Coinbase Ventures Remains Bullish on Stablecoins and Next-Gen DeFi

Despite recent market fluctuations, Coinbase Ventures, a leading crypto and blockchain venture capital firm, maintains a positive outlook. Hoolie Tejwani, head of Coinbase Ventures, views the current volatility as an opportunity to identify promising projects within an industry undergoing a significant transformation.

In an exclusive interview, Tejwani emphasized Coinbase Ventures’ commitment to consistent investment across market cycles, driven by a long-term perspective. \”We’re witnessing an exponential technological shift that’s revolutionizing interactions, value flows, and economic structures,\” Tejwani explained. \”This transformation is being spearheaded by builders within the crypto infrastructure.\”

Coinbase Ventures’ diverse portfolio includes prominent projects like Arbitrum, Dune, EigenLayer, Etherscan, OpenSea, Optimism, and Uniswap, all aligned with the firm’s mission to foster economic freedom through blockchain and Web3 applications.

A key area of focus for Coinbase Ventures is stablecoins. Tejwani highlighted recent pro-crypto legislative actions in the US, including the GENIUS Act’s progress through the Senate, as a significant catalyst for growth in this sector. He believes that this positive regulatory momentum, coupled with growing institutional understanding of stablecoins’ role in the global financial system, creates a compelling investment case.

Beyond stablecoins, Tejwani identified several key investment themes for 2025, including next-generation DeFi protocols, on-chain consumer applications in social, gaming, and creator economies, and the convergence of crypto and AI.

While other firms, such as HashKey Capital, emphasize real-world asset tokenization and DePINs, the consensus among leading venture capitalists remains focused on institutional adoption and the expansion of real-world use cases for blockchain technology.

Tejwani concluded by expressing optimism about the year ahead, predicting strong growth in crypto startup activity and venture capital investment, driven by regulatory clarity, institutional adoption, and the increasing relevance of blockchain in real-world applications. This optimistic outlook is reflected in recent funding data, with crypto and blockchain projects securing over $1.1 billion in funding during February alone.