Crypto M&As and IPOs surged in 2025, and insiders see deal momentum carrying into 2026
Crypto mergers, acquisitions, and public listings increased sharply in 2025, broadly in line with what industry insiders had expected going into the year. As regulations became clearer and institutional interest rose, many firms turned to acquisitions and public markets to grow faster and unlock liquidity — a trend investors expect to continue into 2026.Deal activity reached a new high in 2025. More than 265 M&A transactions were completed, totaling about $8.6 billion — nearly four times 2024 levels — according to PitchBook data. Public markets also reopened, as at least 11 crypto IPOs raised roughly $14.6 billion globally, compared with just $310 million from four listings in 2024.Together, the numbers point to a maturing industry. Crypto companies are increasingly focused on building larger, more durable businesses and using IPOs and M&As as paths to get there.Crypto IPOs: 2025 summary and 2026 outlookCompanies that made it through public listings shared similar traits: clear product-market fit, durable or growing revenue, expanding customer bases, and business models that public investors could evaluate without depending on token price appreciation.“The IPO window reopened in 2025 because of four things: clearer regulatory framing, business models with visible, durable revenue, public-market readiness, and maturation of the industry,” Aklil Ibssa, head of corporate development and M&A at Coinbase, told The Block. “They’re the same reasons we saw a spike of M&A activity in parallel: a rising tide lifts all ships.”That shift favored exchanges, stablecoin issuers, enterprise-facing infrastructure providers and other businesses to go public, while more speculative businesses largely remained sidelined.Several investors also pointed to a change in how public markets view digital assets. Cosmo Jiang, general partner at Pantera Capital, told The Block that Coinbase’s inclusion in the S&P 500 index played an important role, forcing “all allocators to consider digital assets as part of their benchmark.” The move helped pull crypto companies into more traditional equity research and portfolio frameworks.Looking ahead, most investors expect the IPO window to remain open in 2026. Jiang expects another active year for listings, led by companies with more predictable revenue and traditional business analogues, including exchanges, custodians, and software providers.Rob Hadick, general partner at Dragonfly, expects public markets to be even more receptive this year than they were in 2025, helped by an expected broader pickup in IPO activity across sectors, "as large AI and space companies also IPO, and tariffs concerns are behind us." For crypto, Hadick told The Block he expects listings to continue coming from areas with clear product-market fit and “sizable enough economic profiles,” including exchanges, prediction markets, stablecoin companies, custodians, wallet and other core service providers.IPO is also no longer the only route to liquidity. Quynh Ho, head of venture investment at GSR, told The Block she expects alternative paths such as special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and reverse takeovers (RTOs) to see more use in 2026, even as U.S. midterm elections could introduce short-term uncertainty. Mathijs van Esch, general partner at Maven 11, pointed to a growing overlap between equities and tokens, with token-holding vehicles trading in public markets (e.g., digital asset treasury or DAT companies) and more equity-like products moving onchain.Institutional demand remains central to the outlook. Arianna Simpson, general partner at a16z crypto, said interest from financial institutions in 2025 led to stronger operating metrics for companies serving those clients, pushing many closer to IPO-ready scale. She told The Block she expects that momentum to continue into 2026, particularly after the first quarter.Crypto M&As: 2025 summary and 2026 outlookCrypto M&As in 2025 were driven less by distressed sales and more by strategy, with buyers focusing on acquiring specific capabilities needed to compete in a more regulated, institutional market.VCs say acquisitions are increasingly centered on licenses, distribution, payments infrastructure, stablecoins, exchanges, wallets, and enterprise-grade tooling — areas where building internally would take too long. Web2 companies have also become more active buyers, using M&A to enter crypto faster rather than starting from scratch.Hadick expects 2026 to bring more participation from traditional companies, alongside changes in deal structure. He sees the potential for the first merger of equals between unicorn-sized crypto or stablecoin companies, as well as cases where public crypto companies are taken private or reverse-merged by larger private players. “Overall, I expect 2026 to be a more active year for M&A in the space from traditional market participants, but for the crypto acquirers to slow down,” he said.Other investors are also bullish on continued consolidation. Ho of GSR expects M&A activity across payments and stablecoin infrastructure, institutional capabilities paired with distribution, regulatory licenses, acquihires, and DAT company-related acquisitions aimed at improving yield and operations.Anirudh Pai, partner at Robot Ventures, expects both crypto-native platforms and large fintech incumbents to pursue acquisitions "aggressively" in 2026 to round out their offerings, as owning more of the stack becomes a competitive advantage. Jiang of Pantera also expects another busy year for M&A as corporates increasingly weigh buy-versus-build decisions, adding that clearer regulation could open the door to more token-based deal structures alongside traditional equity transactions.From Coinbase’s perspective, M&A is becoming a core tool for building what Ibssa describes as crypto’s next phase of “real utility: raising, paying, and operating fully onchain.” Clearer regulatory frameworks in different regions, he said, are also creating opportunities to buy local licenses, expertise, and distribution.At the same time, van Esch of Maven 11 cautioned that a prolonged slowdown in early-stage funding could eventually shrink the pool of acquisition targets. A shift in regulatory sentiment, while unlikely, could also dampen deal activity over time, he said.The Funding newsletter: Stay on top of the latest crypto VC funding and M&A deals, news, and trends with my free bi-monthly newsletter, The Funding. Sign up here!Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.