Bitcoin's sustained decline has triggered large-scale layoffs across the crypto industry, yet merger and acquisition activity has surged. Data shows that total crypto M&A in the first half of 2026 reached $9.37 billion. Traditional financial institutions are accelerating their acquisition of core assets in the sector.
Wall Street's Multi-Billion Dollar Hunt for Core Infrastructure
Entities like Mastercard and Franklin Templeton are aggressively acquiring payment, custody, and compliance license infrastructure, with a clear focus on stablecoin applications and institutional-grade real-world use cases. In contrast, purely decentralized projects and public chains lacking practical applications are being shunned by capital. The parallel waves of layoffs and M&A signal a structural shift in the industry, with capital concentrating on compliant, application-oriented infrastructure.