Bitcoin is down roughly 50% from its October 2025 peak above $126K, trading somewhere in the $60K to $80K range through mid-2026. By most definitions, that qualifies as a bear market. And yet the venture capital spigot hasn’t turned off. It’s barely even dripped.

Approximately $21 billion has been raised across crypto and blockchain ventures year-to-date, a figure that mirrors the $21.1 billion to $21.9 billion raised across all of 2025. The money is still flowing. It just looks different this time around.

The first half of 2026 saw roughly $11.1 billion deployed across 467 deals. Q2 alone accounted for $12.86 billion in transactions, suggesting a sharp acceleration in deal-making even as Bitcoin’s price chart continued to flatline.