22 Best Crypto Startups 2024

Every year, new startups pull to the forefront of their industry through exciting innovation and industry-disrupting business models. We’ve rounded up the best crypto startups of 2024 that startup-lovers, investors, and aspiring entrepreneurs should follow. 

Disclaimer: With so many exciting cryptocurrency startups launching and growing worldwide, we aren’t able to cover them all. Furthermore, the companies that are listed below are not officially ranked and are listed in no particular order.

• Location: New York, New York
• Founders: Alex Atallah, Catherine Sison-Pariño
• Founded In: 2017
• Funding: Series C, $427.2 Million
• Investors Include: Bossanova Investimentos, Paradigm

OpenSea is the first and largest marketplace for NFTs. The platform allows anyone to setup and create their own NFTs while also being able to list them for sale for auctions, fixed-price listings, or declining-price listings.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Founders: Denis Nazarov
• Founded In: 2020
• Funding: Series A, $10 Million
• Investors Include: SV Angel, Musha Ventures

Mirror is offering a platform for anyone who wants to build out a Web3 startup. It allows people to launch crowdfunded projects, release NFTs, and connect with a Web3 community. Mirror also has several plugins that make using the platform even easier.

• Location: New York, New York
• Founders: Hayden Adams
• Founded In: 2018
• Funding: Series B, $176 Million
• Investors Include: Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain, Paradigm

All those who have invested and are using the cryptocurrency Ethereum, Uniswap is a one-stop-shop for swapping, earning, and building crypto. It is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that brings together developers, traders, and liquidity providers to build a financial marketplace that is open and accessible to all.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Founders: Antonio Juliano
• Founded In: 2017
• Funding: Series C, $87 Million
• Investors Include: Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, StarkWare Industries

dYdX is another decentralized exchange that offers perpetual, margin, and spot trading for the cryptocurrency Ethereum. There are no fees involved and it only requires a $10 deposit to get started. It's available for all mobile devices making it accessible to just about anyone.

• Location: New York, New York
• Founders: Idan Ofrat, Michael Shaulov, Pavel Berengoltz
• Founded In: 2018
• Funding: Venture, $1 Billion
• Investors Include: Index Ventures, Spark Capital, ParaFi Capital

Because the world of digital currency is relatively new, the exposure to scammers and hackers is high. Fireblocks is a platform that helps to secure digital assets and prevent fraud. The company uses APIs to custody, access DeFi, manage digital assets, manage treasury operations, and mint and burn tokens.

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• Location: Reno, Nevada
• Founders: Collin Chin, Howard Wu, Raymond Chu
• Founded In: 2019
• Funding: Series B, $298 Million
• Investors Include: SoftBank Vision Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Tiger Global Management 

The future generation of Web3 security is here with Aleo, where all applications can become private. Aleo allows developers to build world-class infrastructure and deploy with absolute confidence. Any application from IDE to the blockchain can become secure using their platform. It's the easiest way for companies to build and deploy private applications while using the Aleo programming language.

• Location: Santa Cruz, California
• Founders: Rune Christensen
• Founded In: 2014
• Funding: Undisclosed, $79.5 Million
• Investors Include: Bloccdlerate VC, Dragonfly, Inflection

MakerDAO is a new type of cryptocurrency that promises to be stable in any economic environment. Their digital currency is equal to the same amount of US dollars and is a decentralized currency that any individual or business can use. Over 400 apps and services are turning to MakerDAO including wallets, DeFi platforms, games, and more.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Founders: William Haering
• Founded In: 2021
• Funding: Venture, $20 Million
• Investors Include: 186 Ventures, The Fintech Fund, General Catalyst

Ponto means "bridge" in Esperanto and the company is attempting to globalize Web3 financial access to local economies. They are building out the foundational components of all new financial tech in order for entrepreneurs and enterprises of all kinds to build new experiences for the world.

• Location: Seoul, South Korea
• Founders: Daniel Shin, Do Kwon
• Founded In: 2018
• Funding: Series C, $58 Million
• Investors Include: Pantera Capital, Kinetic Capital, Galaxy Digital 

Terra is a new type of cryptocurrency that is attempting to build one of the most decentralized chains ever created. The platform includes projects that span DeFi, Web3, and NFTs and also has an ecosystem of decentralized apps and top-tier developer tools. Anyone with an internet connection can gain access to the next-gen financial tools.

• Location: Brooklyn, New York
• Founders: Emin Gün Sirer, Maofan Ted Yin
• Founded In: 2018
• Funding: Venture, $640.1 Million
• Investors Include: CMS Holdings, Dragonfly Capital Partners, Polychain

Ava Labs is helping transition the world's assets into a digitized form using the fastest smart contracts in the blockchain industry. The company has the most validators securing activity of the proof of stake protocol. The company uses a suite of apps to get the job done including their Avalanche, Ryval, and Core products.

