The tenth edition of the CV VC Top 50 Report, released at the Web3 Hub Davos during the World Economic Forum, ranks the top 50 blockchain entities by token market capitalisation and private company valuations.
The report provides insights into Crypto Valley’s 2024 venture funding landscape and highlights the ongoing developments in the blockchain sector.
Top 50 Valuation Milestones for 2024:
The total valuation of the Top 50 entities has increased by 55%, now standing at $593 billion.
25 blockchain platforms are valued at $584.33 billion, with 16 based in Zug, contributing 97% of the total platform valuation.
Blockchain companies’ private valuations stand at $9.11 billion, with 14 companies based in Zug, accounting for 56% of the total valuation.
New entrants include LCX, Liquity, and Safe by token market cap, and Glue Blockchain, Portofino Technologies, M^0 Labs, Nillion, Rulematch, Wyden, Tea, RedStone, Arf, Molecule, and Relai by private valuation.
Crypto Valley now hosts 17 unicorns, including Sygnum, the world’s first digital asset bank.
A new validation framework is being established to reflect industry developments, with results due by the end of Q1 2025.
Key Funding Insights:
Total funding in Crypto Valley reached $586 million across 56 deals in 2024, an 8% increase, outpacing global blockchain funding growth of 3%.
Notable deals included Celestia ($100 million), Sygnum ($98 million), TON ($48 million), M^0 Labs ($35 million), and Nillion ($25 million).
Crypto Valley’s share of global blockchain funding rose to 5.2%, while its share of European blockchain funding reached a record 29.1%, up from 18.7% in 2023.
The median deal size increased by 70%, now standing at $5.6 million, higher than the global median of $4 million.
Geographic Distribution of Funding:
Zug accounted for 42% of total funding, with $245.89 million across 28 deals.
Zürich followed with 34.7%, totalling $203.22 million across 15 deals.
Liechtenstein contributed 17.1%, with Celestia’s significant deal.
Funding by Industry Segment:
Centralised financial services accounted for 34% of total funding, followed by blockchain networks at 29%.
Decentralised finance (DeFi) grew significantly, from 7% to 15%.
Data management, verification, and analytics surged from 3.5% to 11%.
Infrastructure and developer tools secured 10%, while gaming and NFTs saw a sharp decline, dropping to 1%.
Heinz Tännler, President of the Swiss Blockchain Federation, stated,
Heinz Tännler
“The blockchain sector is undeniably one of the fastest-growing industries globally. Crypto Valley is poised to lead the next phase of innovation, but realising this vision requires a supportive regulatory framework and a stronger investment culture. Constructive dialogue with regulators, including the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF) and FINMA, is ongoing, focusing on key areas such as cross-border custody, activities on public blockchains, and stablecoin supervision.
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Sygnum, a global digital asset banking group, has secured US$ 58 million in an oversubscribed funding round, earning it unicorn status with a valuation to over US$ 1 billion.
The round bolstered Sygnum’s balance sheet and CET1 capital, supporting plans for future growth.
Led by Bitcoin-focused venture capital firm Fulgur Ventures, the round saw participation from new and existing investors, along with Sygnum’s co-founders, board, and team members, who continue to hold a majority ownership in the company.
The funds will be used to expand Sygnum’s market presence in the EU/EEA and Hong Kong, enhance institutional infrastructure, and develop Bitcoin-focused products.
Additional investments will strengthen compliance, risk management, and organisational resilience.
Sygnum reported strong
Q4 2024 witnessed a remarkable resurgence in the cryptocurrency market, highlighted by bitcoin surpassing the historic US$100,000 milestone on December 05.
This surge was fueled by significant events, notably Donald Trump’s election victory, which spurred expectations of a pro-crypto regulatory shift. South Korea also played a key role in the global trading surge, driven by an altcoin frenzy.
According to CCData, a data and index solutions provider specializing in the digital asset market, aggregate trading volumes across major South Korean exchanges, including Upbeat and Bithumb Korea, reached a record of US$254 billion, representing a a staggering 294% month-on-month (MoM) increase. South Korea now accounts for 7.38% of the total spot trading volumes on centralized exchanges.
November
Cross-border payments often lead to delayed settlements. As a result, this creates a fragmented view of liquidity positions for companies.
The aim is to increase transparency and security with blockchain-based payments via UBS Digital Cash which should in turn facilitate timely payment processing.
In addition, companies should be able to manage intraday-liquidity and adjust liquidity buffers on their accounts more easily in the future, thanks to greater visibility of their total cash positions.
Andy Kollegger
Andy Kollegger, Head UBS Institutional & Multinational Banking, says:
”UBS Digital Cash going forward aims to enable our clients to make cross-border payments in a much more efficient and transparent way.”
emphasizing:
“Blockchain-based payment solutions for cross-border payments are
Swiss equity token specialist Aktionariat AG and securities firm Taurus SA announced a new partnership.
Aktionariat’s tokenization tools and Taurus Digital Exchange (TDX) organized trading facility are natural complements. Under the newly announced partnership, Taurus will support selected shares tokenized with Aktionariat on the Ethereum blockchain and Aktionariat will offer client companies a smooth path towards being admitted to trading on TDX as they grow in market capitalization and match admission criteria.
This collaboration brings together Aktionariat’s expertise in tokenizing Swiss companies’ equity with Taurus’ institutional-grade trading technology. It aims to increase liquidity and unlock value for tokenized SMEs and their shareholders by providing access to TDX’s network of
In 2023, cryptocurrency fraud continued to surge globally as rising adoption of digital currencies attracted scammers seeking to exploit the hype and target credulous users.
Last year, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received a record of 69,468 crypto-related complaints, a 33.6% increase from 2022’s ~52,000, new data released by the division show. Losses soared by a whopping 45% year-over-year (YoY) to an all-time high of US$5.6 billion.
Though crypto fraud represented only 10% of total financial fraud complains in 2023, it accounted for nearly 50% of total fraud losses, highlighting the disproportionately severe financial impact of these schemes compared to traditional fraud.
IC3 complaints with reference to cryptocurrency, Source: 2023
Siemens has again issued a digital bond in accordance with Germany’s Electronic Securities Act (Gesetz über elektronische Wertpapiere, eWpG).
This follows the successful issuance of its first digital bond last year. In issuing the bond, the company is supporting the trials by the Eurosystem and the Bundesbank in particular, that are aimed at testing blockchain technology for the digital financial market.
Ralf P. Thomas
“Since the successful issuance of our first digital bond on a blockchain, we have been rigorously focusing on the further development of this forward-looking technology. By issuing another digital bond, we are demonstrating once again our spirit of innovation and underscoring our aim to continuously drive digital solutions for the financial markets. Siemens remains a pioneer
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Siemens Launches €300 Million Digital Bond on Blockchain
