Global venture capital spending into cryptocurrencies and blockchain reached an all-time high of $6.5 billion in the third quarter of 2021, surpassing the updated second-quarter total of $5.2 billion, according to a new analysis from market intelligence firm CB Insights and its subsidiary Blockdata.

There were a total of 286 crypto transactions registered in the third quarter, down slightly from the second quarter's total of 291 transactions.

Global VC funding for the first nine months of the year totaled $15 billion, up 384 percent from the full-year amount of $3.1 billion in 2020.

With 24 agreements, Coinbase Ventures was by far the most active crypto investor in the third quarter, while CMT Digital and Polychain Capital tied for second with nine each.

With eight deals each, Andreesen Horowitz, Digital Currency Group, and Jump Capital tied for fourth place. (The parent company of CoinDesk is Digital Currency Group.)

The United States continues to dominate the globe in VC financing for the crypto business in the third quarter, investing a record high of $2.97 billion, up marginally from the second-quarter number of $2.87 billion and marking the fifth consecutive quarter of growth overall. With $1.4 billion invested in Q3, Asia came in second, followed by Europe with $1.1 billion.

The $900 million funding round for crypto exchange FTX led all equity deals in the third quarter globally, followed by a $680 million investment from France-based non-fungible token (NFT) platform Sorare and a $431 million funding round by bitcoin miner Genesis Digital Assets, according to CB Insights.

Crypto exchanges were the most successful industrial area in the quarter, raising approximately $2 billion in venture capital, compared to only $84 million in the third quarter of 2020.