With the Washington government reversing the scenario regarding digital assets, crypto companies closed on $8.6 billion in deals in 2025, marking the industry's busiest year-to-date mergers and acquisitions.
summary
- In 2025, the value of virtual currency transactions reached a record high of $8.6 billion with 267 transactions.
- Large acquisitions by companies such as Coinbase, Kraken, and Ripple led the rise.
According to a report in the Financial Times, citing data from PitchBook, 267 deals were recorded across the sector, including acquisitions, strategic investments and consolidation moves, marking an 18% year-on-year increase. These transactions are worth a total of $8.6 billion, nearly four times the $2.17 billion total recorded in 2024.
The largest deals include cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase's acquisition of derivatives trading platform Deribit in May, making it the largest acquisition in crypto industry history for $2.9 billion.
Other major deals included a $1.5 billion bid by cryptocurrency exchange Kraken to acquire US-based retail futures trading platform NinjaTrader after the company posted 19% year-over-year total revenue growth in the first quarter of 2025. The acquisition was completed in May and was touted as the largest integration between a traditional financial platform and a cryptocurrency company.
Blockchain payments company Ripple also made the list after signing a deal to acquire crypto prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion in April, as it seeks to establish a presence in an established institutional market.
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2025 was also the year of crypto IPOs, with several high-profile listings on Wall Street, with $14.6 billion raised from 11 crypto IPOs. By comparison, only four crypto listings raised just $310 million in 2024.
Stablecoin issuer Circle, which listed on the New York Stock Exchange in June, had the biggest deal of the year at $16.7 billion, followed by Peter Thiel-backed Blish, which listed in August at a valuation of $13 billion.
Other notable listings include Figure Technologies and social trading platform eToro. Meanwhile, companies like Kraken and BitGo have filed to go public, with plans to debut next year.
Demand is increasing due to regulatory clarity
“This has been our busiest year in crypto,” Charles Kerrigan, a partner at law firm CMS, told the Financial Times, adding that he expects the pace of acquisitions to remain strong into 2026 as the regulatory environment encourages more traditional financial institutions to enter the space.
Industry experts credit the current momentum to sweeping regulatory changes under President Donald Trump's pro-crypto administration.
Since taking office, the Trump administration has spearheaded multiple policy changes such as the GENIUS Act and other structural initiatives such as the National Cryptocurrency Reserve. Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission has also dropped several high-profile cases against companies such as Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken.
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