10T Holdings: A large number of crypto startups are scaring off venture capital institutions at 50 to 80 times valuations

On May 15th, Dan Tapiero, CEO of crypto venture capital firm 10T Holdings, pointed out at the Consensus conference in Toronto on May 14th that too many crypto startups are seeking valuations that far exceed their revenue, making it difficult for VCs to generate returns. "For some reason, founders and CEOs think they should raise capital at 50 to 80 times revenue. This makes it difficult for us to generate returns for liquidity providers," Tapiero said. Tapiero revealed that its organization has rejected more than 200 projects due to excessive valuations, including bankrupt FTX, BlockFi and Celsius. 10T Holdings' investment criteria are companies with a valuation of more than $4-500 million and a price-to-sales ratio of no more than 10 times.
Despite concerns about a valuation bubble, PitchBook data shows that in the first quarter of 2025, the transaction volume of crypto VCs increased by more than 100% to $6 billion. Pantera Capital CEO Dan Morehead, who was also discussing, suggested that VCs adopt a "equity + token" portfolio investment strategy. 86% of the projects invested by their institutions achieved profitability, and 22 became unicorn companies.