Historical snapshot: originally reported on November 10, 2026, at 15:47 (UTC+8). Bitcoin rose by about 43% from roughly $58,600 in early July to $83,600 in early October, according to the original report. That price move did not coincide with a rise in crypto venture deal counts in the third quarter.
Fewer deals, with an important qualification
RootData recorded 199 financing transactions in Q3 2026. Amounts were disclosed for 116 of them, totaling $4.46 billion. Deal count fell 5% from Q2, while disclosed value fell 24%. The 74% year-over-year decline in total value reflects, in part, an unusually high Q3 2025 base that included large public-company share offerings and an IPO.
The picture changes under the report’s narrower equity-financing definition. After excluding public-company offerings, IPOs and de-SPAC transactions, acquisitions, public token sales, OTC transactions, debt, community rounds and certain verified non-primary transactions, it counted 144 deals totaling about $3.38 billion. That was 14% fewer deals than Q2 but 12% more disclosed value; against Q3 2025, deal count was down 36% and value was up 35%. These are different measures of the market, not contradictory readings of the same deal set.
Where disclosed funding went
Strategic and private rounds accounted for about $1.75 billion. Early-stage rounds were more numerous—80 deals—but raised about $0.73 billion. Across all recorded financing, the median disclosed deal size rose from $6 million to $8 million, even as transactions above $100 million fell from 17 to 13.
By RootData’s primary sector labels, centralized finance, or CeFi, received $1.44 billion across 31 deals, representing 32% of disclosed value. DeFi led by deal count, with 51, but its 25 deals with disclosed amounts totaled $0.37 billion, or 8% of disclosed value. The disclosure gap matters when comparing sectors.
The investor mix also shifted. Deals involving only crypto-native capital declined from $2.57 billion in Q2 to $1.05 billion in Q3, and from 44% to 24% of disclosed value. Deals with traditional-finance or generalist-capital participation rose from 39% to 45% of disclosed value. Those participation shares do not, by themselves, establish how much each investor group contributed.
A price–funding divergence, not a proven cause
The original report argues that AI may be competing with crypto ventures for limited-partner allocations. It also points to firms broadening their investment scope. That is the report’s interpretation of the divergence, not a demonstrated cause of the quarterly funding figures.
Fundraising provides another dated measure of conditions. Citing Galaxy Research, the report says three new crypto venture funds closed in Q3, raising about $1.3 billion combined—the fewest new funds in a quarter since Q3 2019. That reading suggests a constraint worth watching, but it does not establish how future startup rounds will fare. Likewise, the rise in disclosed value for mid-sized equity deals came with no quarter-over-quarter increase in their count; more quarters would be needed to judge whether it marks a sustained change.
Source: chaincatcher.com (originally published 2026-11-10 15:47 UTC+8)
