PwC reports nearly 5,000% jump in crypto M&A deal volume

In 2021, the volume of M&A deals in the cryptocurrency industry reached $55 billion, up from $1.1 billion a year earlier. The increase stood at 4,846%, according to PwC’s report.

The average M&A deal size also rose—from $52.7 million to $179.7 million. PwC experts noted that this largely reflects the contribution of the ten largest M&A deals in the sector, each valued at more than $1 billion.

Geographically, the largest number of deals was in North and South America — 51% of the total 393. However, by cumulative value the leader was the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, with $25.5 billion.

Total funds raised by crypto-industry companies in 2021 amounted to $34.3 billion across 1,552 deals. The year before, the figures stood at $4.6 billion and 616 respectively.

Seventy-four percent ($22.4 billion) of the total financing volume went to crypto companies based in the American continent. This amount accounted for 49% of the total number of venture deals in the industry.

PwC expects consolidation in the crypto space to continue in 2022. They are not confident about the popularity of mergers with DeFi, NFT and metaverses sectors. However, experts believe a rise in M&A deal volumes in these segments will not occur due to their immaturity.

As noted, in 2021 one of the largest rounds in the crypto industry was the Series B financing for the FTX exchange for $900 million. Subsequently, the amount of investments raised in connection with it grew to $1 billion.

In January 2022, FTX announced raising $400 million. In February, the company acquired the Japanese platform Liquid along with its subsidiaries.