82 Crypto Projects Shut Down This Year as Profitability Worsens

A prolonged slump in the crypto market and deteriorating profitability are prompting project shutdowns across decentralized finance, or DeFi, and blockchain infrastructure this year.

Cointelegraph reported on October 20 that crypto researcher Stacy Muur said 82 crypto projects and protocols have shut down so far this year. The list includes Balancer, Radiant Capital, Neon EVM and Step Finance.

The string of closures reflects the broader downturn in the crypto market. Bitcoin fell below $60,000 at one point this year after hitting a record high above $126,000 in October last year. As the weakness persisted, projects already struggling to attract users and generate revenue came under greater financial strain.

A representative case is Ethereum layer-2 network Blast. Blast announced earlier this month that it would shut down because it had failed to secure a revenue model capable of covering operating costs. The project once held more than $2 billion in deposits, but failed to achieve economic sustainability.

Security incidents and funding shortages are also among the main reasons for the closures. Step Finance halted operations after a major theft in February, while Radiant Capital announced in June that it was shutting down after failing to recover from a 2024 hack. Satori Finance, backed by Coinbase, also ended its service after determining that revenue would not cover operating costs.

A study released by DeFiLlama in August counted 100 crypto projects that had announced closures this year. Of those, 40 decided to shut down in the 90 days before the report. The most commonly cited reason was the failure to secure products that matched market demand, followed by depleted funding, weak revenue and business pivots.

The shuttered projects had raised a combined $1 billion in funding and generated cumulative fee revenue of about $250 million. Among them, nine projects had each attracted more than $50 million in investment, suggesting that large fundraising rounds did not guarantee long-term survival.

Meanwhile, funding in the crypto industry is increasingly being concentrated in a small number of projects. According to DeFiLlama, venture investment in the first half rose from a year earlier, but the number of deals fell 80%. Mergers and acquisitions totaled 87 at the time of the survey, up 65% from the previous year's full-year total, highlighting a clear industry reshuffle.