The crypto financing heat in 2025 continues to rise, with the total funding surpassing $25 billion for the year. This is the second-highest record since data tracking began, only behind the crazy market in 2021.

But this time is different. The financing boom in previous years was just hype; this year’s funds are genuinely flowing into promising projects. I spent several weeks analyzing data from 6,723 funding rounds to see clearly who is actually making money in this round.

**Prediction markets are truly the hottest**

From the funding data, prediction markets are the absolute main players. This also makes sense—it's the only track within Web3 that has truly gone mainstream and can attract ordinary users. Polymarket and Kalshi are fiercely competing, both working hard to attract big influencers and mainstream partners. Prediction markets are now featured in Google search recommendations, and major mainstream media are beginning to report on them regularly. Moving from niche to mainstream is only a matter of time.

Besides prediction markets, AI storage and RWA (Real-World Asset on-chain) are also focal points of this funding round. Although these two areas are not as hot as prediction markets yet, their funding scale and growth rate are quite impressive.