Financial Times: Mergers and acquisitions in the encryption industry will reach $8.6 billion in 2025, setting a new historical record.

On December 24, according to a report by the Financial Times, the merger and acquisition deal value in the crypto assets sector reached a historic high of $8.6 billion in 2025. With the U.S. government's increasingly open attitude toward digital assets, a wave of mergers and acquisitions has been triggered, and the market widely expects this trend to continue into next year. The continuous influx of global capital is largely attributed to the push from President Trump’s administration. This government has established cryptocurrency as a national priority this year by appointing industry-friendly regulators, dismissing multiple lawsuits against digital asset companies, and launching a national cryptocurrency reserve, thus providing strong support for the industry’s development. Charles Kerrigan, a partner at the law firm CMS, along with other industry insiders, anticipates that as new crypto regulatory rules are implemented in the U.S., more financial institutions will enter this field, which will also drive crypto companies to further consolidate their market positions through mergers and acquisitions. So far this year, the crypto industry has completed 267 deals, an 18% rise compared to 2024. The total amount of these deals reached $8.6 billion, nearly four times that of 2024 ($2.17 billion). Among them, CEX completed the largest acquisition of 2025 by acquiring the derivatives trading platform CEX for $2.9 billion, marking the largest merger and acquisition deal in the history of the crypto industry. Additionally, CEX acquired the U.S. retail futures trading platform NinjaTrader for $1.5 billion, while payment company Ripple acquired the crypto prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25 billion.