{"id":6794,"date":"2026-02-19T13:10:39","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794"},"modified":"2026-02-19T13:10:39","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T13:10:39","slug":"crypto-vc-funding-surging-again-sounds-like-a-rally-until-you-trace-where-the-money-actually-lands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794","title":{"rendered":"Crypto VC funding surging again sounds like a rally, until you trace where the money actually lands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Dragonfly Capital closed its fourth fund at $650 million this week, the same size as its 2022 vehicle, raised into a venture market Fortune calls a \u201cmass extinction event.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The headline reads like a vote of confidence: institutional capital returning, crypto winter thawing, alt season loading. But peel back one layer and the picture warps.<\/p>\n<p>Dragonfly&#8217;s partners describe a pivot toward fintech rails and tokenized real-world assets, with the expectation of fewer \u201cnative app tokens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t a blanket \u201calts to the moon\u201d signal. It&#8217;s a bet that value accrues to businesses that don&#8217;t need tokens at all, or to tokens that trade like asset wrappers rather than reflexive beta plays.<\/p>\n<p>The contrarian read: VC money flooding back can reproduce the exact playbook that broke in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>More private capital, deployed into the same low-float launch structures that trained markets to front-run unlock calendars, creates more scheduled sell walls instead of spot-buying firepower.<\/p>\n<h2>Manufactured scarcity, scheduled dilution<\/h2>\n<p>The dominant token launch design of the last cycle worked like engineered hype.<\/p>\n<p>Teams launched with tiny circulating supply, often single-digit percentages of total issuance, pushing prices skyward at Token Generation Events while locking most allocation behind multi-year vesting schedules.<\/p>\n<p>Binance Research tracked 2024 launches and found a median market-cap-to-fully diluted valuation ratio of 12.3%, indicating that buyers purchased into structures in which 87.7% of the supply was locked.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_520191\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-520191\" style=\"width: 1179px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-520191 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_n0vlgsKe27.jpg\" alt=\"Launch structure in 2024\" width=\"1179\" height=\"927\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_n0vlgsKe27.jpg 1179w, https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_n0vlgsKe27-300x236.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_n0vlgsKe27-1024x805.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_n0vlgsKe27-768x604.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1179px) 100vw, 1179px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-520191\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Binance Research chart shows 2024 token launches averaged 12.3% circulating supply at TGE, with 87.7% remaining locked for future dilution.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The math was challenging: to keep prices stable during that supply flow, the report estimated the cohort would need approximately $80 billion of incremental demand-side liquidity.<\/p>\n<p>Without it, every unlock became a known dilution event.<\/p>\n<p>Keyrock analyzed more than 16,000 token unlock events and documented a recurring pattern. Drawdowns build across the 30 days before the unlock, accelerate into the final week, then stabilize roughly 14 days after.<\/p>\n<p>Animoca Brands Research quantified the effect: for unlocks exceeding 1% of the circulating supply, prices decline by an average of 0.3% in the week before and by another 0.3% in the week after.<\/p>\n<p>The unlock calendar becomes a permanent short thesis baked into the token&#8217;s forward curve.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_520192\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-520192\" style=\"width: 1664px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-520192 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_2lm4x5x0iS.jpg\" alt=\"Unlock overhang\" width=\"1664\" height=\"936\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_2lm4x5x0iS.jpg 1664w, https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_2lm4x5x0iS-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_2lm4x5x0iS-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_2lm4x5x0iS-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_2lm4x5x0iS-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1664px) 100vw, 1664px\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload wp-image-520192 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_2lm4x5x0iS.jpg\" alt=\"Unlock overhang\" width=\"1664\" height=\"936\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_2lm4x5x0iS.jpg 1664w, https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_2lm4x5x0iS-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_2lm4x5x0iS-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_2lm4x5x0iS-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Photos_2lm4x5x0iS-1536x864.jpg 1536w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 1664px) 100vw, 1664px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-520192\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Token prices decline an average 0.3% weekly before unlocks and 0.3% after, with drawdowns starting 30 days prior and stabilizing 14 days post-event.