According to BlockBeats, as of August 9th, over 100 crypto projects have shut down, filed for bankruptcy, or permanently ceased operations since 2026, and the pace of exits is accelerating. In just one week in late July, BitMEX, BitMart, Movement Labs, and Storj Labs announced their closure or filed related applications. These exiting projects cover trading platforms, wallets, DeFi lending protocols, NFT marketplaces, and L1 blockchains; Polkadot parachain Moonbeam also permanently ceased operations on July 31st, leaving user funds stranded due to failure to bridge assets in time.

This round of consolidation has been described as a restructuring similar to the aftermath of the dot-com bubble burst. The number of general-purpose L2 cryptocurrencies on Ethereum grew rapidly in 2023, but as the barrier to deployment lowered, the market became increasingly crowded and projects lacked differentiation. Espresso Systems CEO Ben Fisch stated that the current consolidation phase involves general-purpose L2s, not all L2s. Lorenzo Valente, Research Director at ARK Invest, said that the crypto industry is undergoing the largest consolidation in its history, with capital becoming more selective and teams and exchanges lacking real-world product-market fit closing down; Hyperliquid and Pump.fun already account for 67% of total application-layer revenue.

The problem with many projects is that they have usage but no traditional revenue. Many teams use their own tokens to pay engineers, subsidize liquidity, and cover security audit costs. The recent bear market, with most altcoins falling 70% to 90%, rendered token-denominated cash reserves and operational lifecycle estimates invalid. Tally, a DAO governance platform that served over 500 protocols, processed over $1 billion in payments, and helped protect up to $80 billion in on-chain value, shut down due to a lack of a sustainable business model for its governance tools. Security incidents further accelerate project exits. Blockaid estimates that on-chain attack losses in the first half of 2026 will reach $1.1 billion, exceeding the total for 2025; among them, Kelp DAO and Drift Protocol incidents resulted in losses of $293 million and $285 million, respectively. TRM Labs estimates that North Korean-related attackers accounted for 66% of total crypto attack losses during the same period.

Projects that continue to grow during bear markets generally rely on dollar revenue rather than their own tokens. Hyperliquid surpassed $1 billion in cumulative transaction fees on June 30th, currently holding 70% of the decentralized perpetual contract market; Aave held over $12 billion in deposits as of July, with annualized lending fees exceeding $100 million. These projects don't share the commonality of being the most technologically complex, having raised the most funding, or having the largest community; rather, they have built products that users are willing to pay for.

According to BlockBeats, on August 9th, Cathie Wood, affectionately known as "Sister Wood," believes that while the latest jobs report may appear worrying on the surface, the reality is not as bad as it seems. The real focus should be on the economic changes behind the employment data. Currently, the US fiscal deficit is 5.6% of GDP, a level she considers similar to that of the early Reaganomics of the 1980s; if productivity and technology adoption continue to accelerate as ARK projects, this ratio could approach 5% by the end of the year. The greater risk in the future may not be inflation, but deflation, especially for companies that have failed to adopt AI and productivity tools.

Regarding oil, a supply glut is forming, with production reaching record highs after the UAE left OPEC in May. Cathie Wood believes oil prices may fall significantly, seeing it as a deflationary driver in most parts of the world. Meanwhile, capital expenditure has broken through the range of the past 30 years, and she believes market concerns about an AI bubble are exaggerated, as we are still in the early stages of a technological revolution.

Regarding crypto assets, Cathie Wood stated that Bitcoin's performance relative to gold is stabilizing again, and believes that Bitcoin and stablecoins may become the two major beneficiaries of the transformation of smart agent businesses.