Five Crypto Projects Shut Down This Week as Bear Market Deepens

Five crypto projects — Syndicate Labs, Bitcoin Depot (BTM), Fantasy.top, Everclear and Zero Network — announced they are shutting down this week, underscoring a deepening bear market that began in late 2024. The article links the closures to sharply lower user activity, dwindling investment and a broader industry contraction that has led to over 5,000 layoffs this year and first-quarter losses at major firms such as Coinbase and Galaxy Digital. While some infrastructure and speculative projects are failing, the piece notes selective growth in utility-driven services (e.g., Hyperliquid, Polymarket), suggesting a market rotation from speculation toward revenue-generating use cases. The short-term market impact is negative for risk assets (including BTCUSD), increasing consolidation risk and raising the likelihood of more shutdowns among undercapitalized projects.