Crypto Industry Consolidation Accelerates as Revenue Concentrates

ARK Invest’s director of digital assets research, Lorenzo Valente, said the crypto sector is entering its deepest consolidation phase. He noted that a small group of applications now generate the majority of revenue – Hyperliquid, Pump.fun and Ethena together account for roughly 80% of tracked application revenue, while total application revenue fell 23% quarter‑over‑quarter to about $485 million in Q1.

Dragonfly Capital managing partner Haseeb Qureshi warned that crypto venture capital could lose relevance by 2030 as the number of active crypto investors dropped to 150 in July, the lowest level since late 2020 and far below the 1,177 active investors recorded in May 2022. The decline reflects capital concentrating among fewer funds and a shrinking pipeline of fundable startups.

Both analysts see a market increasingly dominated by a limited set of platforms and investors, suggesting continued mergers, acquisitions, and potential shutdowns of smaller crypto businesses.