Update as of June 14, at 6:00 am UTC: This article has been revised to clarify the distinction between institutional and retail investments. KuCoin’s research division released a report indicating that the cryptocurrency sector received over $1 billion in investments in May, a slight decrease from the previous month.
On June 13, KuCoin Research disclosed that 156 investments were publicly announced in May. Furthermore, the research division of the cryptocurrency exchange revealed that $1.02 billion in investment funds entered the industry. This marked a 10.61% rise compared to May 2023, but showed a 6.4% decline from April.
Ethereum, EVM blockchains, and L2 networks continued to dominate investments. Despite this, non-EVM chains such as Bitcoin, Solana, Fantom, and TON also ranked among the top 15 networks favored by investors in May.
Animoca Brands and OKX Ventures were the most active investors last month. Animoca Brands participated in 15 deals, while OKX Ventures backed 11 projects. Cogitent Ventures, SNZ Holding, and DWF Labs were also active in May, closing 10, 8, and 7 deals respectively.
In May, retail investors gravitated toward memes and celebrity tokens due to concerns surrounding the high fully diluted valuations (FDV) trend in the crypto market. KuCoin Research noted that tokens launching with inflated valuations and limited circulating supplies left investors with little flexibility, prompting them to explore other options.
The researchers highlighted Notcoin (NOT) as a token that benefitted from this shift in May. Notcoin’s launch with all tokens available from the start contributed to its growth last month.
On June 3, NOT emerged as the fifth most-traded cryptocurrency, surpassing the trading volume of the popular stablecoin USD Coin (USDC). The token reached an all-time high price of $0.02896 on June 2, propelling its market capitalization above $2 billion.
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