In the first half of 2026, crypto raised $11.2 billion — and none of it went to the permissionless projects the industry was supposedly built on.
Dubai lawyer Irina Heaver of NeosLegal tracked 377 rounds. Top sectors: payments and stablecoins (
$3.7B), prediction markets ($2B), exchanges ($1.7B) — all requiring licenses.Kalshi pulled
$1B from Sequoia and Morgan Stanley, Polymarket took $600M from the NYSE's parent, Mastercard bought BVNK for $1.8B. The logic, per one investor: code gets forked over a weekend, a VARA license takes 18–24 months and millions. The market isn't buying the product anymore — it's buying the head start.Cointelegraph reports Heaver's conclusion: the license is the asset now.
CoinDesk