Blockchain financing in Southeast Asia doubles to US$680 million despite fewer transactions

In 2026, the financing volume of blockchain companies in Southeast Asia will reach US$680 million, a record high in recent years, but the number of transaction rounds has dropped sharply.

According to the latest report from market intelligence platform Tracxn, blockchain companies in Southeast Asia will complete a total of 25 rounds of financing, with a total financing amount reaching US$680 million. This figure is an increase of approximately 113% from the total financing of US$319 million for the full year of 2025 and almost double last year's level. However, it is worth noting that despite the significant increase in the total amount of funds, the number of completed financing rounds dropped sharply from 46 rounds in the previous year to 25 rounds.

This huge contrast between the size of funds and the frequency of transactions suggests that capital is accelerating concentration in a few mature companies with established market positions. One of the deals had a decisive impact on the overall data: Cryptocurrency exchange Crypto.com completed a US$400 million Series D round led by Citadel Securities in July, which accounted for nearly 60% of the total financing in the blockchain sector in Southeast Asia this year. If you exclude this huge investment from Crypto.com, the total amount of the remaining 24 rounds of financing is only about US$280 million. It can be seen that the growth of total financing this year is not evenly distributed among companies in the region, but is highly concentrated among leading companies.

Industry popularity is still far below its peak in 2022

Despite the outstanding financing performance in 2026, the overall industry activity is still far below the historical high in 2022. In 2022, investors in the region completed 206 rounds of financing, setting a record of US$2.2 billion. In contrast, the 25 rounds of financing and the total amount of US$680 million in 2026 are only one-eighth and approximately 31% of that in 2022, respectively. Looking back at recent trends, after reaching US$2.2 billion in 2022, the annual investment volume plunged sharply to US$386 million in 2023, rebounded to US$804 million in 2024, and then fell back to US$319 million in 2025. Although the current amount of financing this year has exceeded that of last year, it is still about 69% lower than the 2022 peak.

Crypto-financial services have become the biggest beneficiaries

In the segment, crypto-financial services companies absorb the vast majority of funds. The report pointed out that the sector raised US$498 million through 19 rounds of financing, an increase of 48.4% over the same period last year. The second was the tokenization platform, which raised US$114 million; the decentralized application (dApp) development platform raised US$77 million. Tracxn's industry-disaggregated data shows that investors clearly prefer exchanges, payment companies and other financial infrastructure providers to immature early blockchain projects.

This preference for projects related to traditional financial architecture is also consistent with global trends. Earlier reports pointed out that the American Depository Trusts and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is working with more than 50 financial institutions to develop tokenization services, while large banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo are also actively building tokenization deposit infrastructure. Although these U.S. domestic developments are not included in Southeast Asia's financing statistics, they reflect that mature financial institutions are investing capital and technical resources in areas such as settlement, tokenized assets, and blockchain-based payments, which are highly aligned with the direction of investment in Southeast Asia.

The vast majority of companies stop before Series A

As the company's development stage moves backward, financing difficulties have increased significantly. Of the 3,957 Southeast Asian blockchain companies tracked by Tracxn, only 1,323 have received some form of equity financing, of which only 167 have reached Series A or higher. Specifically, only 50 companies entered Series B, 14 completed Series C, and only 4 companies (including Crypto.com, which completed US$400 million in financing) reached Series D or higher.

This means that about 87% of all companies receiving equity financing are still in the early stages before Series A. Even among companies that have successfully attracted investors, only about 13% have been able to advance to the late-stage financing stage that typically involves large institutions. This late-stage financing is highly concentrated in the size of a single transaction: Crypto.com's single round of financing exceeds the sum of all other reported transactions in 2026, making this mature exchange receive more funds than the sum of other companies in the entire market.

Singapore dominates the regional investment landscape

With the support of Singapore's regulatory framework, the country has become a core hub for blockchain investment in Southeast Asia. The report shows that Singapore accounts for 82.5% of the region's cumulative US$6.2 billion in blockchain financing, or approximately US$5.1 billion. At the same time, Singapore has 2,285 tracked blockchain companies, accounting for nearly 58% of the regional total. In contrast, Jakarta, the second largest financing center, only accounts for 3% of cumulative investment (about US$186 million), a huge gap between itself and Singapore.

Recent corporate trends have further consolidated Singapore's position. Coinbase announced in July this year that it plans to expand its workforce in Singapore from approximately 150 to approximately 200 by the end of 2026, focusing mainly on institutional needs and tokenization business. In addition, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has established a comprehensive regulatory framework through Project Guardian. The project involves more than 40 financial institutions and industry organizations in seven jurisdictions and aims to promote the development of tokenized fixed income products and investment funds. As of the release of the framework, the "Guardian Program" has completed 15 trials involving six currencies and multiple financial products, and has jointly established the "Guardian Wholesale Network" with Citigroup, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Schroeder and UOB Bank of Singapore to support the commercial application of tokenized assets.

M & A activity far exceeds IPO exits

In terms of exit channels, M & A has become the mainstream method. Tracxn statistics show that there have been 43 acquisitions in the blockchain industry in Southeast Asia, while there have been only 4 initial public offerings (IPOs). In the 2026 transaction, Japan's SBI Holdings completed the acquisition of Coinhako after obtaining MAS approval. The transaction included capital injections and purchases of shares from existing investors, although SBI did not disclose specific shareholding ratios, investment amounts and valuation details.

Coinhako was established in 2014 and holds a major payment institution license issued by MAS. SBI said the acquisition will provide a regulated foundation for digital asset services, covering stablecoins, tokenized products, cross-border transactions and on-chain financial services between Japan and Southeast Asia. Another notable deal is Bybit's acquisition of Indonesian crypto platform NOBI. The two transactions brought the total number of recorded acquisitions in the region to 43, while only four blockchain companies completed IPOs during the same period. This shows that compared with public listings, mergers and acquisitions are still the main way for Southeast Asian blockchain companies to exit.