RootData has tracked more than 70 crypto project shutdowns in the first half of 2026, with counts reaching 95 when inactive sites are included. The closures span DeFi protocols, NFT platforms, Layer-2 networks, and wallets, driven by 2021-22 venture funding that has hit zero runway without producing sustainable revenue.

For the week of July 13-19, real-world assets generated $25.1 billion in trading volume on Hyperliquid, surpassing crypto for the first time. ARK Invest's Lorenzo Valente noted Hyperliquid's RWA volume alone exceeded the combined crypto perp volume of every other DEX on earth, driven by Trade[XYZ]'s tokenized equity gateway. Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire called it a serious structural shift.

Phantom Wallet supported Monad from its mainnet launch day in November 2025, giving the high-performance EVM chain instant access to 22 million crypto-native users. That distribution advantage is exactly what separates surviving L1 launches from the ones that fade quietly.

Robinhood Chain crossed $700 million in onchain assets and 10 million daily transactions in its first three weeks, surpassing Base in daily active wallets. But the tokenized stocks it was built for account for just a fraction of activity , memecoins are doing the work, with CASHCAT and STONKBROKER leading DEX volume. The TVL concentration risk and the memecoin paradox raise real questions about what kind of chain this actually is.