With Washington flipping the script on digital assets, crypto companies struck $8.6 billion in deals in 2025, notching the industry’s busiest mergers and acquisitions year to date.
Summary
- Crypto dealmaking reached a record $8.6 billion in 2025 across 267 transactions.
- Major acquisitions by firms like Coinbase, Kraken, and Ripple drove the surge.
According to a Financial Times report citing PitchBook data, 267 deals were recorded across the sector, comprising acquisitions, strategic investments, and consolidation moves, which marks an 18% rise from the previous year. In total, these deals accounted for $8.6 billion in value, which is roughly four times higher than the $2.17 billion worth of deals that were recorded in 2024.
Some of the biggest transactions include crypto exchange Coinbase’s acquisition of derivatives trading platform Deribit in May, which was the crypto industry’s largest ever takeover to date at $2.9 billion.
Other major deals included a $1.5 billion bid from crypto exchange Kraken to acquire United States-based retail futures trading platform NinjaTrader, after it recorded a 19% year-on-year increase in gross revenue during the first quarter of 2025. The acquisition concluded in May and was touted as the largest integration between a traditional finance platform and a crypto firm.
Blockchain payments firm Ripple also made the list after it finalized a deal to acquire crypto prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion in April, as it sought to establish its presence in established institutional markets.
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2025 was also the year of crypto IPOs as Wall Street witnessed several headline-making listings, leading to $14.6 billion raised from 11 crypto IPOs. In comparison, only $310 million was raised in 2024, across just four crypto listings.
Stablecoin issuer Circle’s $16.7 billion debut on the New York Stock Exchange in June was the largest of the year, followed by Peter Thiel-backed Bullish, which listed in August with a $13 billion valuation.
Other notable listings included Figure Technologies and social trading platform eToro. Meanwhile, firms like Kraken and BitGo have filed for public offerings and expect a debut next year.
Regulatory clarity is fuelling demand
“It’s been the busiest year for us in crypto [deals] by a mile,” Charles Kerrigan, a partner at law firm CMS, told the Financial Times, adding that he expects the pace of acquisitions to remain strong going into 2026, as the regulatory landscape has encouraged more traditional financial institutions to get involved in the sector.
Industry experts attribute the current momentum to sweeping regulatory changes under a pro-crypto administration led by President Donald Trump.
Since coming into power, the Trump administration has spearheaded multiple policy shifts, such as the GENIUS Act, and other structural initiatives like a national crypto reserve. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission has also dropped several high-profile lawsuits against companies like Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken.
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