Mergers in encrypted markets are very active
Author: ChainCatcher
A rare signal is emerging from the encryption-level market: M & As transactions are approaching the semi-fence of financing transactions。
Based onRootDataData show that since this month, the number of mergers and acquisitions in the encryption industry has reached 10, compared to 14 in the same period. The share of M&As has reached approximately 42 per cent, the highest level in history, by the total number of first-level market transactions。
The meaning of this data set is not complex: in the past, the main focus of the encryption-level market was finance; now, more and more transactions are becoming acquisitions。
This does not mean that the industry suddenly enters a boom cycle. On the contrary, the share of M&As has risen rapidly, reflecting first and foremost the continuing decline in the financing market. Since November 2024, the number of monthly M & As transactions in the encryption industry has remained essentially between 10 and 20, while the number of financing transactions has dropped sharply from around 100 to around 50, possibly even further low this month。
In other words, M & As transactions do not really replace the heat of the financing market, but rather become the most stable form of transaction in a first-level market when the finance market shrinks。
For the project participants, this means that the path to valuation that used to rely on narrative financing, token expectations and ecological subsidies is becoming narrower. For head companies, this means a rare window: buying teams, plates, technology, liquidity and market entry with lower prices, less competition and stronger bargaining power。
FOLLOWING A RETREAT IN FINANCING, THE ENCRYPTION-LEVEL MARKET DID NOT CEASE TO FUNCTION, EXCEPT THAT PRICING RIGHTS WERE BEING TRANSFERRED FROM VC TO BUYER GIANTS。
I. Why the number of M&As continues to rise
In the past year, several buyers have come forward, including Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, MoonPay, Polymarket, Kaiko, Sol Stratages, GSR, Keyrock, Jupiter, Paxos, Ondo Finance, etc。
These companies are located on different tracks, including exchanges, payment companies, market dealers, data service providers, forecast markets, the RWA platform, Solana Treasury, and stabilization currency and financial infrastructure companies. However, their M & As logic is highly consistent: in the lower part of the industry, key capabilities are being filled at lower cost。
First, the valuation was cheap enough。
As the financing environment tightens, many projects cannot continue to raise funds from the previous valuation. For the buyer, this means a better purchase price, fewer competitors, stronger voice. Even if the price is not ideal for the seller, acquisition by the head company may be more certain than continued dilution, redundancy and transformation。
In the case of recently acquired Messari, for example, the project previously had a maximum value of $300 million, with cumulative financing of over $70 million, but, as a result of the impact of its core investment operations on AI and competitors, repeated layoffs and contractions, the buy-outs of Blockworks ultimately amounted to just over $10 million。
Second, saving time and error costs。
The encryption industry often has a short window period. A regulator opens, a new product model runs, an asset class warms, and the market does not give the company two to three years to build a team from scratch. Acquiring mature teams tends to be faster than in-house incubation and avoid unnecessary trial error costs。
Coinbase bought Deribit at $2.9 billion, a typical case. Deribit is one of the world's leading encryption options platforms, with transactions amounting to about $1.2 trillion in 2024. Coinbase directly enters the global market for encrypted derivatives through this transaction, rather than creating an option trading platform from scratch。
Third, access to licensing and compliance resources。
As market regulatory frameworks in the United States, the European Union, Hong Kong and Singapore become clearer, licence plates are becoming the core asset of encryption companies. Transactions, hosting, payments, currency stabilization, brokering, liquidation, derivatives, each of which requires a compliance entry。
That's the logic of Kraken's acquisition of Ninja Trader. NinjaTrader is a futures trading platform for retail users with a value of $1.5 billion; the deal helped Kraken expand to multi-asset transactions and regulated derivatives。
Fourth, break the chain up and down。
The encryption giant is moving from a single-point product to a financial conglomerate. The exchange is not just a setup, but also derivatives, wallets, trustees, payments, RWA, tokens issuance, data and institutional services; money stabilization companies are not only issuing currency, but also payment networks, AI Agent and financial infrastructure; the RWA platform is not only issuing assets, but also masters compliance, distribution, liquidity and data entry。
Encrypted payment of the M & As path to MoonPay is typical. In 2025, MoonPay acquired encrypted payments for the start-up company Helio, with a turnover of approximately $175 million, and subsequently announced the acquisition of the SFI platform Iron to expand its corporate capacity to pay and stabilize the currency。
II. Which directions are the focus of M&As
