The shutdown of crypto projects is not a footnote to the bear market. Money is now funding departures rather than experimentation, which is the most obvious indication that the capital structure of cryptocurrency has reversed.

Some 82 bitcoin projects and protocols went dark in 2026, according to a tally compiled by researcher Stacy Muur and disseminated this week across cryptocurrency media.

The list includes decentralized financial infrastructure (DeFi) platforms, Radiant Capital, Step Finance, Neon EVM, and Blast, an Ethereum layer-2 that had over $2 billion in deposits when it was active.

The headline number grabs your attention. What matters more is the makeup.

According to DeFiLlama’s tracking list, there were 100 shutdowns in…