Eighty-two digital asset protocols ceased operations in 2026, researcher Stacy Muur said Tuesday on X. The closures span decentralized finance, blockchain infrastructure and Web3 gaming.
The shutdown list includes Balancer, Radiant Capital, Neon EVM and Step Finance. Ethereum layer-two Blast, which had attracted over $2 billion in deposits, also shut down this month.
Separate research from DeFiLlama in August identified 100 crypto project closures announced in 2026, with 40 occurring in the preceding 90 days. Lack of product-market fit emerged as the most common failure reason, alongside depleted funding, insufficient revenue and strategic pivots.
Blast said it found no "credible path" to economic viability. Step Finance shut down in February after a major treasury breach. Radiant Capital wound down operations in June, unable to recover from a 2024 exploit. Coinbase-backed Satori Finance also ceased operations, concluding its revenue could no longer sustain the business model.
The shuttered projects collectively raised approximately $1 billion in funding and generated $250 million in cumulative fees. Nine raised more than $50 million each.
Bitcoin's retreat from above $126,000 in October 2025 to below $60,000 earlier in 2026 accompanied the wave of closures. Yet venture funding rose in the first half of 2026 compared to the prior year, even as deal count fell 80 percent. Mergers and acquisitions totaled 87 transactions at the time of the DeFiLlama report, already 65 percent higher than the previous year.
