I found the observation that circulated about how the venture capital market in crypto has completely changed in recent months very interesting. Tom Dunleavy, from Varys Capital, commented on something that makes a lot of sense: previously, VCs needed to be everywhere, podcasts, Spaces, Twitter Spaces, constantly creating content, constantly networking. It was basically a sales job.

But now it’s turned upside down. If you have available capital, projects simply come to you. No need to chase after them anymore. And this really reflects the current state of the market.

The reality is that most funds are in one of three situations: they have already burned through all their capital, migrated to later rounds (Series A and beyond), or are trying to raise new money but without much success. Processes that used to take 2 to 3 weeks now take months. Much more time for due diligence, which honestly is necessary.

The detail that stands out is that, according to Varys and other circulating analyses, there may be fewer than 20 truly active funds in pre-seed and seed rounds right now. Projects with fragile models or that only copy the latest trendy narrative can no longer raise funds.

On one hand, it’s brutal for many. But on the other, if you manage to stay in the game, 2025 and 2026 could be a historic opportunity. VCs with capital now have much more power of choice and time to evaluate carefully. This should result in better, more thoughtful investments in the long term.