2026 Crypto Financing Shakeup: Gaming and DePIN Are Dead, Two Market Deals Consume 18% of Yearly Funds

Author: Memento Research

Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow

Deep Tide Guide: The cryptocurrency financing data from the first four months of 2026 reveals a harsh reality: funding for the gaming and DePIN tracks is nearly exhausted, while Kalshi and Polymarket—two prediction market companies—have taken more money than all DeFi projects combined for the entire year. Even more concerning is that the number of M&A deals has now caught up with seed rounds, meaning capital is shifting from betting on new ideas to acquiring existing industry leaders.

Funding Overview: The March Surge Was Just an Illusion

From January 1, 2026 to May 6, 2026, the crypto industry completed 305 funding rounds in total, with a total amount of $8.65 billion. But the “surge” of $4.57 billion in March was actually just two massive M&A deals: BVNK’s $1.8 billion and Kalshi’s $1 billion.

After excluding these two deals, the real funding pace is about $1 billion per month—slower than at the end of 2025.

Capital Flows: Payments and Consumer Spending Consume 72%

By track:

Payments: $3.74 billion (56 deals)

Consumer Spending: $2.48 billion (35 deals)

DeFi: $1.06 billion (47 deals, the highest number of deals)

Payments and consumer spending together account for 72% of the year’s total funding. Funding for gaming and DePIN has nearly disappeared.

Prediction Markets Dominate the Consumer Track

The two prediction market companies received 18% of the total annual funding:

Kalshi: $1 billion

Polymarket: $600 million

Together, these two deals total $1.6 billion, exceeding the total amount of all 47 DeFi funding rounds.

M&A Becomes Mainstream

M&A deals reached 48 (23% of known-stage deals), nearly matching the 57 seed rounds (27%). This cycle has shifted from the early stages of investing in new ideas to acquiring industry leaders.

Ranking of Active Investment Institutions Shuffles

The most active funds in 2026:

Coinbase Ventures: 18 deals (ranked second during 2021-26)

Tether: 13 deals (new leading investor in terms of deals led)

Animoca Brands: 11 deals (ranked first during 2021-26)

GSR: 11 deals

a16z: 7 deals (a significant drop from around 200 deals during 2021-26)

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