Token Sales: Four Years in Review

Public Sales Activity Has Fallen to Multi-Year Lows

Between Q3 2022 and Q2 2026, crypto projects raised a combined $4.29 billion through 3,989 public token sales. Most of that activity was concentrated in a handful of strong quarters. Deal count peaked in Q2 2024, with 496 token sales completed. Capital raised peaked separately, in Q1 2025, when projects raised $849 million. Since then, both the number of launches and total fundraising have declined steadily. By Q2 2026, the market had fallen to just 47 public sales raising $40 million, the weakest quarter of the past four years.

Raises During Token Sales Are Down More Than 90% 

The scale of the slowdown becomes clear when compared with the previous cycle's highs. Capital raised has fallen 95.3% from its peak, from $849 million to $40 million, while the number of public sales has declined 90.5%, from 496 to 47. 

The decline isn't simply the result of smaller fundraising rounds. Far fewer projects are choosing to launch through public sales, preferring alternative TGE strategies. Additionally, due to a large number of scams and refunds,  investor participation has become significantly more selective.

Why Has the Market Changed?

Two structural shifts explain the retreat from public token sales. 

First, venture investors have shifted focus toward later-stage companies with proven products, growing revenue, and clearer business models, leaving fewer funds available for the early-stage, pre-revenue projects that typically ran public token sales.

Source: Crypto Fundraising Analytics Dashboard

Second, many crypto projects have moved away from traditional ICOs, IDOs, and IEOs, in favor of VC funding rounds, launchpool campaigns, community distributions, and airdrops:

• VC funding rounds became more attractive because they allow projects to raise larger amounts of capital before launching a token. This gives teams more time to build products, secure strategic partners, and avoid relying only on short-term retail demand. 

• Launchpool campaigns, community distributions, and airdrops became more popular because they help projects build users before or during token launch. This approach can create a broader community, improve network effects, and make the token launch look more organic. 

As a result, public token sales have become a niche fundraising mechanism rather than the default way to launch a new crypto project.