Coinbase Pulls Back Its Startup Investing as Others Weigh Options

Investors are fleeing crypto as the markets collapse. So will big crypto companies keep pumping money into startups to help the fledgling industry stay afloat?

So far, the data is mixed.

On one hand, industry giant and once prolific investor Coinbase has been tapping the brakes. Its venture arm, Coinbase Ventures, invested in just eight companies in June—including decentralized crypto custodian Entropy and crypto-focused asset manager Valkyrie —compared to 28 in March and 11 in the same period last June, dragging its second-quarter deal count lower, according to data from PitchBook. Non-fungible token marketplace OpenSea, which launched OpenSea Ventures in February, has yet to announce an investment, a spokesperson told The Information.

Others are going full steam ahead, looking to capitalize on potential winners when other competitors slow down investments. Binance Labs, for example, announced its first fund worth $500 million in late May. Since launching the fund, Binance Labs has announced one investment, an undisclosed seed round for decentralized exchange ApolloX.