The comeback of crypto AI?
Since Trump announced the reciprocal tariffs, combined with all the recent crypto FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt), we are officially entering a bear market. However, it’s worth noting that the crypto market seems to be holding up better than the stock market.
This week, only 28 projects are raising funds, totaling just $48 million—the lowest amount we’ve seen this year. Interestingly, I’m noticing some projects focused on AI, a narrative many thought was dead in the crypto space.
Let’s take a closer look at what they are.
1. Codex raises $15.8M in Seed funding round from Dragonfly Cap
L1 chain built for stable coin - Codex have raised $15.80M in a Seed funding round led by Dragonfly Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Wintermute, Selini Capital, Cumberland (DRW), Circle Ventures.
Today, using stablecoins for business is still complicated, costly, and messy. Companies often have to rely on makeshift solutions that were originally made for crypto trading. Codex recognized this gap. They believe stablecoins should be simple, reliable, and affordable—letting businesses use stablecoins smoothly without worrying about price swings, high fees, confusing wallets, or tools that don't work well together.
Codex is on a mission to build a universal electronic cash system. Its initial products are focused on enabling businesses to adopt stablecoins cheaply, easily and safely. Codex is building:
- Codex Chain – a stablecoin chain, built-for-purpose
- Codex API – a programmatic way to move stablecoins between geographies
- Codex FX – autonomous liquidity venue for FX
2. Cambrian raises $5.9M in Seed round led by a16z CSX
Decentralized AI financial data protocol - Cambrian Network has raised $5.90M in a Seed funding round led by a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX), with participation from Blockchain Builders Fund (BBF).
Cambrian is an AI infrastructure protocol providing financial data and predictive market forecasting to inform and train AI agents, envisions a future where humans, AI and nature all thrive in harmony.
Cambrian supports the shift toward agent-based finance by providing financial data and predictive market forecasting to inform and train AI agents. This data is organized and transformed by Cambrian, powered by a decentralized network of validators indexing blockchain data at high speeds.
The protocol is opening a pre-launch waitlist registration.
3. Ambient raises $7.2M in Seed round from a16z CSX
SVM-compatible L1 blockchain - Ambient has raised $7.20M in a Seed funding round from a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX), Delphi Digital, Amber Group.
Ambient is an AI-Infused SVM-compatible Proof of Work L1 supplying hyperscaled verified inference on a 600B+ parameter model and its finetunes. "Verified inference" by miners (the key part of their reward system) works like a fact-checker. It ensures the answers given by Ambient actually come from the model users paid for.
Ambient’s optimized Proof of Logits (PoL) runs LLM tasks 100x faster than traditional systems. Its co-founder Travis Good claims that they could become the “decentralized competitor to OpenAI”
4. Mahojin raises $5M in Seed round led by a16z CSX
Web3 AI image generative platform-Mahojin has raised $5M in a Seed funding round led by a16z Crypto Startup Accelerator (CSX), Maelstrom, with participation from WAGMI Ventures, Han Bridge Capital.
Mahojin is a search-to-generate AI platform built on top of Story Protocol that instantly provides exact images through an ever-expanding and remixable library. For AI creators, Mahojin enables IP tracking and fair revenue sharing with end-to-end connection to end users.
Mahojin runs on MANA, which might become their token in the future. Right now, MANA is used in the protocol, meaning every generation costs you MANA, and people who use your generation will pay you in MANA too.
5. Momentum raises $10M in Seed & Pre-seed rounds
Central liquidity engine-Momentum (ex MSafe) has raised $10 M in seed & pre-seed rounds combined led by Varys Capital, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, Jump Crypto, Aptos Network, Gate Ventures, Amber Group, Selini Capital, Arcanum Capital, WAGMI Ventures, Dewhales Capital, MonkeVentures, Sui Foundation.
Momentum is the built central liquidity engine on Sui and Aptos for the Move ecosystem, originally launched as MSafe. Momentum has recently launched the world’s first ve(3,3) DEX combined with a token launch platform on the Sui blockchain.
A ve(3,3) DEX is a decentralized exchange model designed to align the interests of all users—liquidity providers, traders, and protocols. Unlike traditional DEXs, ve(3,3) directs 100% of token emissions, trading fees, and incentives back to its users, creating a self-sustaining growth cycle known as a "flywheel effect."
In short:
- Protocols incentivize liquidity with tokens
- Voters receive all trading fees and bribe payments
- Liquidity providers get full token emissions
- Traders enjoy lower fees and reduced slippage
Conclusion
This week saw a total of 28 funding rounds, more than last week, but the total amount is only $64M, could it get any lower?
But we're seeing the crypto AI narrative making a comeback with projects like Ambient, Cambrian, and Mahojin. They all share one thing in common, backed by a16z. Why is a16z, one of the best VCs in crypto betting on crypto AI again? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Thanks for reading this week's fundraising recap—see you next week!