Dozens of cryptocurrency venture capitalists share their next steps after Trump's victory and Bitcoin's surge.

Author: Yogita Khatri

Translation: Blockchain in Plain Language

In the past few days, the cryptocurrency world has been tumultuous, with Bitcoin quickly breaking through $93,000 after Trump's election win. Reflecting on when I started writing about cryptocurrency in 2018, Bitcoin was priced at around $3,000, and now we are witnessing the rapid development of this market.

I spoke with a dozen crypto venture capitalists, and while everyone was clearly excited about Trump's victory and Bitcoin's rise, most still adhered to their long-term investment plans. However, some investors are adjusting their strategies, paying more attention to new trends and changes in the political and market environment.

Lasse Clausen, founding partner of 1kx, stated: "The excitement across the industry is justified. It's hard for outsiders to understand the previous administration's suppression of innovation; now founders can experiment freely, and many exciting new products will emerge."

Arianna Simpson, partner at a16z crypto, expressed a similar view, noting that "the past few years have been challenging for the crypto industry," but she expects significant policy shifts to greatly benefit builders and companies in Web3.

With the Trump administration expected to bring clarity to crypto regulation, investors anticipate more founders entering the Web3 space. Earlier this week, Portal Ventures, founded by former Insight Partners investor Evan Fisher, raised $75 million for its second fund focused on investing in crypto startups. Fisher believes that successful entrepreneurs who previously hesitated to enter the crypto space due to legal and regulatory risks will now be more actively involved. He stated, "We will see more top founders gradually entering the crypto industry."

Jake Brukhman, founder and CEO of CoinFund, mentioned that the company is preparing for the upcoming "super cycle" in the crypto market. CoinFund is well-capitalized for seed rounds, venture capital, and liquidity investments, and has added six new members this year, five of whom joined in the past two to three months.

1. Betting on Crypto - AI, DeFi, and More

Looking ahead, crypto VCs are focusing on high-potential sectors, including crypto-AI, DeFi, RWA (Real World Asset) tokenization, infrastructure, stablecoins, and payments.

Many investors believe that the combination of crypto and AI is the next disruptive trend. Ed Roman, co-founder and managing partner of Hack VC, called crypto-AI "the hottest category in the crypto space right now," envisioning a multi-layer Web3 AI ecosystem that leverages cost-effective decentralized computing networks. He believes, "This market could reach trillions of dollars in scale while serving Web2 customers. AI is not a fleeting trend like NFTs; it is creating real business value and may be the most significant technological innovation since the smartphone and the internet."

However, Roman pointed out that the healthy development of crypto-AI largely depends on the performance of the Web2 AI sector, particularly NVIDIA. Therefore, Hack VC views NVIDIA as a "loose indicator" for crypto-AI.

Balder Bomans, Chief Investment Officer and managing partner at Maven 11 Capital, believes that crypto-AI startups will grow, especially those decentralized DePIN protocols that provide computing resources for AI model training. Brukhman from CoinFund added that most retail investors looking to get into AI may achieve this through cryptocurrency next year. "AITokens are scarce and in high demand. The summer of 2025 will be the summer of decentralized AI (deAI)," he said.

Another investment focus is the revival of DeFi as institutional adoption increases. Roman from Hack VC noted that DeFi has recently been impacted due to high interest rates making U.S. Treasury bonds more attractive. However, with Trump expected to lower interest rates, this could give DeFi an advantage in competing with traditional financial (TradFi) tools like Treasury bonds. He views DeFi as a "once-in-a-century" opportunity that can greatly simplify financial processes.

Clausen from 1kx pointed out that traditional financial institutions may implement RWA on-chain and make extensive use of DeFi infrastructure. "Think about how complex trading, clearing, and settlement are in traditional finance, while these operations can be completed in a single transaction on decentralized exchanges (DEX) without counterparty risk, and the transparency of transactions can be publicly verified," Clausen said. "It's like 'fishing with dynamite,' effortless."