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Memento Research&#8217;s 2025 launch tracker makes the verdict empirical: of 118 tokens that went live last year, 84.7% now trade below their TGE valuation, with a median drawdown of 71.1% on a fully diluted basis and 66.8% on a market cap basis.<\/p>\n<p>High FDV launches underperformed the equal-weight basket. The bigger the hype, the steeper the fall.<\/p>\n<h2>Why \u201ccrypto VC funding is back\u201d doesn&#8217;t mean spot buying<\/h2>\n<p>Dragonfly&#8217;s $650 million doesn&#8217;t translate into $650 million in market purchases that would lift token prices today.<\/p>\n<p>Venture funding flows into private allocations: equity stakes, Simple Agreements for Future Tokens at discounted rates, and early-stage rounds that give insiders supply before public listings.<\/p>\n<p>The price support arrives later, often structured as the unlock mechanism itself.<\/p>\n<p>Binance Research explicitly connects the rise of low-float, high-FDV structures to inflows of private capital and aggressive pre-launch valuations.<\/p>\n<p>The same input of more VC money can reproduce the same output: more dilution overhang, more front-runnable unlock calendars. Dragonfly&#8217;s own thesis reinforces this.<\/p>\n<p>Fortune quotes partner Tom Schmidt describing crypto&#8217;s \u201cfinancial era,\u201d where native protocol tokens give way to tokenized stocks and fintech rails. That&#8217;s bullish for certain businesses, but it implies a world where upside accrues to equity or regulated products, not to freely floating alts.<\/p>\n<p>Take this week&#8217;s example. On Feb. 20, LayerZero unlocks approximately $46 million in ZRO tokens, representing 5.98% of the circulating supply and concentrated in insider allocations.<\/p>\n<p>Tokenomist flags it as a near-term overhang in thin liquidity. This is what \u201cbullish VC\u201d looks like in practice: a public unlock calendar that provides sophisticated participants with a known exit window and retail holders with a predictable drawdown.<\/p>\n<h2>The scale problem<\/h2>\n<p>Tokenomist&#8217;s 2025 review tallies $97.43 billion of tokens released across the year, split into $18.77 billion from insider unlocks and $78.66 billion from non-insider allocations.<\/p>\n<p>For the week of Feb. 16-22 alone, scheduled releases exceed $700 million. This isn&#8217;t background noise, but a structural sell-side flow that dwarfs organic demand in all but the most liquid assets.<\/p>\n<p>Keyrock&#8217;s data confirms recipient type matters, with team and investor unlocks proving more damaging than ecosystem allocations, likely because insiders face fewer coordination costs and clearer profit incentives.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cs-inline-newsletter-69970289ced9c\" class=\"cs-inline-newsletter\" data-inline-newsletter=\"\">\n<div class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__inner\">\n<div class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__content\"> <span class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__eyebrow\">CryptoSlate Daily Brief<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__title\">Daily signals, zero noise.<\/h3>\n<p class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__copy\">Market-moving headlines and context delivered every morning in one tight read.<\/p>\n<p> <span><i class=\"fa-regular fa-bolt\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/> 5-minute digest<\/span> <span><i class=\"fa-regular fa-star\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/> 100k+ readers<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__form-shell\">\n<p class=\"cs-inline-newsletter__privacy\">Free. No spam. Unsubscribe any time.<\/p>\n<p> <i class=\"fa-regular fa-circle-xmark\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/> <span>Whoops, looks like there was a problem. Please try again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p> <i class=\"fa-regular fa-circle-check\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/> <span>You\u2019re subscribed. Welcome aboard.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Binance Research warns that without matching buy-side demand, the path forward requires tens of billions in new capital just to tread water.<\/p>\n<p>Dragonfly&#8217;s $650 million, even if fully deployed into token deals, represents a fraction of the liquidity needed to absorb the unlock schedule of projects already live.<\/p>\n<h2>What good tokenomics actually looks like<\/h2>\n<p>The response to failed low-float launches isn&#8217;t to eliminate tokens, but to redesign the incentive structure so that unlocks don&#8217;t function as ticking time bombs.<\/p>\n<p>Backpack launched with 25% initial float, entirely community-facing, and structured the remaining supply around growth-triggered unlocks tied to user growth and protocol milestones.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of time-based cliffs, supply release connects to key performance indicators. The market can price optimism or pessimism in real time, rather than pricing a deterministic supply schedule.<\/p>\n<p>Jupiter allocated 50% of protocol revenue to token buybacks, creating a verifiable sink tied to actual cash flows. The team has discussed targeting net zero emissions in 2026 by restructuring distributions.