Web3 Fund ABCDE Halts New Investments to Focus on Existing Projects
The $400 million Web3 and blockchain-focused investment fund ABCDE announced it will no longer make new investments or raise capital for its second funding phase. ABCDE co-founder and Huobi exchange founder Du Jun revealed the decision in an April 19 post on X.
Despite the halt in new investments, Jun confirmed that ABCDE remains committed to supporting its existing portfolio. The fund will continue to provide post-investment support and handle exit arrangements for current projects, fulfilling its obligations to entrepreneurs and liquidity providers.
Jun explained that his personal work focus will shift away from primary market financial investments toward strategic investment and deep incubation. He aims to concentrate more on industrial synergy and long-term value creation in the cryptocurrency space.
The announcement comes approximately three months after ABCDE's most recent investment in Soon (Solana Optimistic Network), an Ethereum layer-2 solution. Soon raised $22 million through an NFT sale for its mainnet launch in January 2022, claiming to deliver block times of 50 milliseconds compared to Solana's 400 milliseconds.
According to Cryptorank data, ABCDE has allocated 28% of its investments to Bitcoin scaling technology, 16% to Ethereum liquid staking derivatives finance infrastructure, and 12% to layer-2 solutions, restaking, and smart contract platforms. Over the past three years, the fund has invested more than $40 million across over 30 projects.
The decision to suspend fundraising comes one month after Jun launched Vernal, a new crypto incubator brand. Vernal plans to announce its shareholders, incubation rules, and first investments in May. Jun stated that the halt was not due to financial issues but rather concerns about the crypto industry's development trajectory.
Jun expressed frustration with the current primary market ecosystem, noting that many projects focus exclusively on exchange listings without creating lasting value. He also criticized some primary funds for promoting short-term market performance while ignoring fundamental project value creation.
This development follows other notable governance changes in the crypto ecosystem. On April 17, HTX DAO, founded by Huobi's Jun, approved its first community governance proposals through on-chain voting. The proposals established a modular governance structure and created "The DAO Talks," an interview series focusing on Web3 development and governance models.
