Crypto VC Funding Explodes: $1.4B in One Week Led by Kalshi

Remember when people said crypto winter would never end? Yeah, me too. This week someone clearly forgot to send that memo to the venture capital world.

In the seven days between November 16 and 22, 2025, investors threw $1.42 billion at just sixteen crypto projects. That’s not a typo. One single week. Sixteen deals. More money than many entire quarters during 2022-2023 combined.

And the crazy part? One company – a regulated prediction market platform most people outside the degens had barely heard of six months ago – walked away with a cool billion dollars. Just like that.

A Billion-Dollar Bet on the Future of Prediction Markets

Let’s start with the elephant in the room.

Kalshi, the CFTC-regulated prediction market exchange that lets Americans legally bet on everything from election outcomes to inflation numbers, just raised $1 billion in fresh capital. The round catapults its fully diluted valuation to $11 billion overnight.

Think about that for a second. Eleven billion dollars. For a company that essentially runs “Will the Fed cut rates?” markets with real money. In a country where most forms of event betting were illegal until very recently.

The investors? Heavy hitters: Sequoia, CapitalG (Google’s growth fund), and the mysteriously named AI6Z. Total capital raised by Kalshi now sits at an eye-watering $1.52 billion. That kind of firepower doesn’t just buy servers – it buys regulatory moats, lobbying muscle, and the ability to outspend every competitor ten times over.

Personally? I’m fascinated. Prediction markets have been the crypto industry’s favorite sleeping giant for years. We’ve watched Polymarket explode during the election cycle, we’ve seen decentralized versions come and go, but a fully regulated, institution-friendly version suddenly getting this level of backing feels… different.

When the smartest money in Silicon Valley writes a billion-dollar check to “who will win the Super Bowl” infrastructure, you pay attention.

Kraken Roars Back with $200 Million

Not to be outdone, one of the oldest names in crypto also had a monster week.

Kraken secured $200 million in new funding at a fully diluted valuation of $20 billion. The round was led by Haun Ventures – yes, that Katie Haun who left Andreessen Horowitz to start her own crypto-focused shop – and forms part of a larger $800 million war chest the exchange is building for global expansion.

Twenty billion dollars. For an exchange that’s been around since 2011 and somehow managed to stay drama-free while competitors imploded left and right. There’s something comforting about that number, honestly. It tells you institutions still trust the OGs.

The Rest of the Billion-Dollar Week

Beyond the two headline-grabbers, the week was packed with serious money flowing into serious projects.

• Doppel – $70 million Series C for AI-powered digital risk protection (think deepfake detection for enterprises). Total raised: $124 million.
• Obex – $37 million to incubate yield-seeking stablecoin projects on Sky ecosystem. Bonus: Sky committed another $2.5 billion in future deployment capital.
• Deblock – €30 million Series A (~$35 million) for a next-gen crypto wallet focused on European compliance.
• Numerai – $30 million Series C at $500 million valuation for the hedge fund that crowdsources trading models using encrypted data.

And that’s just the eight-figure and nine-figure rounds. Another ten projects raised between $1.25 million and $10 million each – everything from Bitcoin layer-2 solutions to synthetic dollar protocols.

What This Actually Means (Beyond the Headlines)

Look, anyone can report the numbers. But the interesting question is why now?

In my view, we’re watching three macro trends collide at exactly the right moment:

1. Regulatory clarity finally arriving – Between MiCA in Europe, the new administration’s pro-crypto signals in the US, and regulators actually approving things instead of suing everyone, the risk premium is collapsing.
2. Institutional FOMO kicking in hard – Traditional VCs who sat out 2021-2024 are now terrified of missing the next leg up. A billion-dollar check to Kalshi is less about the company and more about securing a front-row seat.
3. Real revenue, real products – Unlike previous cycles where money chased whitepapers and hype, today’s winners have actual users, actual revenue, and actual regulatory licenses.

Kalshi alone processed hundreds of millions in election betting volume this year. Kraken has been profitable for years. These aren’t hopes and dreams – they’re cash-flowing businesses in a sector that finally has tailwinds instead of headwinds.

The Complete Funding Table (Nov 16-22, 2025)

And yes, the list keeps going with another eight smaller (but still meaningful) raises. The breadth is honestly impressive – infrastructure, consumer apps, DeFi primitives, security tools. Something for everyone.

Where Do We Go From Here?

If you’ve been waiting for “the signal” that institutions are all-in again, congratulations – this was it.

We’re not just seeing retail money rotating back in. We’re watching the smartest, most patient capital in the world place eight, nine, and ten-figure bets on crypto-native business models that finally have regulatory clarity and proven product-market fit.

Will there be pullbacks? Of course. Will some of these companies fail spectacularly? Undoubtedly. But the macro setup – regulatory tailwinds, massive liquidity, and battle-tested teams – looks stronger than at any point in the past five years.

In other words, if you thought the 2021 bull run felt big, you might want to buckle up. Because this time the grown-ups are bringing the checkbook.

And honestly? After everything this industry has been through, that feels pretty damn good.

Disclosure: The author holds Bitcoin and Ethereum but has no direct investment in any project mentioned in this article.