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The crypto sector reportedly saw a record $8.6 billion worth of deals in 2025, as the crypto-friendly Trump administration gave confidence to crypto-focused mergers and acquisitions.
The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that 267 deals were inked in the crypto industry up to Dec. 23, up 18% from 2024. The $8.6 billion in deal value is a nearly 300% jump from last year, which saw $2.17 billion in deals, and the growth is expected to continue into 2026.
Coinbase made the biggest acquisition of the year with its $2.9 billion purchase of the crypto options trading Deribit, the biggest-ever acquisition in crypto.
Other major mergers noted were Kraken’s $1.5 billion acquisition of the futures trading platform NinjaTrader, along with Ripple’s $1.25 billion deal to buy the crypto-friendly prime broker Hidden Road.
President Donald Trump has opened the US to crypto, enacting a raft of deregulation policies and dropping regulatory lawsuits that have given traditional finance institutions confidence to invest in the sector.
Big year for crypto IPOs
The Financial Times reported that $14.6 billion was raised worldwide from 11 crypto initial public offerings, a major jump compared to the $310 million raised from just four crypto public debuts last year.
Some of the most anticipated IPOs of 2025 were the crypto exchange and CoinDesk parent Bullish, which raised $1.1 billion; the stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group, which raised over $1 billion; and the crypto exchange Gemini, which raised $425 million.
Diego Ballon Ossio, a partner at the law firm Clifford Chance, said traditional finance players and crypto companies were actively looking to buy up firms for their licences, especially those in line with the EU’s MiCA laws, which he said would continue into next year.
Demand for stablecoin companies was also predicted to continue into 2026, with new regulatory regimes forming in the US and UK.
Related: Kraken IPO, M&A deals to reignite crypto’s ‘mid-stage’ cycle: fund manager
Charles Kerrigan, a partner at the law firm CMS, told the Financial Times that companies will spend a lot of money to “remain compliant with the new licensing regimes,” which included through acquisitions.
He predicted that new crypto laws in the US would spur traditional finance companies to get involved in the industry, which would also drive mergers and acquisitions.
The major year for crypto deals has come as the market cooled in the latter part of the year, with Bitcoin (BTC) falling more than 30% from its peak high of over $126,000 in early October.
Bitcoin has traded flat over the past day to just below $88,000, having lifted from an intra-day low of nearly $86,500.
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