KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 1): 2022 is off to a brisk start for crypto and blockchain funding, with funding for the first 26 days of January totalling over US$2.7 billion.

In the past week, Crunchbase — which tracks trends, investments and news of global companies from start-ups to the Fortune 1000 — said the biggest rounds came this week, as digital asset security provider Fireblocks raised US$550 million and cryptocurrency exchange FTX raised US$400 million at an US$8 billion valuation.

It said other big 2022 rounds include OpenSea, an NFT marketplace that pulled in US$300 million, and iTrustCapital, a service for investing in crypto through IRA accounts, which raised US$125 million at a valuation over US$1.3 billion.

Reviewing 2021, Crunchbase said for crypto startups and unicorns, 2021 was an exceptionally good year.

However, it said for public companies tied to the crypto space, 2022 has been off to a bad start.

It said last Friday (Jan 28), the price of Bitcoin was hovering around US$37,000, down around 45% from its November high.

It said the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market Index was down a similar amount.

And the bulk of shares from a sample of public companies in the crypto space, most previously venture-backed, all were down over 50% from peaks hit in the past year.

Crunchbase said some of the standouts include:

-     Coinbase, the popular platform for cryptocurrency transactions, is down over 50% from its peak.

-     Robinhood, the zero-fee stock and crypto trading provider, has fallen more than 80% from its peak.

-     Bakkt, a digital asset platform, is down over 90% from its highs earlier this year.

-     Safello Group, a Swedish crypto wallet provider, is down over 80% from its peak.

Venture funding in the crypto space hit more than US$21 billion in 2021, far surpassing the US$3.7 billion invested in 2020, according to Crunchbase numbers.

Crunchbase said that level of funding also helped mint more than 30 new unicorns last year in the industry.