Top 83 Bitcoin Startups to Watch in 2026
The Bitcoin ecosystem continues to expand with companies building new financial tools and infrastructure. These startups cover everything from trading and lending to security and compliance.
Newcomers like Plasma, which supports DeFi on Bitcoin, have raised significant capital, securing $397M. Meanwhile, established players like BitGo provide core infrastructure for custody and security.
Below is our list of 83 Bitcoin startups worth keeping an eye on.
Failory's Top 10 Picks
BitGo builds core infrastructure for the digital asset economy with a focus on security and trust for investors. Their platform offers institutional-grade custody and financial services for managing cryptocurrency portfolios.
| Headquarters | Palo Alto, California, United States |
| Year Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | Ben Davenport, Mike Belshe, Will O'Brien |
| Funding Amount | $171.5M |
| Startup Size | Large Team (251-1,000) |
| Last Funding Status | Corporate Round |
| Top Investors | Valor Equity Partners, Pantera Capital, Craft Ventures, Founders Fund, Goldman Sachs |
Plasma builds a decentralized financial infrastructure on Bitcoin, creating an operational setting for payments, real-world assets, and DeFi. The platform provides these applications with trustless settlement secured by the Bitcoin network.
| Headquarters | |
| Year Founded | 2024 |
| Founders | — |
| Funding Amount | $397M |
| Startup Size | Lean Team (11-50) |
| Last Funding Status | Initial Coin Offering |
| Top Investors | Founders Fund, Bybit, Framework Ventures, Manifold, Anthos Capital |
Lava offers a bitcoin lending platform that includes a self-custodial wallet for managing digital finances. Their service allows users to borrow against their bitcoin holdings without giving up control of their assets.
| Headquarters | Wilmington, Delaware, United States |
| Year Founded | 2014 |
| Founders | Shehzan Maredia |
| Funding Amount | $27.5M |
| Startup Size | Founding Team (1-10) |
| Last Funding Status | Series A |
| Top Investors | Khosla Ventures, Founders Fund, Caffeinated Capital, HashKey Capital, SignalFire |
Yellow Card offers a cryptocurrency exchange for buying, selling, and sending digital currencies across Africa. They created the continent's largest and first licensed stablecoin on and off-ramp, making it easier for users to access the global economy.
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia, United States |
| Year Founded | 2016 |
| Founders | Chris Maurice, Justin Poiroux |
| Funding Amount | $89.5M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Series C |
| Top Investors | Andreessen Horowitz, MoonPay, Coinbase Ventures, Castle Island Ventures, Galaxy Ventures |
Phantom developed a crypto wallet for buying, trading, and storing digital assets like NFTs and tokens. Their platform serves as a secure way for users to manage their holdings and interact with decentralized applications.
| Headquarters | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Year Founded | 2021 |
| Founders | Brandon Millman, Chris Kalani, Francesco Agosti |
| Funding Amount | $268M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Series C |
| Top Investors | Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm, Sequoia Capital, Solana Foundation, Variant |
Gate.io provides a cryptocurrency exchange platform for trading a wide range of digital assets. They are known as one of the top exchanges in the world, distinguished by high trading volume and deep liquidity.
| Headquarters | George Town, Midland, Cayman Islands |
| Year Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | Lin Han |
| Funding Amount | $74M |
| Startup Size | Major Organization (1,001-5,000) |
| Last Funding Status | Series A |
| Top Investors | Gate Ventures, 5 BLOCKS CAPITAL |
Deribit runs a high-performance cryptocurrency exchange focused on derivatives. The platform is best known for its options and futures markets, while also offering spot trading for digital assets.
| Headquarters | Ermelo, Gelderland, The Netherlands |
| Year Founded | 2015 |
| Founders | John Jansen, Marius Jansen, Sebastian Smyczýnski |
| Funding Amount | $140M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Venture Round |
| Top Investors | 50T Funds, QCP Capital, Akuna Capital, Polybius Capital |
Elliptic develops blockchain analytics and crypto compliance solutions for businesses and financial institutions. Their platform is used to detect and prevent financial crime within the digital asset ecosystem.
| Headquarters | London, England, United Kingdom |
| Year Founded | 2013 |
| Founders | Adam Joyce, James Smith, Tom Robinson |
| Funding Amount | $100M |
| Startup Size | Mid-Size Team (51-250) |
| Last Funding Status | Corporate Round |
| Top Investors | HSBC, Octopus Ventures, Digital Currency Group, Santander, Wells Fargo |
CoinEx operates a global cryptocurrency exchange for trading a wide variety of digital assets. Their platform provides professional-grade services for users interested in the blockchain and FinTech markets.
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Year Founded | 2017 |
| Founders | Haipo Yang |
| Funding Amount | — |
| Startup Size | Large Team (251-1,000) |
| Last Funding Status | — |
| Top Investors | — |
BitMart offers a global trading platform for a wide variety of digital assets and cryptocurrencies. Their exchange allows users to securely buy, sell, and manage their crypto investments.
| Headquarters | New York, New York, United States |
| Year Founded | 2017 |
| Founders | Sheldon Xia |
| Funding Amount | $10M |
| Startup Size | Large Team (251-1,000) |
| Last Funding Status | Series B |
| Top Investors | Alpha Square Group, Fenbushi Capital, Chaos Ventures, Kube VC, Alexander Capital Ventures |
73 Additional Bitcoin Startups Worth Following
Our top 10 picks offer a great snapshot, but there is a lot more happening around Bitcoin. Founders are building all sorts of projects, from new financial tools to AI platforms.
