Odaily News Venture capital investment in the cryptocurrency space fell sharply in the third quarter, before U.S. President-elect Trump's election fever revived industry sentiment. Crypto startups attracted $1.7 billion in investment in the three months ending September 30, down 31.3% from the previous quarter, according to PitchBook data. The number of deals reached fell 25.3% to 392. "We believe this correction is a natural and necessary part of a healthy cryptocurrency market," PitchBook senior analyst Robert Le wrote in the report. Le attributed the decline in cryptocurrency venture capital deals to macroeconomic factors, including increased market volatility and concerns about a U.S. recession. As in the previous quarter, infrastructure projects such as new blockchains continued to be favored by venture investors in the third quarter. Le said he expects to see further consolidation among cryptocurrency exchanges, custodians and infrastructure companies in the future. (Bloomberg)