The sustained drop in Bitcoin has led to massive layoffs across the crypto industry, while M&A activity surged to $9.37 billion in the first half of 2026. Traditional financial institutions including Mastercard and Franklin Templeton are accelerating acquisitions of payment, custody, and compliance licensing infrastructure, focusing on stablecoin adoption and institutional-grade use cases, whereas pure decentralized projects and public chains without real utility are being shunned by capital.
The ongoing decline of Bitcoin has triggered a wave of large-scale layoffs across the crypto industry. However, merger and acquisition activity surged dramatically, reaching $9.37 billion in the first half of 2026. Traditional financial institutions such as Mastercard and Franklin Templeton are rapidly acquiring infrastructure including payment rails, custody solutions, and compliance licenses, with a sharp focus on stablecoin applications and institutional-grade deployment scenarios. In stark contrast, purely decentralized projects and public chains that lack real-world utility are being sidelined by capital markets.
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