October 2025 was a busy month for our team, as we expanded our strategic partnerships and thought leadership. We participated in major funding rounds for strong projects, and our management team spoke at major conferences TOKEN2049 and Blockchain Life. After the crypto market experienced a flash crash, we also demonstrated our commitment to community support by providing stability to our portfolio companies and assistance to affected teams. 

Catch up with us below.

Partnerships 

We participated in Block Street's $11.5M fundraising round led by Hack VC, backing their mission to revolutionize DeFi through specialized lending protocols and the industry's first tokenized asset aggregation layer.

Additionally, we supported Depinsim’s $8M fundraising round, further strengthening our support for decentralized global connectivity.

Continued Support for the Crypto Market

When the crypto market experienced a flash crash, we stepped up to support the community. While maintaining our own positions without any liquidations and keeping our portfolio companies like Falcon Finance’s $USDf pegged and stable, we offered assistance through capital injections, strategic investments, short-term loans, and token buy-backs to help affected teams recover quickly.

Thought Leadership

Our team shared market insights about tokenization of real-world assets, particularly gold, through both mainstream media and our X this month.

Cointelegraph Commentary

Andrei Grachev provided an analysis in Cointelegraph on the strengthening correlation between Bitcoin and gold as both assets surged to new highs. He explained that "capital naturally rotates into assets perceived as stable stores of value," drawing parallels between Bitcoin's current trajectory and gold's historical evolution from active currency to a store of wealth and value. 

Market Research on Gold

We published a research article on gold reaching historic highs, and how it is a risk-off signal where investors rotate capital into less risky assets amid mounting market volatility. Our research identified this breakout in traditional gold prices as reflecting broader investor sentiment towards seeking stability, which sets the stage for growing interest in RWA-backed assets.

TOKEN2049 

Our booth at TOKEN2049 gave us a chance to connect in person with the global crypto community, and we appreciate each chance to meet our partners in person. We also distributed exclusive merch for both DWF Labs and Falcon Finance and our mascot made a special appearance. 

Andrei Grachev, Managing Partner of DWF Labs, delivered a keynote called “Markets: Brave New World”, highlighting how this market cycle differs from previous ones. He emphasized that the market has matured — while past cycles could be driven by culture and ideas alone, today's environment demands real use cases and practical value. 

He argued that a token-first approach isn't always optimal anymore, with the best projects creating new market blueprints and focusing on accountability, value-adding products, and strong fundamentals.

Watch the full keynote here. 

Speaking engagements

Tokenized Capital Summit

At the Tokenized Capital Summit hosted by Gamma Prime, Lingling Jiang, Partner of DWF Labs, discussed bridging Web2 and Web3 as institutional crypto adoption accelerates. She recommended for investors to evaluate projects based on utility and user value creation rather than just narrative appeal, and she identified transparency, efficiency, and security as key principles for sustainable growth.

Beyond Traditional: Digital Assets Across the Investment Landscape

During the event “Beyond Traditional: Digital Assets Across the Investment Landscape” hosted by the Singapore Blockchain Association, Andrei Grachev shared during a panel. He discussed what separates successful projects from unsuccessful ones, highlighting that winning projects prioritize client needs and utility over token launches, while stablecoin projects specifically need strong risk control, transparency, and user-focused design. 

He noted that entering the stablecoin market requires high thresholds, with distribution and actual usage being critical success factors.

Sonic Summit

Andrei Grachev also participated in the Sonic Summit, discussing financial backing in Web3. He shared about key aspects that DWF Labs evaluates in choosing projects to invest in. One aspect is fundamental metrics such as real user demand and long term sustainability of projects, and another is the expertise of the team. To watch his full panel, click here. 

Falcon Finance Milestones

Falcon Finance, the first universal collateralization infrastructure powering onchain liquidity and yield that is backed by DWF Labs, reached over $2 billion USDf in circulation in October. 

Falcon Finance also expanded its collateral options by integrating Tether Gold, enabling users to use XAUt as collateral for minting USDf. Falcon also partnered with Backed to integrate xStocks, and established a partnership with AEON Pay.

Blockchain Life 2025

At Blockchain Life, Alessia Baumgartner spoke during the panel “Crypto Market 2025: New Growth or Continued Stagnation?”, and Andrei Grachev, Managing Partner of DWF Labs, delivered the keynote "Liquidity Wars: The Rise of Fundamentals". He also participated in the panel "Tokenization of Real World Assets: A New Era of Investing".

Watch Andrei’s keynote and panel recordings on our YouTube channel. 

Dubai Office Events

Lock In

Our Dubai office is establishing a presence as a major community hub for the crypto community in Dubai. We hosted Lock In, a networking event featuring a fireside chat with Andrei Grachev, Managing Partner of DWF Labs, and Alessia Baumgartner, VP of Ecosystems at DWF Labs. 

We also hosted a panel featuring industry experts: Mustafa Khaliq, Manager B2B - Global Markets at ZIGChain, Vlad Veselov, BD at BNB Chain, Sarah-Maria Kollnitzer, Interoperability and Web3 Partnerships at Algorand, Beny Mohammadkhani, Head of Growth at XDC Network, and Asal Alizade, UAE & MENA Lead at Base.

Community Meetups

We hosted a community meetup alongside Hyperliquid, as well as our own internally hosted meetup HotDesk Wednesday. These events encourage collaboration and creativity in our workspace, and allow for community members to work alongside DWF Labs team members and encourage collaboration.

DWF Ventures Research

Our DWF Ventures team wrote three threads covering recent crypto conferences and key trends in the crypto space from October.

Korea Blockchain Week Recap

At Korea Blockchain Week, the DWF Ventures team observed an increased turnout in non-crypto natives alongside crypto industry participants. Korean celebrity partnerships with crypto companies created widespread street advertising that boosted retail awareness. The team also noted that companies are actively expanding into the Korean market through key opinion leaders, media partnerships, and research firms. The main themes during the week centered on perpetual DEXs, stablecoins, and real-world assets (RWAs).

TOKEN2049 Recap

The DWF Ventures team also created a recap on TOKEN2049, noting that side events during the week showed a notable shift toward more intimate networking, with teams favoring private, curated events over large public showcases. 

The DWF Ventures team observed that DeFi will potentially perform well next year due to regulatory clarity and institutional demand, with perpetual DEXs leading the sector. Additionally, increased CEX expansion through partnerships and integrations, plus growing activity in trading terminals were a theme during the week. 

Perpetual DEXes

Following a $19 billion liquidation event in the crypto market, the DWF Ventures team explored whether perpetual DEXs are reaching their tipping point for market dominance. With traders increasingly viewing perp DEXs as preferred trading venues, the analysis examined sector growth, existing players, and whether this represents a fundamental shift in trading preferences.

Prediction Markets

Prediction markets have seen significant growth in recent months, and DWF Ventures prepared a thread looking into current market leaders, as well as some other emerging innovators in the sector.

Conclusion

October 2025 was a busy month for our team as we participated in in-person events, grew in our strategic partnerships, and also while demonstrating resilience during market volatility. We continued to advocate for sustainable growth built on strong communities, product fundamentals, and sustainability. We look forward to continuing to build in the rest of Q4.