Public token sales reach four-year low in Q2 2026

The market for public token sales fell to its lowest level in four years in the second quarter of 2026. Only 47 ICOs, IDOs and IEOs were recorded, with a total amount raised of $40 million. Compared to the peak of the cycle, that represents a decline of 95.3% in capital raised and 90.5% in the number of sales.

From record amounts to an all-time low

According to data from CryptoRank, as reported by Wu Blockchain, the market for public token sales reached an absolute low point. The chart shows how severe the decline is: in Q2 2024, the market still raised $849 million via 428 sales, and in Q2 2025, there were 455 sales with $816 million in capital raised. These were the quarters that served as the absolute peak of the cycle.

The contrast with Q2 2026 is enormous. Where two years ago, hundreds of projects successfully raised money from the public, now only a handful of initiatives manage to do so. The total amount of $40 million is not only a quarterly record low, but also the lowest point in the entire period from July 2022 to June 2026.

A downward trend that has been visible for some time

The decline has been underway for some time. After the peak in Q2 2024, the number of sales already fell back to 240 in Q3 2024, with $139 million in proceeds. In the quarters that followed, the recovery remained limited. Q4 2025 still showed $374 million from 114 sales, but in Q1 2026, the volume fell back again to $510 million from 196 sales. The most recent figures show that the market has since declined further.

The question is whether this is a temporary low point or a structural shift in how projects raise capital. The broader crypto market faced uncertainty on multiple fronts in 2026, including regulatory ambiguity and outflows from Bitcoin ETFs. Whether public token sales will recover in the short term remains unclear for now.