Crypto VC dollars slow down and shift to infrastructure

The fall in crypto prices, not surprisingly, has led to a slowdown in crypto venture deals, according to Archetype venture partner Katherine Wu. But it's also shaping where investors put their money.

Why it matters: As consumer interest in crypto subsides, more venture dollars will shape the underlying infrastructure powering web3 applications.

Driving the news: At an event in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, Wu told Axios' Dan Primack that the pace of dealmaking is slowing down, and the market is seeing some price correction in the valuation of early-stage crypto startups.

• But Wu said the market also dictates where people build. "In a bull market, when things are going great and everything is rosy, people tend to want to build application-layer stuff and things for the consumer,” Wu said.
• That’s partly the reason for the interest in NFTs and crypto gaming over the past two years.
• In a bear market, however, “I'm really excited to focus back into looking at core infrastructure because at the end of the day, crypto is still so new. And so many of these applications are run on really new infrastructure, that’s not quite there yet,” she said.