CoinGecko, one of many world’s largest cryptocurrency knowledge platforms, is contemplating a possible sale price round $500 million, in accordance with a number of reviews printed this week.
The Malaysia-based firm has employed investment bank Moelis to advise on the method, which started in late 2024.
Bobby Ong, CoinGecko’s CEO and co-founder, addressed the reviews on Thursday by social media and LinkedIn. He confirmed the corporate usually evaluates strategic alternatives however stopped wanting confirming or denying a sale. “We’re rising, worthwhile, and seeing rising demand from establishments as conventional finance embraces crypto,” Ong acknowledged.
Bootstrapped Success Meets Market Consolidation
CoinGecko was based in April 2014 by Ong and TM Lee as a bootstrapped startup. The platform has operated for almost 12 years with none exterior funding or enterprise capital. The corporate remained simply the 2 founders till 2018, after they lastly started hiring further employees.
Three nameless sources aware of the matter informed media retailers that CoinGecko is focusing on a valuation round $500 million. Nonetheless, one supply famous it stays too early to find out a ultimate valuation since discussions solely started late final yr. Neither CoinGecko nor Moelis offered official feedback on the potential transaction.
Supply: @bobbyong
The selection of Moelis as an advisor indicators CoinGecko could also be focusing on conventional Wall Avenue institutional patrons reasonably than cryptocurrency enterprise capital corporations. Moelis has facilitated over $5 trillion in transactions throughout numerous industries, together with high-profile offers like Netflix’s $83 billion Warner Bros Discovery acquisition.
Document 12 months for Crypto Mergers and Acquisitions
CoinGecko’s exploration comes throughout an unprecedented surge in cryptocurrency business consolidation. In accordance with knowledge from Architect Partners, publicly disclosed crypto mergers and acquisitions reached $37 billion in 2025, greater than seven instances the earlier yr’s whole.
The 2025 figures crushed analyst expectations of roughly $30 billion and set a brand new report for the sector. Deal quantity elevated 74% year-over-year to 356 transactions. Notably, 39 offers exceeded $100 million and 17 surpassed $500 million.
Main transactions in 2025 included Coinbase’s $2.9 billion acquisition of derivatives platform Deribit and Kraken’s $1.5 billion buy of NinjaTrader. Cost firms additionally made important strikes, with Stripe buying Bridge and Ripple buying GTreasury, each for quantities exceeding $1 billion.
Business specialists anticipate 2026 to surpass even these report numbers. Karl-Martin Ahrend, co-founder of crypto M&A advisory Areta, informed reporters that conventional monetary establishments are significantly involved in buying digital property capabilities within the stablecoins and funds sectors.
Aggressive Panorama and Market Challenges
CoinGecko competes primarily with CoinMarketCap, which Binance acquired in April 2020 for an estimated $400 million in a mixture of fairness and BNB tokens. That deal gives a benchmark for CoinGecko’s present valuation goal.
Each platforms have confronted important site visitors declines lately. CoinGecko’s month-to-month site visitors dropped to roughly 18.5 million guests in December 2025, down from 43.5 million in 2024. CoinMarketCap skilled related challenges, with site visitors falling to 64 million from 157 million over the identical interval.
The decline seems linked to rising use of AI chatbots for cryptocurrency info. Customers are turning to conversational AI instruments reasonably than visiting devoted knowledge aggregation web sites for worth checks and market info.
Regardless of these headwinds, Ong emphasised that CoinGecko operates from a place of power. He famous the corporate stays worthwhile with rising institutional demand as conventional finance embraces cryptocurrency markets.
What Occurs Subsequent
The sale course of stays in early levels with no assure of completion. CoinGecko has not confirmed whether or not it is going to proceed with a transaction or keep its independence. The corporate acknowledged operations proceed “enterprise as standard” with no fast adjustments to the way it delivers knowledge or serves customers.
Ong and co-founder TM Lee emphasised their dedication to offering unbiased, high-quality cryptocurrency knowledge. This neutrality has been a cornerstone of CoinGecko’s strategy since its founding, distinguishing it in a market the place many platforms have accepted exterior funding that might affect their operations.
The timing of CoinGecko’s exploration aligns with broader business developments. Regulatory readability has improved considerably, significantly in the US beneath the brand new administration. Rates of interest and market circumstances have additionally turn into extra favorable for giant transactions.
Conventional monetary establishments are actively looking for to accumulate cryptocurrency capabilities reasonably than constructing them internally. This creates robust demand for established platforms like CoinGecko that have already got confirmed know-how, person bases, and market positions.
The Street Forward for Crypto Knowledge
The potential sale represents a major second for one in all cryptocurrency’s oldest unbiased knowledge suppliers. CoinGecko’s 12-year journey from a facet undertaking to an organization exploring a half-billion-dollar valuation demonstrates the maturation of the cryptocurrency business.
Whether or not CoinGecko in the end sells or stays unbiased, the exploration itself highlights how worthwhile dependable cryptocurrency knowledge has turn into. As institutional adoption accelerates and conventional finance enters the house, platforms that present trusted, complete market info command premium valuations.
The approaching months will reveal whether or not CoinGecko joins the consolidation pattern or continues its unbiased path. For now, the corporate maintains its operations whereas quietly evaluating what the longer term would possibly maintain.
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