Rafomac News, Tech & Trends That MatterNearly 100 major crypto firms have shut their doors this year, including Bitmax—the exchange that pioneered perpetual swaps. This isn’t panic or scandal; it’s the fallout of easy money vanishing and the market shedding what it can’t sustain.
Bitmax’s Slow Fade Marks a Turning Point
Bitmax, the firm that revolutionised crypto trading with the perpetual swap, announced its own shutdown on July 23. By September 23, 2026, the exchange will be fully closed, with trading volume having dwindled to a mere $400,000 daily—less than 0.01% of the market. Yet, this demise wasn’t triggered by insolvency or hacks. Their assets still exceed liabilities, and withdrawals remain fully operational. Bitmax’s decline highlights a market no longer sustained by innovation alone but by actual demand and liquidity. Binance dominates the top; Hyperliquid commands the lower tiers, rendering the once ground-breaking perpetual swap commoditised and commonplace.
Other crypto heavyweights are quietly disappearing as well. Storage filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 26 but continues serving customers through its decentralized network. The business strain came from legacy debt after a 2024 acquisition backlash, revealing how old liabilities can topple even well-funded entities.
Regulation and Compliance Chase Out More Players
July 1 saw Ascend EX exit the scene, caught in the crosshairs of the EU’s new stringent crypto regulation framework called MICA, which it failed to comply with. EXMO followed suit mid-July, crippled by UK sanctions connected to alleged Russian-linked financial flows, freezing 29% of user funds and leftovers of a 2020 hot wallet hack. These closures were orderly but harsh reminders that regulatory endurance has replaced wild west tendencies.
Movement Labs, despite raising $141 million, also filed Chapter 11 in July after the MOVE token plummeted over 99% from its peak. Then there’s Odos and Dango — the latter’s blockchain network going fully offline in August following a costly exploit draining up to $6 million of its $3.6 million seed round.
What’s Different from 2022?
The last crypto bear market felt like a chain reaction of frauds and scandals—from FTX’s secret collateral and underhanded lending to Celsius’s false insurance claims. It was contagion pure and simple, pulling down exchanges like Silvergate and Signature as creditors gnawed their nails waiting years for repayments. 2026, in contrast, is a cleansing process. Companies are shutting down due to a lack of customers and capital rather than being dragged down by interlocking financial collapses. Compliance costs, zero fee revenue, and the drying up of easy capital sums it up.
BitMart’s shutdown is the rare exception that looks messy. The CEO was ousted days before the public shutdown announcement, with unresolved claims involving a $196 million hot wallet hack from 2021. Still, it stands alone amid 99 orderly exits.
When ‘Never Sell’ Turns to Forced Sales
Another layer of pressure comes from digital asset treasury companies (DATs) that spent years espousing a “never sell” Bitcoin policy. Strategy, a major player holding $843,000 BTC at an average cost basis of $75,000, recently sold 3,620 bitcoins to cover dividends—a first in four years. This move reflects changing market realities as these players’ valuations slipped below their owned coins’ worth, forcing sales that ripple across the market.
Other treasury firms are positioned precariously too: Metanet sits at 0.90, Nakamoto around 0.92, and Bitmine at just over 1.00, sustained only by staking yields. With roughly $62 billion wiped out from this treasury segment in a single June sell-off, it’s clear forced selling isn’t a short-term event but part of a market bottom unfolding.
So Where Did the Capital Go?
Capital fled crypto, but it didn’t vanish. Crypto miners became buyers for a new frontier—artificial intelligence infrastructure. Miners sold massive bitcoin holdings in early 2026—Mea dumped 20,880 BTC for $1.5 billion, Riot sold more bitcoin than it mined, and Core Scientific liquidated $175 million worth to fund a pivot toward AI hardware.
Mining firms are channeling billions into AI and high-performance computing contracts, locking in future revenue streams. With AI infrastructure costing nearly ten times more per megawatt than crypto mining, this capital rotation explains a lot about crypto’s current sell pressure—coins are sold with a purpose, funding multi-billion-dollar buildouts, not panic-induced liquidations.
What Does This Mean for Crypto’s Bottom?
Market data reveals that long-term holders recently absorbed $2.44 billion in losses, reflecting a stubborn cohort who don’t capitulate twice. Exchange reserves have plunged to seven-year lows, and leverage is almost entirely purged from crypto futures markets, indicating exhaustion rather than panic. ETF flows confirm that the sharpest sell-offs have given way to renewed buying interest. Yet, with prices still down 51% from October 2025 peaks (compared to 78% and 84% in previous cycles), the full bottom might still be unfolding gradually.
This process – clearing out weak operators and shedding excess leverage – is classic market bottoming. But unlike previous crashes, this one looks more measured. Instead of a sudden purge, the bottom might reveal itself slowly, pressed out over months rather than weeks.
Whether this marks the start of the next bull run or a longer grind, it’s clear the crypto ecosystem is evolving. Survivors entering this next phase have a far stronger footing than those swept away in 2022’s wave of fraud and insolvency.