• Location: Vancouver, Canada
• Founders: Dieter Shirley, Mack Flavelle, Roham Gharegozlou
• Founded In: 2018
• Funding: Undisclosed, $612.5 Million
• Investors Include: Andreessen Horowitz, North Island Ventures, Bond

Dapper Labs is an interesting company that uses the blockchain for something other than creating the next financial innovation. They are actually taking the complicated tech and making it fun and interesting for everyday people. They want everyone to feel comfortable using the blockchain and have built a host of games that people can play that involves the blockchain.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Founders: Anatoly Yakovenko, Greg Fitzgerald, Raj Gokal, Stephen Akridge, Zed Zed
• Founded In: 2017
• Funding: Undisclosed, $315.8 Million
• Investors Include: Tor Kenz Capital, Buck Stash, Alameda Research

Solana is creating a decentralized blockchain that is built with the purpose of creating scalable, user-friendly apps for the entire world. The company caters to developers and provides composability between ecosystem projects by having a single global state, even if the network starts to scale. Developers will never have to deal with fragmented Layer 2 systems again.

• Location: New York, New York
• Founders: Christian Baroni, Jin Chung
• Founded In: 2019
• Funding: Series A, $19.5 Million
• Investors Include: Seven Seven Six, Digital Currency Group

Rainbow works as a digital wallet for Ethereum and helps to secure your digital assets all in one place. It allows people to collect NFTs and explore new applications in the Web3 world. The wallet is available for both Apple and Android devices.

• Location: London, United Kingdom
• Founders: Stani Kulechov
• Founded In: 2017
• Funding: Secondary Market, $49 Million
• Investors Include: Blockchain Capital, Standard Crypto, Blockchain.com Ventures

Aave is a liquidity tool that people can use to earn interest, build applications, and borrow assets for Ethereum. It is a decentralized blockchain that also works with Polygon, Avalanche, Phantom, and many other resources. There are over 119,000 token holders in the community.

• Location: Montréal, Canada
• Founders: Nodar Janashia, Seb Audet, Suhail Gangji
• Founded In: 2020
• Funding: Series A, $17 Million
• Investors Include: ParaFi Capital, Sound Ventures, Coinbase Ventures 

Zapper, like many other companies on this list, is attempting to create a home for the Web3 applications that are being built. People can track their wallets, follow other wallets, discover NFTs, DAOs, and DeFi applications. The website makes it easy to discover new platforms and become invested.

• Location: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
• Founders: Catherine Sison-Pariño
• Founded In: 2018
• Funding: Secondary Market, $9.1 Million
• Investors Include: 500 Startups Vietnam, Collaborative Fund, Upchain Capital

Axie Infinity is a game that is built around the blockchain. Users battle creatures called Axies and once they capture an Axie, they are able to use it across an expanding collection of games. The game uses the blockchain to reward players for engaging. With the tokens earned, players can then determine the future of the platforms and game.

• Location: Singapore
• Founders: Alex Svanevik, Evgeny Medvedev, Lars Bakke Krogvig
• Founded In: 2020
• Funding: Series B, $88.2 Million
• Investors Include: Accel, Tiger Global Management, Andreessen Horowitz

More and more people are starting to invest and manage cryptocurrencies. Nansen is an analytics company that intends to provide professional crypto investors and traders with unique insights so they can perform better.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Founders: Geoffrey Hayes, Robert Leshner
• Founded In: 2017
• Funding: Debt Financing, $70.8 Million
• Investors Include: New Form Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Bain Capital Ventures

Compound Labs is creating an interest rate protocol for the blockchain that is autonomous and algorithmic. It is built primarily for developers so they can build financial applications with interest rates built into the platforms.

• Location: New York, New York
• Founders: Jinglan Wang, Karl Floersch, Kevin Ho
• Founded In: 2019
• Funding: Undisclosed, $178.5 Million
• Investors Include: Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz, Cynegetic Investment Management 

Optimism is another decentralized infrastructure platform that is giving developers what they need to develop the next world of Web3. It allows for instant transactions and scalable smart contracts.

• Location: San Francisco, California
• Founders: Brandon Millman, Chris Kalani, Francesco Agosti
• Founded In: 2021
• Funding: Series B, $118 Million
• Investors Include: Paradigm, Andreessen Horowitz, Solana Ventures 

Using the Solana blockchain, Phantom allows anyone to store, buy, send, receive, swap, and collect NFTs and tokens. It's a crypto wallet with low fees and works with all the Solana apps.

• Location: Chicago, Illinois
• Founders: Brian Liston, Edward Woodford
• Founded In: 2015
• Funding: Series D, $69.9 Million
• Investors Include: Bain Capital Management, Point72 Ventures, DriveWeath

Zero Hash is a crypto-as-a-service startup that empowers financial institutions to integrate digital currencies into their customer journey. Their embedded infrastructure takes the work out of incorporating crypto into the customer journey with a turnkey product for digital asset trading, rewards programs, and more. 

• Location: San Diego, California
• Founders: Damian Cutillo, Paul Puey, Scott Morgan, Tim Horton, William Swanson
• Founded In: 2014
• Funding: Seed, $2.9 Million
• Investors Include: Plug and Play, Fenbushi Capital, BitMEX

Edge is an app built to help consumers manage their crypto assets with ease. The platform provides a secure method of buying, exchanging, and storing crypto assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP, Dogecoin, and more. 

Recommended: Check out our full list of the top startups to watch in 2024!

Crypto companies create services to manage digital assets and complete financial transactions safely and securely. The crypto industry is brimming with innovation as a relatively new, fast-scaling sector. Plus, blockchain technology offers unparalleled traceability for these startups to thrive.

With this industry seeing consistent growth, new crypto startups are being launched every year to meet the demands of digital asset holders. As new cryptocurrency startups grow, this list will evolve to reflect the ebbing and flowing of the industry.