CoinGecko, a leading crypto market data & analytics firm, is considering a sale at a valuation of roughly $500 million, according to two people familiar with the matter. The company has hired investment bank Moelis to advise on the sale, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the process is private. A third person noted that a valuation has yet to be finalized, since the process only started late last year. CoinGecko did not respond to requests for comment; Moelis declined to comment.
Crypto M&A Surge: $8.6B in Deals During 2025
Merger & acquisition activity in the crypto sector has accelerated sharply. PitchBook data shows disclosed M&A reached about $8.6 billion in 2025, with 133 deals closed — surpassing the combined total of the prior four years. Major transactions include Coinbase's $2.9 billion acquisition of Deribit and Kraken's $1.5 billion purchase of NinjaTrader, alongside a string of smaller strategic buys across payments, data, infrastructure, and trading.
This wave reflects a shift from opportunistic moves to targeted consolidation and expansion, driven by regulatory clarity, growing institutional participation, and a response to traffic erosion caused by the rise of AI.
AI Eating Traffic: CoinGecko's Monthly Visits Halved
More users now rely on AI chatbots for information, hurting media and data platforms. According to Similarweb, CoinGecko's monthly traffic fell to roughly 18.5 million in December 2025, down from 43.5 million in 2024. Peer CoinMarketCap saw traffic drop to 64 million from 157 million over the same period. Binance acquired CoinMarketCap in April 2020 for about $400 million (equity plus BNB tokens).
CoinGecko was founded in 2014 by TM Lee and Bobby Ong.