In terms of recent M&A directions, the areas where encryption giants are most willing to spend are concentrated in four categories: trading infrastructure, payment and stabilization currency, compliance licence plates, and asset distribution and distribution。
Trading infrastructure remains the greatest battlefield。
The Corinbase takeover of Deribit, Kraken acquisition of NinjaTrader, is behind the same judgement: the limited growth of spot transactions and the higher-value profit pool is derivatives, options, futures, multi-asset transactions and institutional services. In particular, with the emergence of ETF, RWA, monetized stocks and forecast markets, the boundaries of the trading platform are expanding from a “currency exchange” to a “global asset-trading entry”。
The second main line is the payment and stabilization currency。
MoonPay, Ripple, Paxos, Tether and others are expanding around payments, stabilization currency clearing, business billing, business settlement and cross-border transfers. Ripple ' s acquisitions in recent years have been particularly radical, including the acquisition of the hosting company Metaco in 2023 at $250 million, followed by expansion around stable currency payments, major brokers and management of business funds。
This suggests that the currency stabilization war is not just a competition for the size of the issue, but for the network, the compliance corridor, the institutional clients and the entrance to the scene。
RWA AND ASSET ISSUANCE ARE ALSO BECOMING NEW M&A HOT SPOTS。
Ondo Finance, Jupiter, Polymarket, Coinbase and others are expanding their asset distribution, liquidity distribution and trading access through acquisition or consolidation. The Coinbase acquisitions, Liquifi and Echo, were structured around the ability to issue and chain finance. The Echo deal, amounting to $375 million, helped Coinbase expand its platform for chain capital formation, while Liquifi provided token distribution and management tools that matched Coinbase ' s bets on the path to the issuance of compliance currency。
The strategic significance of such mergers and acquisitions is that those who have control over the issuance of assets have control over the source of the transaction。In the past, the exchange has been primarily making transaction costs for assets held in stock; in the future, the head platform is more interested in making money from the chain of asset creation, financing, listing, distribution, marketing, hosting and trading. Mergers and acquisitions are the fastest way to get through this chain。
III. M&As are rewriting a level-I market exit logic
M&As are not necessarily bad for entrepreneurs。
IN THE PAST, THE EXIT PATH OF THE ENCRYPTION PROJECT WAS TOO RELIANT ON TOKENS. THE SUCCESS OF A PROJECT OFTEN DEPENDS ON THE ISSUANCE OF CURRENCY, ACCESS, MAINTENANCE OF MARKET VALUE AND CREATION OF LIQUIDITY. HOWEVER, THE MECHANISM HAS CREATED A NUMBER OF PROBLEMS OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS: EARLY WITHDRAWAL OF THE PROJECTER, UNLOCKING OF THE VC, DISASSEMBLY, HIGH VALUATION AND LOW CIRCULATION, AND KIDNAPPING OF THE REAL BUSINESS BY TOKEN PRICES。
M&As provide another path. Even if a team cannot grow into a giant on its own, it is likely to acquire a larger platform if it can develop real capabilities at some point, such as licence plates, technology, mobility, compliance, users, data, wind control, marketing, payment networks。
This changes the way entrepreneurs behave. In the past, many projects have been issued in currencies and narratives for financing purposes; in the future, more teams may refocus on products, income, clients and strategic values that can be integrated。
This is also why M & As are active to a certain extent, they give a boost to the first-level market. It indicates that there are still buyers of assets in the encryption industry, revalues still exist and exit possibilities remain。
ONLY, THE MARKET IS FILTERING VALUES IN A MORE DEMANDING WAY. WHAT CAN BE BOUGHT IS NO LONGER THE GRAND NARRATIVE ON THE PPT, BUT THE REAL ABILITY TO BE INCORPORATED DIRECTLY INTO THE BUSINESS LANDSCAPE。
IV: The encryption industry is becoming more central
Behind the warming of M&As is a low finance market, a decline in project valuation and increased pressure on the entrepreneurial team to exit. It also suggests, however, that the encryption industry has not lost its capital vitality, but is in the process of restructuring its resources in another way。
Another problem that must be seen is that the encryption industry is becoming more central。
When asset issuance, trading, marketing, hosting, payment and data are increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few companies, the initial emphasis on openness and anti-monopoly in the encryption industry may be reshaped by realistic business logic。
Especially when compliance becomes a central barrier, the difficulty of new entrepreneurs entering the market increases further. In the future, the encryption industry may have a pattern similar to that of traditional finance: a small number of large platforms have licences, customers and liquidity, and small and medium-sized teams can only become technology suppliers, eco-plugs or potential buyers。
As a result, another implication of the increase in the share of M&As is that the encryption industry is leaving the era of low threshold entrepreneurship。
Future entrepreneurs face not only market competition, but also the ecological boundaries and regulatory barriers of giants。
