AI is increasingly eating into VC fundings and here is how crypto firms are adapting
AI companies raised $242 billion (80% of global venture funding) in early 2026, with Gartner projecting total AI spending will reach $2.52 trillion this year.
AI is increasingly eating into VC fundings and here is how crypto firms are adapting
AI companies raised $242 billion (80% of global venture funding) in early 2026, with Gartner projecting total AI spending will reach $2.52 trillion this year.
40 cents of every crypto venture capital dollar in 2025 went to AI-focused firms, more than double the prior year, reflecting growing convergence between crypto and AI.
AI companies raised $242 billion (80% of global venture funding) in early 2026, with Gartner projecting total AI spending will reach $2.52 trillion this year.
Crypto platforms are shifting from AI “co-pilots” to autonomous “agents” that monitor conditions and execute trades automatically, moving faster than traditional finance.
That pressure is visible in crypto’s shift from AI “co-pilots” to “agents.” Co-pilots help users analyze information, while agents can monitor conditions and execute actions. In trading environments, where timing affects outcomes, reducing the gap between insight and execution can change behavior.
The trend is part of a wider surge in AI spending. Crunchbase data shows AI companies raised about $242 billion in the first quarter of 2026, or roughly 80% of global venture funding. Gartner estimates total AI spending will reach $2.52 trillion this year.
AI is increasingly capturing more VC capital (Binance Research)
Crypto leading the AI push
This trend, however, isn’t surprising.
As capital concentrates in one area, it often pulls adjacent sectors along with it, pushing firms to adapt their strategies and shorten product cycles, Binance Research wrote.
While almost all sectors are trying to incorporate AI into their business models, the report says that crypto platforms have moved faster than traditional finance in deploying such systems. This is due to support from always-on markets in the digital assets sector and programmable infrastructure, whereas TradFi faces market-hour constraints and intermediary systems that agents must pass through.
For example, the research noted that on Binance’s AI Pro beta, nearly half of the activity on a recent day, 45.7%, was triggered by the system rather than users.
These interactions came from scheduled tasks and monitoring systems, pointing to growing use of AI tools that run in the background without prompts.
Adoption of AI solutions is uneven across the 17 exchanges and brokers Binance Research surveyed. Risk management, market signals, and fraud detection are standard, while user-facing tools such as copy trading, chatbots, and portfolio advisors are present in only 47% to 71% of them.
Several major platforms have shipped agentic products this year, moving AI closer to monitoring and execution within set guardrails. That compresses the value chain between identifying an opportunity and acting on it, Binance Research added.
That means the competitive landscape will shift from who’s integrating AI features to who’s owning users’ decision-making loops, the report noted.
Nearly 90% of RAVE’s supply was concentrated in just three wallets, and millions of tokens were transferred to exchanges before the price surge.
What to know:
Binance and Bitget are investigating allegations that insiders engineered a rally in RaveDAO’s RAVE token, which surged 4,500% in a week, causing $44 million in liquidations.
Nearly 90% of RAVE’s supply was concentrated in just three wallets, and millions of tokens were transferred to exchanges before the price surge.
