Data: The amount of cryptocurrency primary market financing reached US$8.658 billion in the first half of the year, with 259 financing incidents
Comparative news, according to RootData data, the total amount of financing in the crypto industry in the first half of the year was 9.081 billion US dollars, with a total of 259 cases; of these, the amount of primary market financing (excluding IPO/Post IPO/M&A rounds) was 8.658 billion US dollars, down 26.1% from the same period last year, and the number of financing incidents decreased by 28.5% year on year.
March and May were the two highs in the amount of financing in the first half of the year. The number of financing incidents reached 66 and 68, respectively; the number of financing incidents in June dropped to 43, indicating that market capital activity cooled down after entering the end of the second quarter. Overall, large financing can still significantly increase the monthly financing scale, but the popularity of conventional financing rounds has begun to shrink.
There were 75 mergers and acquisitions in the crypto industry in the first half of 2026, 16 of which disclosed specific amounts (totaling approximately US$38.36 billion). Mergers and acquisitions mainly focus on CeFi, tools and information services, DeFi, and infrastructure. Representative mergers and acquisitions include Mastercard's acquisition of BVNK ($1.8 billion), Kraken's acquisition of Reap ($600 million), etc.
Leading crypto venture capitalists remain high, with Coinbase Ventures ranked first with 25 investments in the first half of 2026; Animoca Brands participated in 20, and a16z and Tether each participated in 14. Coinbase Ventures has participated in 68 investments over the past 12 months, continuing to rank first in the industry, followed by Animoca Brands, Pantera Capital, yZi Labs, a16z, Tether, and GSR.
Looking at the racetrack, DeFi, infrastructure, and CeFi are the three most active funding directions in the first half of 2026. In the first half of the year, DeFi completed 129 financing events, infrastructure completed 116, and CeFi completed 69. AI, payments, predictive markets, and RWA are also segments that capital focuses on, including 59 AI-related financings, 46 payment-related projects, and 28 RWA related projects.
Overall, the crypto primary market did not completely stagnate in the first half of 2026, but the market structure has changed: the total amount of financing is still supported by a small number of large transactions, more concentrated institutional action, more pragmatic circuit preferences, and mergers and acquisitions have become an important method of industry integration. Funding is shifting to structured allocations around infrastructure, DeFi, CeFi, payments, AI, and RWA.
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