Coinbase Ventures became the most active crypto VC in the first half of 2026, with DeFi, AI, and payments being the most favored sectors
According to Cointelegraph, CryptoRank data shows that Coinbase Ventures completed 30 investments in the first half of 2026, becoming the most active crypto venture capital institution; Animoca Brands, a16z, and Tether completed 19, 18, and 15 investments respectively.In the past 12 months, Coinbase Ventures completed a total of 75 investments, ranking first in the industry, followed by Animoca Brands, YZi Labs (formerly Binance Labs), GSR, and a16z.Despite the crypto market still being in a downturn, the scale of industry financing continues to shrink, with the total financing for crypto enterprises in June dropping to $1.4 billion, a 63% decrease from $3.8 billion in April; the number of financing rounds also fell from 89 rounds in May to 61 rounds. Meanwhile, the number of independent investment institutions participating in investments decreased from 452 in October 2025 to 242 in June this year.From the perspective of sectors, DeFi, payments, and AI have remained the most favored areas for capital in the past year, completing 216 rounds, 131 rounds, and 128 rounds of financing respectively, with Coinbase Ventures focusing on payment protocols, DeFi, infrastructure, and RWA tokenization projects.