Crypto Funding Shifts to RWA & Stablecoin Payments; Fission Raises $10M Series A
Last week’s crypto venture activity tilted decisively toward real-world asset (RWA) liquidity infrastructure and stablecoin payment rails, even as AI funding continued to concentrate in large model developers, compute assets, and embodied intelligence teams.
Fission’s $10M Series A
Fission, a startup building liquidity infrastructure for tokenized real-world assets, closed a $10 million Series A led by Pantera Capital. The round underscores investor appetite for plumbing that makes tokenized assets tradable and composable across DeFi venues.
“The next leg of RWA growth depends less on tokenizing more assets and more on making them liquid,” a Fission spokesperson said. “This capital will help us deepen market-making and settlement infrastructure.”
Stablecoin Payments in Focus
Several smaller deals targeted stablecoin payment corridors, remittances, and merchant settlement. Investors see stablecoins as the most product-market-fit segment of crypto, especially in emerging markets where dollar access is scarce.
AI Funding Concentrates
Meanwhile, AI funding continued to cluster around mega-rounds. DeepSeek’s new round is reportedly set to expand to roughly 100 billion yuan (about $14 billion), reflecting a flight to scale in foundation models. Compute-asset and embodied-AI teams also attracted capital.
Implications
The divergence is telling: crypto-native venture is narrowing to infrastructure with clear revenue paths—RWA liquidity and stablecoin payments—while general AI capital consolidates around a handful of large players. For crypto founders, the message is that tokenization alone is no longer enough; liquidity, compliance, and distribution matter more.
Expect more RWA infrastructure deals in the coming quarters, particularly in market-making, custody, and cross-chain settlement. Stablecoin payment startups with regulatory clarity and real transaction volume should also see continued interest.
