It wasn't long ago that venture capital firms could make out like bandits by backing new crypto projects. Instead of waiting seven or more years for a payout, as typically happens with traditional VC investments, they could gobble up easy returns when those projects issued tokens a short time later. The gig was so lucrative that former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and others shared a meme in late 2021 depicting a VC fat cat guzzling a river of riches from blockchain offerings while retail investors pleaded for a drop.
How times change. Today, many of the venture capitalists who rushed into crypto are reeling as token offerings have dried up entirely in the wake of FTX's collapse. Their portfolio companies are now holding back launches of any sort, according to The Block, due to fears "over price, exchange fees and increasingly aggressive regulation."
