Key Insights:
- Crypto industry revenue falls to $47 billion in the first half of 2026
- Revenues in stablecoin, RWA, and prediction market kept growing despite the setback
- Bitwise CIO Hougan says crypto projects generating revenue like Hyperliquid and Uniswap could dominate the next market era.
Crypto industry revenue fell to $47 billion during the first half of 2026, according to data from venture firm 1kx.
That represented a 23% decline from roughly $61 billion during the same period last year. Lower crypto prices and trading volumes pressured exchanges, decentralized finance protocols, miners and other businesses tied directly to market activity.
The downturn was not uniform across the industry. Stablecoins, real-world assets and prediction markets continued expanding, reinforcing a shift toward businesses generating revenue outside speculative crypto trading.
Crypto Industry Revenue Falls as Trading Activity Weakens
The 1kx data attributed most of the $14 billion year-over-year decline to weaker asset prices and trading activity.
The finance segment, covering centralized exchanges, derivatives businesses and market makers, remained the largest revenue source. However, its revenue fell by approximately $5.2 billion from the first half of 2025.
The decline reflected weaker trading conditions across the crypto market. Coinbase, for example, reported a 28% quarter-over-quarter decline in total crypto market volumes during Q1, while spot volumes fell 37%. Coinbase’s own total revenue dropped 21% during the quarter.
Onchain decentralized finance revenue also fell 32%, according to the 1kx data. The decline reduced sector revenue by approximately $1.8 billion compared with H1 2025.
Exchange-traded funds and fund-management businesses generated about $1.1 billion less revenue. Lower asset prices reduced management-fee bases while spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds experienced heavy outflows during the downturn.
Blockchain-related revenue also weakened considerably. The 1kx analysis showed mining and staking revenue falling by approximately $6.2 billion as token prices declined.
Those businesses remain particularly sensitive to crypto prices because rewards are generally denominated in native digital assets. Falling token values can therefore reduce dollar-denominated revenue even when network activity remains relatively stable.
Bitwise separately described Q2 as another difficult quarter for crypto. Its Bitwise 10 Large Cap Crypto Index fell 15.4%, while onchain activity, trading volume and decentralized finance assets declined.
Bitwise CIO Highlights the Potential of Revenue-Generating DeFi Projects
Despite the drop in crypto revenue, including DeFi, experts believe that DeFi protocols that generate revenue could see a huge rise in value. Bitwise chief investment officer Matt Hougan noted that several DeFi protocols are allocating a sizable part of their revenue to buybacks and token burns.
He cited Hyperliquid, which is spending around 97% of its fees on buybacks; Uniswap, which has burned 107 million UNI tokens; and Aave, which has automated buybacks.
Hougan believes that the market has not repriced this into the projects, which also include Aptos, Solana, and Pump.fun.
In his view, DeFi protocols have massive market potential and are yet to maximize their revenue generation. Thus, Hougan believes the current price performance reflects the true value of some of these protocols.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency markets are highly volatile. Readers should conduct independent research before making investment decisions.
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