February Crypto Financing Reaches $883 Million: The Era of VCs Casting Wide Nets Is Over; You Need Revenue to Get Funding

Author: DLNews

Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow

Original link:

Deep Tide Guide: In a bear market, VC still invests, but the standards have changed — the era of “fundraising through narratives and PPTs” is over. This article uses data from DefiLlama and quotes from top-tier VCs to clearly present the new logic of the crypto primary market in 2026: stablecoins, AI Agents, and institutional compliance tools are the three major hotspots right now. The re-emergence of names like Andre Cronje and Tether is also noteworthy.

According to DefiLlama data, despite the market downturn, venture capital firms still injected $883 million into crypto startups in February.

This figure is down 13% from the same period last year — last year, startups raised over $1 billion during the crypto bull market.

Today, VC firms are still writing checks but are becoming more cautious.

“Last year, you could raise funds just with a narrative and a PPT,” said Andrei Grachev, managing partner at crypto VC firm DWF Labs, to DL News.

“This year, investors want revenue, users, and reasons to believe the product can survive the bear cycle,” he said. “The era of casting a wide net and gambling on luck is over.”

Grachev stated that the bear market “always brings opportunities,” and some of DWF Labs’ best-performing investments were made during the downturn.

He highlighted three core themes driving venture investment in 2026: stablecoins and payment infrastructure, AI Agents, and institutional tools like compliance and fund management.

“It’s not sexy, but this is the pipeline that any institutional capital before touching any token must flow through.”

Below are some of the biggest financings in February.

Flying Tulip, $206 million

Founded by DeFi veteran architect Andre Cronje, Flying Tulip raised $206 million this month through a token sale to build its integrated financial technology stack.

The platform combines spot trading, lending, and perpetual derivatives with its native stablecoin ftUSD, positioning itself as a vertically integrated liquidity hub.

A core innovation is the ftPUT structure, which grants token holders perpetual redemption rights to anchor the bottom value of the FT token.

Capital is allocated to relatively conservative yield venues like Aave and Lido, aiming to generate sustainable native returns.

This funding indicates that DeFi models combining structural downside protection with exchange-level financial instruments are highly favored by investors.

Whop, $200 million

Digital goods social commerce platform Whop received a strategic investment of $200 million from stablecoin giant Tether, valuing the company at $1.6 billion. The platform connects thousands of creators with over 18 million users, facilitating sales of software, online courses, and subscription communities.

The core of this deal is the integration of Tether’s Wallet Development Kit (WDK) to enable self-custody settlement of USDT and the newly launched USAT stablecoin.

Whop states that by reducing reliance on traditional banking rails, the company aims to accelerate payments within the global creator economy, especially in emerging markets.

This funding will support expansion in Europe and Asia and provide capital for AI-driven business tools.

Anchorage Digital, $100 million

U.S.’s first federally regulated digital asset bank, Anchorage Digital, received a strategic equity investment of $100 million from Tether, boosting its valuation to $4.2 billion.

This investment deepens the partnership — under this framework, Anchorage acts as the regulated issuer of Tether’s compliant USD stablecoin USAT.

Anchorage provides institutional-grade custody, staking, governance, and settlement infrastructure, serving as a bridge between traditional capital markets and blockchain-native finance.