<\/p>\n<p>Revenue-linked buybacks convert protocol success into deflationary pressure rather than purely dilutive issuance.<\/p>\n<p>USDai&#8217;s $CHIP sale allocated 7% of supply to the public sale, unlocked 100% at TGE, and published explicit mechanics and dates.<\/p>\n<p>The approach trades early price stability for radical transparency. There&#8217;s no hidden insider schedule, no surprise vesting tranches. The token launched volatile, but without the structured sell-wall that depresses prices months later.<\/p>\n<p>Dragonfly&#8217;s pivot toward fintech rails offers another blueprint: some products don&#8217;t need tokens. If the business model is regulated as a financial service, forcing a token onto it creates a dilution instrument rather than a useful asset.<\/p>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Model \/ Example<\/th>\n<th align=\"right\">Initial float<\/th>\n<th>Unlock design<\/th>\n<th>Buy-side sink \/ support<\/th>\n<th>Why it reduces overhang<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Low-float \/ heavy VC unlocks (failed model)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\">Often low \/ single-digit to teens %<\/td>\n<td>Time-based vesting with cliffs; large insider tranches<\/td>\n<td>None (relies on new buyers \/ narrative)<\/td>\n<td>Creates <strong>manufactured scarcity<\/strong> at TGE, then a <strong>known sell wall<\/strong> as unlocks arrive; market front-runs dilution<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Backpack<\/strong><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><strong>25%<\/strong> (community-facing)<\/td>\n<td><strong>KPI \/ growth-triggered<\/strong> unlocks tied to milestones<\/td>\n<td>Implicit: milestones align supply with adoption<\/td>\n<td>Markets price <strong>performance<\/strong> (milestones) instead of a deterministic calendar; reduces \u201cscheduled dump\u201d dynamic<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Jupiter<\/strong><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\">n\/a (token already live)<\/td>\n<td>Emissions restructuring discussed; goal of <strong>net-zero emissions<\/strong> in 2026 (proposal\/discussion)<\/td>\n<td><strong>Revenue-linked buybacks<\/strong> (50% of protocol revenue)<\/td>\n<td>Converts protocol success into <strong>verifiable demand-side support<\/strong>; buybacks act as a sink that can offset issuance<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>USDai ($CHIP)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\"><strong>7%<\/strong> public sale allocation; <strong>100% of sale unlocked at TGE<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Transparent mechanics\/dates; avoids hidden cliffs for sale tranche<\/td>\n<td>Transparency \/ broad distribution at sale<\/td>\n<td>No surprise cliff for the public tranche; reduces \u201cretail as exit liquidity\u201d feel and <strong>removes calendar shock<\/strong> from that portion<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Fintech rails \/ no token<\/strong><\/td>\n<td align=\"right\">n\/a<\/td>\n<td>No token issuance\/unlocks<\/td>\n<td>Equity \/ revenue capture (traditional)<\/td>\n<td>Eliminates token dilution entirely; avoids creating a <strong>dilution instrument<\/strong> where the product doesn\u2019t need one<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2>The checklist<\/h2>\n<p>Before buying a token, investors should check four metrics: market cap to fully diluted valuation, percentage of supply held by insiders, the size of the next three scheduled unlocks as a percentage of circulating supply, and the dates those unlocks land.<\/p>\n<p>If the MC\/FDV is below 20%, if insiders control more than half of total issuance, and if the next unlock exceeds 5% of float, they are buying into a structure designed to extract value.<\/p>\n<p>If an investor wouldn&#8217;t buy a stock with a known 20% share issuance scheduled for next month, then that token is a pass, too.<\/p>\n<p>The mechanics are identical. The return of venture funding doesn&#8217;t change this, and can even amplify it.<\/p>\n<p>Dragonfly&#8217;s $650 million signals that institutional LPs still back select crypto managers, even as the broader venture ecosystem contracts.<\/p>\n<p>However, whether that capital flows into token-heavy deals or into fintech rails, whether it reproduces low-float structures or funds businesses that don&#8217;t need tokens at all, determines whether \u201cVC is back\u201d translates to upside for liquid assets.<\/p>\n<p>The market learned to price dilution. The question is whether the next wave of projects learned the same lesson.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-bottom\">\n<div class=\"post-mentions-and-posted-in\">\n<div class=\"post-info-block post-mentions\">\n<header><span class=\"post-info__label\">Mentioned in this article<\/span><\/header>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Featured,Investments,Tokenization#Crypto #funding #surging #sounds #rally #trace #money #lands1771506639<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dragonfly Capital closed its fourth fund at $650 million this week, the same size as its 2022 vehicle, raised into a venture market Fortune calls a \u201cmass extinction event.