Publicly Traded Firms Boost Blockchain Revenue Share to 16% Despite Industry Contraction in 2026
In 2026, publicly listed companies captured 16% of the blockchain sector’s revenue, more than doubling from a 7% share in 2022, according to a recent report by crypto investment firm 1kx.
This significant increase coincides with an expected 28% drop in total blockchain industry revenue to about $100 billion in 2026. The analysis covered data from over 2,600 protocols alongside earnings reports from 104 public companies through the third quarter.
The report attributes the growing revenue share of public companies partly to recent stock market listings, such as stablecoin issuer Circle, which went public in 2025, coupled with revenue increases at established firms. Notably, the top 10 publicly traded blockchain companies have doubled their related revenue over the past three years.
Coinbase and Circle together generated roughly $3.3 billion in blockchain-related revenue during the first half of 2026, while publicly traded Bitcoin mining firms earned about $2 billion. Traditional financial players like JPMorgan, BlackRock, CME Group, Visa, and Robinhood contributed an additional $1.1 billion collectively.
Revenue concentration remains high, with the six largest public blockchain companies accounting for approximately 50% to 60% of total revenue within this group.
The report also highlights that for the first time in Q3 2026, revenues from broader economic activities surpassed those from blockchain infrastructure, amounting to nearly $5.3 billion compared to $5.1 billion.
This broader category includes tokenized assets, payments, and prediction markets, which experienced a 58% year-over-year growth in the first half of 2026. Combined with institutional adoption, these areas made up 33% of blockchain revenue in Q3, with expectations of about 30% for the entire year.
Institutional and real-world economic activities are projected to represent 30% of blockchain income for 2026.
Data from RWA.xyz indicates that the value of distributed tokenized real-world assets increased approximately 51% over the past year, rising from $26.16 billion in October 2025 to $39.54 billion recently. Meanwhile, tokenized equities soared 471% in the same timeframe, reaching $3.77 billion.
The rise in revenue share of publicly traded companies and the growing impact of institutional and real-world economic activity signify a maturing blockchain industry increasingly integrated with traditional markets and assets.
This shift underscores the importance of public markets and tokenized real assets as key drivers in the evolution and revenue diversification of the blockchain ecosystem.
Why it matters
The data highlights that publicly listed companies are becoming major contributors to blockchain revenues, reflecting greater institutional involvement and the expanding economic utility of blockchain beyond infrastructure alone.
Prepared from the source material with AI-assisted editing and checked against the supplied facts.
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