Crypto researcher Stacy Muur has counted 82 digital asset projects and protocols that have reportedly shut down so far in 2026. Cointelegraph reported the figure on Oct 20, 2026, in an article by staff editor Sam Bourgi.
The closures are in three areas: decentralized finance, blockchain infrastructure and Web3 gaming. The reported causes are falling revenue, funding that has run out, and security breaches.
The count raises a question about whether businesses in these sectors can pay for themselves. The coverage does not list the 82 projects by name, does not say how many closed for each reason, and does not compare the total with earlier years.
For someone already holding a perpetual position on Bitget, Bybit, MEXC or OKX, the report changes nothing directly. It names none of these exchanges and says nothing about funding rates, trading fees or liquidity in any perpetual market. The published details do not show whether any of the closed projects had a token with a listed perpetual contract.
Source: cointelegraph — Crypto’s 2026 shutdown wave claims 82 projects. What went wrong?