Crypto Industry Suffers Over 60 Closures in 2026

Over 60 cryptocurrency companies and projects shut down or filed for bankruptcy between January and July 2026. This represents a significant increase in closures, with most of them happening in the final weeks of July.

The reasons for these closures vary widely, including security exploits, failed licensing applications, unsustainable token economics, market-making scandals, and teams that simply said their products never found an audience.

Exchanges like BitMEX, which shut down on September 23 after a strategic review, and AscendEX, which stopped trading in July due to failed EU MiCA licensing, are among the notable closures. Other exchanges, such as Luck.io and Odos, also ceased operations within this period.

Several infrastructure projects closed after concluding their networks lacked demand, including Powerloom, Botanix, and Hyli. DeFi protocols like Radiant Capital and Ionic Protocol were also shut down due to ongoing fallout from previous exploits.