Crypto Startups Raise Over $270M in One Week, Led by $200M Whop Round

Crypto fundraising remained active between February 23 and March 1, with projects collectively securing more than $270 million across payments, AI, DeFi, and digital identity sectors.

The largest round came from Whop, which raised $200 million in a strategic funding deal focused on payments and the creator economy. The company positions itself at the intersection of e-commerce infrastructure and digital monetization tools.

Payments and Exchanges Draw Major Capital

STS Digital secured $30 million in a strategic round targeting centralized exchange infrastructure and options trading. Meanwhile, JPYC raised $11.9 million in a Series B round for its fiat-backed, over-collateralized stablecoin initiative.

Based, a decentralized exchange focused on perpetuals, brought in $11.5 million in a Series A round backed by major crypto venture firms.

Payments infrastructure continues to be a recurring theme, with Power Protocol also raising $3 million to develop payment and developer tooling solutions.

AI and Emerging Sectors Gain Momentum

AI-linked crypto startups also attracted capital. t54 Labs raised $5 million in a seed round to build AI agent infrastructure, while Kash secured $2 million in a pre-seed round focused on AI-driven prediction markets.

Bluprynt raised $4.25 million to build digital identity and real-world asset infrastructure, signaling continued investor interest in tokenization and compliance-related tools.

TBD completed a $3 million seed round targeting prediction markets, further expanding capital flows into event-based and forecasting protocols.

What the Funding Trend Suggests

The week’s fundraising activity shows capital rotating into infrastructure, payments, AI integration, and real-world asset frameworks rather than pure speculative token launches.

With a single $200 million round accounting for the majority of capital deployed, investor conviction appears concentrated in platforms aiming to scale monetization and financial rails rather than experimental DeFi primitives.

Overall, the distribution of funding reflects a maturing market that continues to prioritize utility, infrastructure, and cross-sector integration.

The post Crypto Startups Raise Over $270M in One Week, Led by $200M Whop Round appeared first on ETHNews.