Together, these companies have raised over $7 billion, and they include both brand new ventures and established players. Here is a look at the rest of the startups that are building the future of Bitcoin.
| Startup | Main Industry | Year Founded | Amount Raised | Last Funding Round |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Archax | Crypto | 2018 | $45.1M | Corporate Round |
 CoinMarketCap | Crypto | 2013 | — | — |
 HTX | Crypto | 2013 | $2M | Initial Coin Offering |
 Blockstream | Crypto | 2014 | $634M | Convertible Note |
 VALR | Crypto | 2018 | $55M | Series B |
 Succinct | Crypto | 2022 | $55M | Series A |
 NYDIG | Crypto | 2017 | $1.4B | Private Equity |
 Bitcoin Hyper | Crypto | 2017 | $19.3M | Initial Coin Offering |
 OKX | Media | 2017 | — | — |
 ZBD | Crypto | 2019 | $46.5M | Series B |
 Arkham Intelligence | AI | 2020 | $12M | Series A |
 BitPay | Crypto | 2011 | $114.3M | Series B |
 Portal to Bitcoin | Crypto | 2018 | $92.5M | Series A |
 Hemi Labs | Crypto | 2023 | $30M | Seed |
 Casa | Crypto | 2016 | $27.1M | Series A |
 Bitfury Group | Crypto | 2011 | $170M | Venture Round |
 Triple-A | Crypto | 2017 | $14M | Series A |
 Meanwhile | Crypto | 2022 | $59M | Series A |
 OpenSea | Crypto | 2017 | $427.2M | Series C |
 Shakepay | Crypto | 2015 | CA$45M | Series A |
 Coins.ph | Crypto | 2014 | $40M | Series C |
 Bitpanda | Crypto | 2014 | $554M | Series C |
 Bit2Me | Crypto | 2014 | $109.9M | Venture Round |
 Uphold | Crypto | 2013 | $74.9M | Series C |
 Socket | Crypto | 2022 | $2M | Pre-Seed |
 Grayscale Investments | Crypto | 2013 | — | — |
 River | Crypto | 2019 | $52.7M | Series B |
 BlockSpaces | Crypto | 2017 | $9.3M | Venture Round |
 PancakeSwap | Crypto | 2020 | $4M | Initial Coin Offering |
 Binance | Crypto | 2017 | $2B | Venture Round |
 Mercado Bitcoin | Crypto | 2013 | $87.4M | Series C |
 Ripio | Crypto | 2013 | $94.4M | Series B |
 Block Earner | Crypto | 2021 | $9.7M | Series A |
 Bitlayer | Crypto | 2023 | $25M | Series A |
 Bitstamp by Robinhood | Crypto | 2011 | $12.4M | Corporate Round |
 Bitcoin Suisse | Crypto | 2013 | CHF45M | Series A |
 Arkon Energy | AI | 2020 | $156.6M | Venture Round |
 Relai | Media | 2020 | $21.8M | Series A |
 Quidax | Crypto | 2017 | $3.6M | Initial Coin Offering |
 Nebeus | Crypto | 2014 | $282.9M | Equity Crowdfunding |
 Zengo | Crypto | 2018 | $24M | Venture Round |
 B2C2 | Enterprise | 2015 | $37.9M | Debt Financing |
 Coinone | Crypto | 2014 | $73.5M | Corporate Round |
 CoinGecko | Crypto | 2014 | — | — |
 Zeus Network | Crypto | 2024 | $11M | Seed |
 NAKA | Crypto | 2017 | $46.4M | Series A |
 Bitfinex | Crypto | 2012 | — | Initial Coin Offering |
 XREX | Crypto | 2018 | $42.8M | Corporate Round |
 2TM | Fintech | 2013 | $250.3M | Corporate Round |
 Quadrata | Crypto | 2020 | $7.6M | Seed |
 Bitkub Capital Group Holdings | Crypto | 2018 | $28.7M | Venture Round |
 Bipa | Crypto | 2020 | $22.1M | Seed |
 Utorg | Fintech | 2020 | $5M | Seed |
 Koibanx | Crypto | 2014 | $22.2M | Series A |
 El Dorado | Crypto | 2021 | $3.5M | Seed |
 Foxbit | Crypto | 2014 | $21.1M | Series A |
 BitDCA | Crypto | 2022 | $10.4M | Seed |
 Obsidiam | Crypto | 2018 | $4M | Seed |
 RabbitX | Crypto | 2021 | $19.5M | Venture Round |
 Coinpanion | Fintech | 2019 | $5.8M | Seed |
 Bitfinity Network | Crypto | 2021 | $12M | Initial Coin Offering |
 BTC Direct | Crypto | 2013 | $11M | Series A |
 Block Green | Crypto | 2022 | $3.7M | Seed |
 Volcano Energy | Crypto | 2023 | $250M | Corporate Round |
 Satoshis Games SL | Crypto | 2019 | $2.9M | Initial Coin Offering |
 Biokript | Crypto | 2022 | $580k | Seed |
 Stroom Network | Crypto | 2021 | $3.5M | Seed |
 Bitpace | Crypto | 2017 | — | — |
 Russian Miner Coin | Crypto | 2017 | $43M | Initial Coin Offering |
 NEEDEMAND | AI | 2017 | €88k | Pre-Seed |
 PlayAmo | Crypto | 2015 | €2.5M | Venture Round |
 Soil | Crypto | 2021 | — | Undisclosed |
 Bank of Albania | Fintech | 1912 | — | — |
