Crypto: Capital Diverts from Tokens to Stocks

Blood is flowing in the crypto market right now. Rest assured, no one is physically injured. But in the investors’ accounts, the hemorrhage is very real. Tokens launched in 2025 are draining their substance, taking billions with them. Meanwhile, a profound shift is happening in investors’ psychology. They are not fleeing crypto. They are simply switching vehicles. And the new favorite speedster is now called “stocks.”

The slaughter of token launches in chilling numbers

Let’s start with the dizzying statistics beyond the explosion of the tokenized gold market. The firm Memento Research scrutinized 118 token launches carried out in 2025. The verdict is unequivocal: 84.7% of them trade today below their IPO price. Half of these projects have lost more than 70% of their initial value. 

The overall median is -71% in total valuation, an unprecedented level since the darkest hours of previous bear markets. 

Distribution of FDV percentage reduction relative to TGE date – Source: Memento Research

The most striking observation concerns the fate reserved for the big stables. Twenty-eight projects entered the market with a valuation above one billion dollars. None of them managed to preserve their price. Their median loss dangerously flirts with -81%. 

The most hyped categories, blockchain infrastructure and artificial intelligence, recorded median drops of -72% and -82% respectively. Meanwhile, DeFi, a less flashy but sturdier sector, limits the damage with “only” -52%. 

The lesson is ruthless: the higher the initial promise, the more painful the fall for investors.

The rush to crypto stocks explained by the numbers

While tokens burn on the pyre of excessive valuations, another universe lights up in the shadows. That of IPOs of crypto companies. The sector’s IPOs raised no less than 14.6 billion dollars in 2025, 48 times more than the previous year. Meanwhile, mergers and acquisitions reached 42.5 billion, an absolute record over five years of activity. 

Andrei Grachev, the head of DWF Labs, delivers his blunt analysis: 

If capital were simply leaving crypto, you wouldn’t see IPO raises jump 48 times to 14.6 billion dollars, M&A reaching a five-year peak at more than 42.5 billion, and crypto stock performance outperforming tokens.

Pension funds and institutional endowments technically cannot acquire tokens, but they can freely buy Coinbase, Circle, or Kraken stocks. Now, these shares are being snapped up at a valuation premium that is dreamy: 7 to 40 times revenues, compared to 2 to 16 times for comparable tokens.

Stocks vs. tokens: the great sorting of 2026 is underway

This reshuffling of the cards is not limited to a simple flight to quality. It embodies an unprecedented wave of industrial consolidation in the history of decentralized finance. Coinbase, Kraken, and Ripple scoop up everything moving in three strategic sectors: trading infrastructures, exchange platforms, and services related to stablecoins.

No less than 96% of the value of mergers and acquisitions now concentrates on these promising segments. Their goal is clear: to build the super app that will keep the user locked in a closed and profitable ecosystem. 

Maksym Sakharov, the head of WeFi, analyzes this major evolution: 

When the appetite for risk tightens, investors don’t stop wanting exposure, they start demanding clearer ownership, sharper disclosure, and a path to enforceable rights.

Meanwhile, the rare tokens that survive this big cleansing are those that had not promised the moon to their buyers. Launches valued below 200 million dollars show 40% positive performances and a median drop limited to -26%. The others, those who had ridden the hype, are now dying in the ditch of oblivion.

Key indicators of the great shift

• 84.7% of tokens launched in 2025 are today below their introduction price;
• -81% median loss for the 28 projects valued above one billion;
• 14.6 billion dollars raised in crypto IPOs, 48 times more than in 2024;
• 42.5 billion dollars in mergers and acquisitions, a five-year record;
• 7 to 40x for stocks vs. 2 to 16x for comparable tokens.

So yes, fear dominates conversations in the crypto-sphere. But this concern does not push investors to abandon ship. They massively diversify their strategies. They leave too risky tokens to land on stronger stocks. The mutation is painful, but it may be building the framework of the next crypto generation.