Goodbye to over 100 projects: the maturity of the industry is also measured by its closures

• Derivatives protocols lead the list with 15 projects out of operation.
• Historic exchanges like BitMEX and BitMart announced the cessation of their operations.

In a bear market, it is easy to associate the closure of companies with a sign of weakness. However, the cryptocurrency ecosystem today offers a more complex reality.

While more than a hundred projects disappear, other companies in the sector are advancing towards Wall Street, exchanges are incorporating new business models, and the industry awaits the definition of a clearer regulatory framework in the United States.

The coexistence of both phenomena raises an inevitable question: what if the closure of projects is also a sign that the industry is entering a consolidation phase?

To answer this, it is first advisable to observe what is happening with these closures. They are not isolated cases nor from a single segment of the market.

Data supports this idea. According to RootData, 101 companies and protocols ceased operations, declared bankruptcy, or remain inactive so far in 2026. The list includes 15 derivatives protocols, 10 exchanges, 12 infrastructure projects, as well as decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms, NFTs, SocialFi, wallets, video games, and data services.

At first glance, these numbers could be interpreted as a sign of weakness. After all, the market continues to be immersed in a bearish cycle.

At the time of publishing this note, Bitcoin is trading around $64,900, 48.5% below the all-time high of $126,000 reached in October 2025.

This is compounded by a context of international uncertainty marked by the war between the United States and Iran and the restrictions that still affect transit through the Strait of Hormuz, factors that maintain pressure on global oil trade and revive fears of a resurgence of inflation.

However, that explanation is insufficient. Unlike 2022, when the cryptocurrency ecosystem faced a systemic crisis marked by contagion effects among companies, the closures recorded in 2026 do not show, for now, a similar pattern.

Now coexist the cessation of operations of exchanges like BitMEX and BitMart, the discontinuation of infrastructure projects like Polygon zkEVM and Loopring, and financial restructuring processes like the one initiated by Storj under Chapter 11 of U.S. legislation, a fact reported by CriptoNoticias. These are situations with different causes, without a single trigger capable of explaining the whole.

More than a new systemic crisis, this reflects a selection process within the industry itself.

The market has begun to differentiate between projects capable of sustaining themselves and others that have not managed to adapt to a much more demanding context, where it is no longer enough to attract capital during a bull market: it is also necessary to demonstrate utility, generate income, and build a sustainable business model.

Consolidating Market

In other words, what the data shows is a market that has begun to differentiate between projects capable of sustaining themselves and others that cannot, because the context no longer rewards only innovation or the launch of new tokens.

Today, it also demands useful products, recurring income, and companies capable of competing in an increasingly regulated and institutionalized environment.

This change is also observed at the other end of the ecosystem.

The IPO of Circle in June 2025 marked the return of major initial public offerings (IPOs) linked to the industry. Subsequently, Bullish joined, and in 2026, BitGo debuted on the New York Stock Exchange, while Kraken continues to advance in preparations to list in the public market.

At the same time, several exchanges (like Coinbase) began incorporating tokenized stocks, known as xStocks, expanding their offerings beyond cryptocurrency trading.

All this occurs while the industry awaits the final approval of the CLARITY Act in the United States, an initiative aimed at establishing a regulatory framework for digital assets.

The figure is impressive by itself: more than 100 companies and protocols have ceased operations so far this year. But this cleansing coexists with a process of professionalization in the sector.

And this is not the first time this has happened. For example, after the burst of the dot-com bubble, companies like Pets.com and Webvan disappeared, while those capable of developing viable business models survived. In mobile telephony, BlackBerry and Palm lost leadership to manufacturers that adapted to new demand. In social media, MySpace and Google+ ended up giving way to platforms that managed to build more solid ecosystems.

What if the cryptocurrency market is entering a similar stage? The bear market continues to test companies in the sector, but it is also raising the threshold of demand.

The launch of a token or a protocol no longer seems sufficient to attract capital and survive. The ability to offer products with real demand, adapt to a stricter regulatory environment, and build sustainable businesses weighs more and more.

Perhaps that is one of the clearest signs of maturity. Not that fewer projects are born, but that the market begins to distinguish more clearly which ones have the potential to remain when the hype stops being the main driver of growth.

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