Tenstorrent's round accounts for 85.1% of crypto venture capital funding

One single artificial intelligence deal dominated venture capital funding in crypto from October 17 to 23, 2026. The Series E of Tenstorrent at $1.5 billion accounts for approximately 85.1%.

Summary

• Key points
• Venture capital funding in crypto: $1.7626 billion in eight rounds
• Tenstorrent, the Series E for servers and chip projects
• Whop raises $200 million for international growth
• Banking, payments, and infrastructure: the other rounds
  • Erebor and Mural: banking and payments
  • Data for AI agents, income on Bitcoin, and automated payments

Key points

• Tenstorrent closed the round with a post-money valuation of $6.2 billion.
• The eight disclosed fundings during the week total $1.7626 billion.
• Whop's Series D, at $200 million, was led by Sequoia and Shopify Ventures.
• Tether appears among Tenstorrent's investors and leads the rounds for Mural and Peso.

Venture capital funding in crypto: $1.7626 billion in eight rounds

During the week from October 17 to 23, eight fundings totaling $1.7626 billion were announced. Tenstorrent leads the ranking, followed by the trading platform Whop with a $200 million round.

The count includes announcements of deals closed even before the reference period. Excluded are valuations, cumulative fundraising figures, and previously announced offers.

The list of transactions comes from Crypto Fundraising, DeFiLlama, and DropsTab, with verifications from company press releases, investor communications, and news reports.

Smaller investments support banks, stablecoin payments, and infrastructure for AI agents.

Tenstorrent, the Series E for servers and chip projects

Tenstorrent completed the equity financing on October 19, with a post-money valuation of $6.2 billion. The round was led by Trace Capital and Innovation X.

Tether Investments also participated, along with ARK Invest, Morgan Stanley, Sandisk, T. Rowe Price, and Fidelity Management & Research Company. Tether confirmed its entry on October 20.

The company, with operational offices in Santa Clara and Austin, will allocate the funds for the large-scale deployment of Galaxy servers. They will also be used to develop AI projects and CPUs licensed to chip manufacturers.

Whop raises $200 million for international growth

Whop's Series D, announced on October 21, raised $200 million, with Sequoia and Shopify Ventures as lead investors. Whop indicates a valuation of $5.1 billion.

The funds will finance international expansion and research and development on payments and advertising. The platform supports the sale of digital products, subscriptions, access to software and online services, and connects businesses to the crypto infrastructure with stablecoin payments.

Tether's strategic investment in February is a separate $200 million deal that valued Whop at $1.6 billion. Only the October Series D is included in this week's count.

Banking, payments, and infrastructure: the other rounds

The smaller deals cover banking services, blockchain payments, data for AI agents, and tools for generating yield on Bitcoin.

Erebor and Mural: banking and payments

Robinhood Ventures Fund I announced on October 21 the purchase of preferred shares of Erebor. The deal closed on September 17. Erebor serves U.S. businesses in technology, defense, robotics, AI, and digital assets.

According to Robinhood, Erebor obtained full national licensing from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and FDIC insurance in February. Deposits exceed $7 billion, a figure excluded from the total funding.

Small investors access investment through RVI, a closed-end fund listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Preferred shares are securities, not insured deposits.

Mural, a New York company, has raised $15 million in a Series A led by Tether, along with North Island Ventures and existing investors. For the infrastructure connecting banks and blockchain payments, the announcement on October 20 brings the total raised to $28 million.

The company connects accounts, payments, identity verification, and compliance tools. Since the launch of the API in 2025, Mural claims to have processed $2.1 billion across 128 countries, with clients such as Deel and Opera.

The funds will go towards hiring, licensing, compliance, and market expansion. AI agent payment checks will include spending limits, approved counterparties, and audit logs.

Data for AI Agents, Income on Bitcoin, and Automated Payments

Dataline, a data provider for AI agents, has raised $10.6 million in a seed round co-led by Lattice and Dispersion Capital. Participants include Coinbase Ventures, Symbolic Capital, Anagram, and Vlad Tenev. Dataline also plans a public token sale, which is excluded from the count.

Nectar Group, developer of HoneyB, has secured $5 million in a seed round with Portal Ventures, Peer Ventures, and Anchorage Digital Ventures. With coordinated custody, credit, and wealth management, HoneyB aims to match Bitcoin collateral with institutional-grade yield strategies.

Solana Ventures led a strategic round of $1 million for Hylo, with participation from Colosseum. The protocol develops leveraged tokens, stablecoin systems, and yield infrastructure; this round is distinct from the previous seed round of $1.5 million.

Tether also led the pre-seed of Peso, a Bolivian fintech, announced on October 21 to expand the USDT payment infrastructure in Latin America. Lighthouse has secured additional strategic funding for persistent memory for AI agents and decentralized storage. Sonic Labs has signed an OTC agreement for approximately 13 million S tokens.

X Pay, based in the Netherlands, has raised $1 million from nine investors, including DCI, Credit Scend, Skyland Ventures, and Zerra Ventures. It uses the x402 protocol for automated payments in USDC. The capital will be used to extend support for blockchains, conduct a security audit, build an API marketplace, and prepare for EU compliance.

Content created with the assistance of artificial intelligence and human editorial review.