CMT Digital has secured a significant investment vehicle of $136 million, which will be utilized to identify and scale promising infrastructure and DeFi protocols, leveraging the company’s extensive trading experience.
Summary
- CMT Digital has successfully closed its fourth fund, amounting to $136 million, to support crypto startups focusing on infrastructure and DeFi.
- This investment comes at a time when crypto venture funding has experienced a sharp decline, with a 59% decrease in the second quarter of 2025.
In a recent press release dated November 5, Chicago-based crypto venture firm CMT Digital announced the final closing of its fourth investment vehicle, Fund IV, securing a total of $136 million. This capital will be allocated to early-stage startups that are building foundational infrastructure and decentralized finance protocols.
Partner Sam Hallene noted that the fund attracted a mix of family offices and institutional limited partners, indicating that investors still have a sophisticated appetite for digital asset ventures. Hallene stated, “As the world continues to move on the chain, we believe the most transformative ideas are still ahead of us. With fresh capital, trusted partners, and a proven platform, we are ready to help build the next generation of visionaries.”
Investing through winters and bull markets
CMT Group’s new fund expands on a strategy developed over nearly a decade, with the VC first investing capital into the digital assets space in 2016. Since then, the company has navigated several boom-and-bust periods and built a portfolio of over 200 investments. The company’s selection process is based on its parent company’s 25-year history as a quantitative trading firm, leveraging internal research and market expertise to identify infrastructure that can outlast short-term hype.
The company’s investment approach has evolved over the years, with its first fund focusing on providing access and supporting foundational launchpads such as Coinbase and BitGo. Fund II shifted its focus to building core on-chain infrastructure, investing in companies like Consensys and dYdX. The third fund marked a strategic pivot to expand utility, going beyond just funding to support projects in payments and consumer applications, such as Ethena and Axie Infinity creator Sky Mavis. This latest fund, Fund IV, targets what the firm calls “rearchitecting finance,” supporting startups building blockchain-native infrastructure for global markets.
Crypto Venture Funding Landscape
Despite the company’s momentum, CMT’s capital raising was completed against one of the most subdued venture backdrops in years. According to Galaxy Digital’s Q2 2025 report, crypto startups secured just $1.97 billion in venture capital across 378 deals, a 59% decline from the previous quarter. This decline is significant, especially when compared to the first quarter of 2022, when more than $13 billion in fresh capital flowed into the sector.
Overall, the second quarter was the second weakest period for crypto VC activity since the end of 2020. Even after accounting for a one-time $2 billion government-linked Binance investment earlier in the year, risk allocations remain well below levels seen in previous cycles. CMT Digital’s successful fundraising is a testament to the company’s expertise and reputation in the industry, as well as its ability to attract investors despite the challenging market conditions.
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