continued progression of DeFi.

More News: Real-World Asset (RWA) Tokens Lead Crypto Recovery: Are They the Future of Finance?

Rho Labs: Decentralizing Derivatives with $4M Seed Round

Rho Protocol, a decentralized rates exchange developed by Rho Labs has closed a $4 million seed round, led by CoinFund, that saw participation from Auros, Flow Traders and Speedinvest. This investment highlights the increasing role of decentralized derivatives markets in the broader crypto ecosystem. Rho operates a decentralized derivatives market that is built on staking, lending and trading of perpetual futures using a single, shared platform. To date, the company has processed over $7 billion in notional volumes, demonstrating strong user adoption and increasing demand for their service.

According to Alex Felix, co-founder of CoinFund, Rho Labs is providing a necessary bridge within cryptocurrency by enabling a normalization of funding and forward rates between CeFi and DeFi, giving access to rates unseen to date in the space. This way Rho’s protocol can fill a huge gap in the financial world making it more collaborative and efficient.

This contributes to a more complex and resilient financial landscape in the crypto space. Futures contracts allow traders to hedge risk, speculation on price movement and access leverage in an open and trustless environment. As such, Rho Labs is set to be an important creator in this sector that keeps on evolving.

The Teneo Protocol: Making Social Media Data Open with DePIN

DePIN project Teneo Protocol, which aims to democratize social media data access, has secured a $3 million seed round co-led by RocksawayX and Borderless. This capital will allow Teneo to enhance its platform and grow its reach.

Powered by the layer-1 network Peaq, Teneo runs a Web3 browser extension that encourages users to help maintain its data network by offering rewards in the form of Teneo Points, redeemable for Teneo Tokens. You’d be in good company with their over 3.5 million users in 191 countries.

For the first time, DePIN examples are taking off by using blockchain technology to do both: decentralize infrastructure and return power. Essentially, it opens new opportunities for ownership and participation of data, and rewards their contributions with direct benefits to the network. Anyone involved with Web3 will see their values in this idea of users owning their own data and getting paid for it.

The peak growth of DePIN was seen in December 2024. Source: DePINscan

Fluent Labs: $8M to build a blended execution network

Polychain Capital led an $8 million funding round for Fluent Labs, an Ethereum layer-2 developer, joined by a diverse array of venture funds and angel investors. Fluent Labs presents itself as a “blended execution network” that seeks to address the constraints imposed by traditional on-chain virtual machines. At the moment, it supports Ethereum (EVM), Solana Virtual Machine (SVM) and Web assembly apps, allowing developers to create apps that can interact with different Blockchain ecosystems.

Today, over 60 projects are building the Fluent ecosystem, with use cases in DeFi, consumer applications, and gaming.

This reflects a growing sentiment in the industry that there’s no silver bullet blockchain solution that would work universally — and the emphasis on multi-VM support and interoperability is indicative of this perspective. Cross-chain development is the key to unleashing a whole new range of potential for both developers and users. Fluent Labs is leading the charge and is building a framework that will enable developers to abstract over a variety of blockchain environments.

The Game Company — A revolution in Cloud and Blockchain Gaming

The Game Company, a Dubai-based blockchain startup, has raised $10 million for the development of a distributed cloud for gaming enabling players to access games across devices ranging from PCs to consoles. The funding round is led by investors such as Telcoin, BullPerks, and Singularity DAO.

The Game Company says it has a waitlist of more than half a million users. The on-chain registrations in the UAE now exceed 43k, while the number of new unique wallets and on-chain transactions both exceed 10k and 41k respectively.

When it is fully functional, the service will support more than 1,300 titles from PlayStation, Microsoft Store and Steam, such as Call of Duty, Fortnite and Rocket League. This demonstrates The Game Company’s ambition to become a leading provider of cloud gaming services.

By integrating blockchain technology with cloud gaming, the gaming industry could experience a paradigm shift not only in terms of user experience but economic modeling for game developers and players. The project from The Game Company demonstrates the innovative potential of blockchain as a mechanism for disrupting conventional gaming paradigms and establishing a more conducive landscape for gaming wherever players feel validated and rewarded.

a16z Backed ACID Labs To Bring Web3 Social Gaming to the Masses

Social gaming infrastructure at Web3 gaming studio ACID Labs secured an $8 million funding round, led by a16z Speedrun. Other investors included NFX, Fusion VC and notable gaming executives. Boinkers is developed by ACID Labs, which currently has a popular Telegram game with 11.5 million monthly players. It intends to scale its Telegram Web3 social games with the funding.

According to DappRadar, there were 7.3 million daily active Web3 gamers from January 2024 to January 2025, with gaming activity on blockchains rising across that span by 386%.

The success of games like Boinkers demonstrates the potential of integrating blockchain technology with popular social platforms to create engaging and rewarding gaming experiences. This investment is evidence of growing confidence in the potential of Web3 gaming to reach a broader audience and generate new opportunities for players and developers alike. Web3 gaming could be the future of gaming.