Public Token Sales Plummet to Five-Year Lows
Public cryptocurrency token sales have generated a mere $58 million in the second quarter of 2026, marking an 85% decrease from the preceding quarter, according to data released by CryptoRank on June 10. This downturn positions the current period to become the weakest fundraising quarter for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), Initial DEX Offerings (IDOs), and Initial Exchange Offerings (IEOs) in half a decade.
CryptoRank’s figures reveal that while the first quarter of 2026 already showed signs of weakness with approximately $390 million raised across 105 sales, the situation has significantly worsened in the subsequent quarter.
The severity of the decline is starkly illustrated in a month-by-month breakdown. April saw just $15 million raised from 20 sales, followed by May, which brought in around $41 million from only 13 sales. This represents the lowest monthly sales volume since December 2020. June, still in progress, has so far recorded a meager $2 million from just four sales.
For context, January 2025 alone witnessed $654 million in fundraising, with that entire quarter serving as a cycle peak, amassing just under $850 million across 429 sales. Since that high point, the market has seen its quarterly fundraising volume, in dollar terms, shrink by over 93%.
Despite this contraction, CryptoRank’s dashboard indicates that public token sales collectively raised more than $4 billion between the first quarter of 2024 and the second quarter of 2026.
During this period, IDOs consistently dominated the fundraising landscape, accounting for nearly 75% of all public sales. IEOs and ICOs represented 18% and 7% of activities, respectively. However, all three formats have experienced a sharp contraction this quarter.
Among the leading launchpads, Coinlist stands out as the largest by capital raised, having facilitated $1.37 billion. Fjord Foundry follows with $975 million, and Echo with $201 million. Gate Launchpad and DAO Maker complete the top five.
Venture Capital Activity Also Slows
The slowdown extends to crypto venture capital activity, which also saw a decline in the first quarter of 2026, according to a May report by Galaxy Digital. During that period, private investors contributed approximately $4 billion across 355 deals, a 50% drop from the previous quarter.
Galaxy Digital attributed this decline primarily to a scarcity of substantial late-stage funding rounds, which had been prevalent in late 2025. Nevertheless, some significant raises have occurred recently, including Digital Asset Holdings’ $355 million round led by Andreessen Horowitz, which followed a $300 million raise just a month prior.
CryptoRank’s data suggests that while capital remains available within the crypto space, it is increasingly being channeled into a smaller number of companies and private funding rounds, rather than public token launches. These public launches reached their zenith when market sentiment was at its strongest and appear to have since mirrored the broader market’s downturn.
This trend is further evidenced by a previous CryptoRank report, which showed that many projects funded between April and June 2025, during a crypto market rebound, ended the year trading significantly below their initial fundraising valuations. This may explain the current lack of retail investor appetite for new launches in 2026.
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