San Francisco, Jul 17 (IANS): The crypto and blockchain sector witnessed an investment of $2.32 billion in Q2 2023, marking a new cycle low and the lowest since Q4 2020, continuing a downtrend that began after a peak of $13 billion in Q1 2022, a new report has shown.

According to the crypto investment firm Galaxy Digital, crypto and blockchain startups raised less money across the last three quarters combined than they did in just Q2 of 2022.

In Q2 2023, 10 new crypto VC (venture capital) funds raised only $720 million, the lowest amount since Q3 2020, at the start of the Coivd-19 pandemic.

Moreover, the report said that the companies founded in 2021 and 2022 completed the most venture deals in Q2 2023.

Companies based in the US are dominated by both deals completed and money raised.

US-based companies raised 45 per cent of all crypto VC money in Q2 this year, followed by the UK (7.7 per cent), Singapore (5.7 per cent), and South Korea (5.4 per cent).

In terms of deals completed, the US-based companies completed 43 per cent of all crypto VC deals in Q2 2023, followed by Singapore (7.5 per cent), the UK (7.5 per cent), and South Korea (3.1 per cent), according to the report.

Trading, Exchange, Investing, and Lending startups raised the most venture capital money at $473 million in Q2 2023 (representing 20 per cent of capital deployed).

Web3, NFTs, Gaming, DAOs, and Metaverse startups raised the second most capital at $442mn, representing 19 per cent of all venture capital deployed in the second quarter.

By deal count, the report mentioned that the companies building products in the Web3 Gaming, NFT, DAO, and Metaverse realm sustained their top spot, followed by Trading, Exchange, Investing, and Lending companies.

In terms of capital raised, Mining and Layer 1 deals were mostly later stage, while Custody, Media/Education, Compliance, and DeFi had significant portions raised at earlier stages.