Erick Zhang, managing partner at Nomad Capital and former Binance executive, also believes DeFi is poised for growth, especially in the context of increased altcoin activity and challenges facing centralized exchanges. Will Nuelle, general partner at Galaxy Ventures, and Thomas Klocanas from BlockTower Capital also see potential in the expansion of DeFi, RWA tokenization, stablecoins, and payments.

Nuelle stated, "After Trump takes office, one of the biggest obstacles to the adoption of stablecoins in payments—the banking relationship with fiat systems—has become smoother. We hope and expect that banks serving cryptocurrencies will no longer fear retaliation from the FDIC or other agencies, which will help banks better integrate with the growing use cases."

2. Consumer Applications and Infrastructure Categories Are Also Gaining Attention

Simpson from a16z crypto expressed: "I am particularly excited about consumer applications in the crypto space, as this category has been severely impacted by the previous administration's policies. We are still very focused on the ongoing development of DePIN and infrastructure projects."

Alvaro Gracia, partner at Borderless Capital, also noted that as Bitcoin's dominance shifts to altcoins, there is potential for growth in the DeFi and DePIN sectors. He manages a $100 million DePIN fund, with about $70 million still available for investment over the next two to three years, and Gracia is particularly optimistic about such projects.

Clausen from 1kx added that the company's focus is on infrastructure, middleware, and consumer applications, especially those requiring bank integration, which have been hindered by regulatory restrictions.

Adam Winnick, managing partner at Finality Capital Partners, is optimistic about the infrastructure vertical, particularly emphasizing re-staking and zero-knowledge technology startups. Miko Matsumura, managing partner at Gumi Cryptos Capital, focuses on underlying and scalable infrastructure projects aimed at solving "normal problems for ordinary people," rather than just addressing "issues within the crypto industry."

Meanwhile, some investors are losing enthusiasm for infrastructure. Bomans from Maven 11 mentioned that with the rise of powerful monolithic chains and ongoing improvements in modular tech stacks, the company's investment focus has shifted to application layer projects over the past year.

Fisher from Portal Ventures stated that the team is investing less in infrastructure projects and prefers business startups with clear distribution advantages and user demand.

Zhang from Nomad Capital also mentioned that they are more cautious with investments in infrastructure projects, particularly Layer 1 and Layer 2 networks. He believes, "Most infrastructure projects are essentially 'infrastructure memes,' and their success often depends on the founding team's ability to effectively manage narrative and branding, but the number of teams with this unique dynamic is limited."

3. Potential Risks of the Trump Administration

Despite Trump's election bringing new optimism to the crypto space, several VCs have warned of potential risks that could impact the industry's development.

Clausen from 1kx expressed concern over Trump's immigration policies, believing that a reduced labor supply could lead to sustained wage inflation, which may be a negative factor for risk assets like cryptocurrencies.

Nuelle from Galaxy Ventures pointed out that if Trump is "too hands-off" with the crypto industry, it could lead to a repeat of the FTX debacle. He believes that balanced bipartisan legislation and clear digital asset status can create the most stable long-term value for the market.

Zhang from Nomad Capital mentioned that if bold proposals like making Bitcoin a strategic reserve asset for the U.S. do not materialize quickly, it could dampen market enthusiasm, leading to a loss of momentum for the "Trump effect."

Roman from Hack VC believes that the key issue is whether the U.S. will actively hoard new Bitcoins or merely hold existing confiscated Bitcoins. Either way, it would be positive for the crypto market. However, if the U.S. actively hoards Bitcoin, it could prompt other countries to follow suit, potentially affecting global policy, which would have a more profound impact on the entire crypto market.

Article link: https://www.hellobtc.com/kp/du/11/5538.html

Source: https://www.theblock.co/post/326970/the-funding-trump-bitcoin-crypto-vcs

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。