\u201d The headline reads like a vote of confidence: institutional capital returning, crypto winter thawing, alt season loading. But peel back one layer and the picture warps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6795,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[62,550,1325,1723,541,2646,2645,2647],"class_list":{"0":"post-6794","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ethereum","8":"tag-crypto","9":"tag-funding","10":"tag-lands","11":"tag-money","12":"tag-rally","13":"tag-sounds","14":"tag-surging","15":"tag-trace"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Crypto VC funding surging again sounds like a rally, until you trace where the money actually lands - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Private rounds inflate FDVs, then vesting schedules turn into predictable sell walls that traders can front run for months.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Crypto VC funding surging again sounds like a rally, until you trace where the money actually lands\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Private rounds inflate FDVs, then vesting schedules turn into predictable sell walls that traders can front run for months.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-19T13:10:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/crypto-vc-funding.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u884c\u653f\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u884c\u653f\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794\",\"name\":\"Crypto VC funding surging again sounds like a rally, until you trace where the money actually lands - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/crypto-vc-funding.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-19T13:10:39+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/822778c5844e0d16d43dce6630f4f1bf\"},\"description\":\"Private rounds inflate FDVs, then vesting schedules turn into predictable sell walls that traders can front run for months.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/crypto-vc-funding.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/crypto-vc-funding.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Crypto VC funding surging again sounds like a rally, until you trace where the money actually lands\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/\",\"name\":\"Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis\",\"description\":\"Latest Crypto &amp; Bitcoin News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/822778c5844e0d16d43dce6630f4f1bf\",\"name\":\"\u884c\u653f\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4c2d23409b09e004cef3facbe677e95c5401f9e29680f3a311e0130c5748089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4c2d23409b09e004cef3facbe677e95c5401f9e29680f3a311e0130c5748089?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"\u884c\u653f\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/coinbase\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Crypto VC funding surging again sounds like a rally, until you trace where the money actually lands - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis","description":"Private rounds inflate FDVs, then vesting schedules turn into predictable sell walls that traders can front run for months.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Crypto VC funding surging again sounds like a rally, until you trace where the money actually lands","og_description":"Private rounds inflate FDVs, then vesting schedules turn into predictable sell walls that traders can front run for months.","og_url":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794","og_site_name":"Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis","article_published_time":"2026-02-19T13:10:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/crypto-vc-funding.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"\u884c\u653f","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u884c\u653f","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794","url":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794","name":"Crypto VC funding surging again sounds like a rally, until you trace where the money actually lands - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/crypto-vc-funding.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-19T13:10:39+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/822778c5844e0d16d43dce6630f4f1bf"},"description":"Private rounds inflate FDVs, then vesting schedules turn into predictable sell walls that traders can front run for months.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/crypto-vc-funding.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/crypto-vc-funding.jpg","width":1200,"height":630},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=6794#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Crypto VC funding surging again sounds like a rally, until you trace where the money actually lands"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/","name":"Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis","description":"Latest Crypto &amp; Bitcoin News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/822778c5844e0d16d43dce6630f4f1bf","name":"\u884c\u653f","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4c2d23409b09e004cef3facbe677e95c5401f9e29680f3a311e0130c5748089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e4c2d23409b09e004cef3facbe677e95c5401f9e29680f3a311e0130c5748089?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"\u884c\u653f"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/demo3.aiwalls.com\/coinbase"],"url":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}