The crypto cold has not dampened the VC industry's thirst for investment

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VCs have money to invest in crypto startups, but some are waiting for bigger opportunities that should present itself around September.

Reuters data revealed that, despite falling crypto values, venture capital investments remain on course to outperform those made the previous year.

However, raw data do not provide a whole picture.

Crypto winter is arrived.

Cryptocurrencies have been declining from their high in November 2021. The Terra incident has hastened the decline, significantly reducing token values across the board.

Bitcoin hit a local low of $17,600 on June 18, then traded sideways until a breakthrough peaked at $$24,200 on July 20. Since then, the market leader's daily closing have been drifting lower.

Analysts blamed Monday's sell-off on approaching Fed rate rise predictions. A 75 basis point increase is widely anticipated. Some predict a 100 basis point increase.

Crypto investors reacted by abandoning holdings, causing the overall market cap to fall further, reaching $966 billion in the early hours of July 26. (GMT).

Despite the fact that the previous rise had moved sentiment from severe fear to fear, this week's sell-off has the Fear and Greed Index back over the extreme fear zone.

Overall, uncertainty persists as macroeconomic concerns weigh heavily on cryptocurrency markets.

VCs are unafraid.

According to data from the capital research portal PitchBook, VCs invested $17.5 billion in crypto companies in the first half of 2022. Extrapolated over a year, this would amount to $35 billion, much above the overall industry rise in 2021.

“That puts investment on course to top the record $26.9 billion raised last year, a warmer and happier time for bitcoin and co.”

Roderik van der Graf, the founder of Hong Kong-based investment firm Lemniscap, commented on this, saying that available capital is "huge," and that crypto winter is not deterring investors.

“The current market conditions – I don’t think they faze investors.”

Van der Graf's remarks were mirrored by David Nage, VC Portfolio Manager at Arca, who provided a more nuanced perspective, stating that deals are taking longer to conclude and business values have dropped throughout the slump.

Nage further stated that certain VCs are now deploying funds under investor-friendly conditions. At the same time, others are waiting for better bargains to emerge in September, which might spark a "frenzy" of investment in the year's second half.

“There’s been this kind of viral dialogue that sometime around September, valuations are gonna come down even more significantly and it’s just gonna be a frenzy.”

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