ChainFeeds on Oct. 11 published a new edition of its "VC Says" roundup, compiling recent public comments and research themes from several crypto investment firms. The release covered Token2049 takeaways, crypto investment thinking, stablecoin business structure and recent primary-market fundraising activity.
Three sections in the latest roundup
According to the table of contents shown by ChainFeeds, the piece is split into three parts.
- The first looks at what crypto VCs have been talking about, including Token2049 observations and discussion of crypto investment philosophy tied to firms such as Folius Ventures and DeFiance Capital.
- The second lists recent research output from Dragonfly, IOSG Ventures and Bitwise.
- The third summarizes notable primary-market financings from Sept. 28 to Oct. 4.
ChainFeeds said 11 funding events were disclosed during the week, with total financing above $209 million. The names listed were Jeeves, Worldcoin, Limited, Solana Company, PERPTools, Walapay, HyperLink, Axis Robotics, Raven, Grass and Riva Labs.
Token2049 discussion centered on stablecoins, RWA, perpetuals and agents
In the Token2049 section, Amber Group's Lao Bai recapped his impressions while flying back to Australia after the event. He said the main venue was not as "bleak" as some online commentary had suggested and remained busy throughout. In his account, the OKX main stage and the BingX side stage were full most of the time, leaving late arrivals standing in the back.
Lao Bai said the overwhelming majority of conversations were tied to stablecoins, RWA, perpetuals and agents, rather than the broader spread of experimental themes seen a few years ago. He framed that shift as a sign that the industry has moved into a more mature phase, with attention narrowing toward a smaller set of directions that already show product-market fit. In his telling, starting a company has become both easier and harder: easier because the paths are clearer, harder because competition is tighter and the bar for resources and team quality is higher.
He also said Binance still carries major influence. As one example, he described a BNB Chain side event at Chijmes Square that was scheduled to start at 6 p.m. He arrived at 5:15 p.m., queued for 10 minutes, and found the venue already full, leaving him standing again.
On Sui, Lao Bai said the project spent aggressively on event presence, taking an entire floor for BaseCamp. He referred to market chatter that the setup cost $5 million. He also wrote that while resting in the main venue lounge, a staff member wearing a Sui badge approached him and invited him to attend BaseCamp.
HashKey Capital highlighted Hype, Zec, Uni, Near and Zro
HashKey Capital's Rui wrote his own Token2049 note from the perspective of altcoins and said Hype and Zec remained two of the strongest consensus trades at the event.
Rui said Zec had visible support on site from Mert and Balaji. He argued that a narrative that cannot easily be disproved is one of the strongest moats for altcoins. In his view, that role used to belong to the public-chain thesis until Layer2 weakened it. He said privacy and AI now fit that category more closely, adding that Barry's preference for Zec and Tao "makes sense."
On Hype, Rui said the project benefited from a concentrated ecosystem presence and support from TradFi participants. He also noted that Hype's trading volume had declined recently, while the move from 60 to 90 benefited from buying by U.S. funds after regulatory easing. He added that a new narrative had brought a new valuation multiple.
He described Uni as an interesting name that did not come up often in direct conversation, though many people said they had recently been doing OTC and that the foundation appeared short of cash. Near and Zro, he said, also came up frequently. He grouped both under cross-chain narratives: Near as an "omnichain exchange" story focused on bridging non-EVM chains such as Zec, with support from Naval; and Zro as a buyback story, though he added that unlocks were approaching.
DeFiance Capital compared trading with esports
Arthur of DeFiance Capital pointed to a Coinbase-hosted trading competition livestream that had 163,000 viewers at the time. He wrote: "Trading has become the new esports, and traders are the new professional athletes."
Research topics included governance, stablecoin economics and NEAR's strategy
Beyond market commentary, ChainFeeds also listed several recent research topics.
- Dragonfly: "AI is accelerating mathematical breakthroughs. Why must blockchain governance enter a wartime state?"
- IOSG Ventures: "Circle handles issuance, Coinbase controls users: who actually makes money from stablecoins?"
- Bitwise: "From cross-chain trading to AI agents, what game is NEAR playing?"
For the investment philosophy section, ChainFeeds framed the discussion with a question: has the cycle narrative stopped working, and if markets are no longer led by a small group of top assets, where will the next round of excess returns come from? The input provided here did not include the full text of that section.
The roundup was published by ChainFeeds on Oct. 11, 2026.
