New Delhi, Nov 20 (IANS): Crypto startups have raised $2.1 billion this year to date globally, or nearly 80 per cent less than last year, a report showed on Monday.

After raising more than $20 billion in funding rounds in 2021 and 2022, crypto startups find it difficult to get fresh capital these days, according to data presented by AltIndex.com.

Although the entire market significantly recovered from the 2022 crypto winter, investors’ interest in crypto startups remains low.

"So far, 2023 has been a challenging year for crypto fundraising as investors continue pulling back, fearing risks from regulatory twists and an uncertain economy," the report said.

According to Crunchbase data, crypto startups raised $1.1 billion in 2019.

A year later, this figure jumped to almost $1.7 billion.

Still, that was nothing compared to investment growth in 2021, when the entire crypto market exploded.

That year alone, crypto startups raised $11.1 billion in funding rounds, or six times more than a year before. Statistics show that 2022 saw just as impressive $10.1 billion worth of investments, pushing a two-year total funding amount to over $20 billion.

In Q1 and Q2 this year, crypto startups raised over $800 million, 80 per cent less than in the same quarters a year ago.

Between July and September, the total funding amount dropped by a further 90 per cent to $426 million.

"Statistics show crypto startup funding continued to grow more scarce, with only $75 million raised in the past month and a half, turning Q4 into potentially one of the worst quarters in years," the report noted.