Galaxy Digital, the crypto-focused financial services group founded by former Goldman Sachs partner Mike Novogratz, has closed a $175 million venture fund—its first vehicle financed with external capital and above an initial $150 million target. The fund will invest in companies building stablecoins, decentralised-finance applications and other infrastructure bridging traditional finance and blockchain technology. About $50 million has already been committed to projects such as Monad, a trading-focused blockchain, and Ethena, a synthetic-dollar protocol. Novogratz said stablecoins "are going to be a huge part of the payment system," while Galaxy general partner Mike Giampapa pointed to a market shift toward more tangible blockchain use cases. The launch expands Galaxy’s venture business as the Nasdaq-listed firm, which reported roughly $7 billion of assets under management in May, seeks new growth avenues after the recent crypto downturn.