Author: Blockchain Knight
Bear markets are often the golden period for giants to quietly pull off major moves. In the past month alone, we've seen at least five typical acquisition cases in the crypto industry.
From Samsung Securities acquiring a 2% stake in Dunamu, the operator of Upbit; to Robinhood buying WonderFi for $180 million to enter the Canadian crypto market; Figure spending $717 million to acquire Kiavi and move into on-chain real estate credit; asset management giant Franklin acquiring 250Digital to establish Franklin Crypto; and of course, there's Messari, which was sold off at a deep discount.
The most lamentable is Blockworks' acquisition of Messari. At the end of the bull market in 2022, Messari was once valued at as high as $300 million, yet it was recently sold off for just over $10 million, a discount of more than 90%.
Once high-flying crypto startups are facing immense survival and cash flow pressure, while giants with robust cash flow like Blockworks can devour competitors at extremely low costs, completing resource consolidation.
Facing increasingly strict global regulations, giants are no longer choosing to force their way in. Instead, they are rapidly expanding by acquiring locally regulated and licensed entities.
For example, WonderFi owns two seasoned and compliant platforms in Canada. Robinhood essentially bought a ticket into the Canadian market and 300,000 ready-made users.
Similarly, Upbit is one of the most compliant exchanges in South Korea. A traditional securities giant directly taking a stake paves the way for future integration between traditional finance and crypto assets.
Figure's acquisition is the largest deal recently. It sends a signal that RWA (Real World Assets) has evolved from a past storytelling phase to the real on-chain integration of hundreds of billions worth of traditional assets.
Kiavi can generate over $7 billion in annual transaction volume. Figure is integrating its residential loans directly into the on-chain capital market. This signifies recognition of blockchain technology's value as the next-generation financial clearing and settlement infrastructure.
Franklin Crypto's service targets are explicitly directed at pension funds and sovereign wealth funds. These institutions, managing trillions of dollars, were previously unable to touch crypto assets due to compliance and risk control reasons. Now, Wall Street is directly crafting active management strategies for them.
For giants with extremely strong strategic resolve like Samsung, Robinhood, and Franklin Templeton, a bear market is not frightening. Instead, it's the best time to enter the game.
In a bull market, even mediocre projects can claim valuations of hundreds of millions. Giants entering then would be catching a falling knife. In a bear market, market bubbles are squeezed out, allowing one to buy technical architectures and compliance teams built over years for one-tenth of the original price.
Furthermore, bull markets are filled with speculation, while retail investors exit during bear markets. Giants can also use this lull period to test various infrastructure components.
Financial giants typically operate on a 3-5 year macro-cycle perspective. As global crypto tax frameworks and compliance legislation are implemented, the crypto industry is transitioning from the wild west towards institutionalization.
Once the future global macroeconomic cycle shifts and liquidity improves, they will capture most of the benefits, leaving latecomers far behind.
The current wave of acquisitions is precisely the handover ceremony from the crypto industry's rough-and-tumble era to the era of compliant infrastructure—brutal yet real.
