Pitchbook analyst Robert Le stated: "The recovery of publicly traded tokens and the increasing adoption by institutions will drive an increase in venture capital funding." He added: "Competition for investment rounds is very fierce, especially in the early stages. What is more complex is that valuations for early-stage transactions are higher than those for later-stage transactions...We will observe whether this trend will continue over the next few quarters." In addition, he expects that as the market matures, mergers in the cryptocurrency industry will increase later this year, especially among cryptocurrency exchanges, custodians, and infrastructure providers.