Introduction
2025 marked a watershed year for digital assets, as both Bitcoin and Ethereum reached new all-time highs amid growing regulatory clarity in the United States and accelerating institutional adoption. The passage of the GENIUS Act, the first comprehensive federal stablecoin legislation, signaled a material shift in U.S. policy, while regulatory enforcement actions against many crypto-native firms moderated.
Institutional participation deepened meaningfully throughout the year, driven by expanded exposure to spot ETFs, broader availability of crypto trading products for clients, and the growing adoption of digital asset treasury strategies. A surge in crypto-related IPOs further underscored traditional capital markets' increasing acceptance of digital assets as a legitimate asset class. Prediction market gained mainstream and perp DEXs became an oligopolistic market.
Despite Bitcoin ending the year in the red, the industry has made meaningful progress and significant breakthroughs this year and we will highlight 12 defining charts that have shaped the crypto landscape in 2025.
Bitcoin
Institutional holdings of BTC via ETFs and Bitcoin treasuries strategies have taken off in 2025 with total holdings as a % of circulating supply now exceeding 10%. Bitcoin ETFs accounted for a record ~35% of total trading volume, highlighting a structural shift toward institutionally driven liquidity.
Although Bitcoin recorded all-time highs during the year, overall price momentum remained muted amid a lack of durable catalysts and a diversion of liquidity to other asset classes. Entering late 2025, long-term holder supply declined and spot market liquidity continued to deteriorate.
Ethereum
Ethereum concluded 2 major upgrades in 2025, namely Pectra and Fusaka Upgrade in May and December respectively. Post Pectra, there was a noticeable increase in L2 activity as reflected by the increase in data posted onto Ethereum.
Despite a growing activity on Ethereum L2s, this has not cannibalized usage away from Ethereum. Instead, the number of daily active users and daily transactions has increased in 2025. Average daily DEX trading volume more than tripled from ~$1.4B to $4.4B. This is mainly attributed to the doubling of the block gas limit on Ethereum from 30M to 60M which substantially increased network capacity and brought average gas prices 10x cheaper compared to the start of the year.
Overall, the Ethereum ecosystem continues to remain robust while advancing on its scalability roadmap via L2s expansion.
L2 War
While the number of Layer 2 networks expanded throughout the year — with notable 2025 entrants including Unichain and Celo — none were able to surpass Base in user activity. This dynamic shifted in Q4, when Polygon experienced a sharp acceleration in adoption.
Daily active users started surpassing Base from November on the back of network upgrades, institutional adoption and prediction market taking off on its platform. Its latest tech upgrade, Madhugiri boosted TPS by more than 40% and increased block gas limit by 33.33% while ensuring compatibility with Ethereum Fusaka Upgrade.
Platforms like Stripe, Shift4, and Revolut are among institutions that have announced integration with Polygon for stablecoin payments and transfer. Prediction market activity is also dominated by Polygon as the network accounts for more than 70% market share at the end of the year attributable to Polymarket's success.
Privacy
The privacy narrative made its comeback in Q4 2025 after languishing for the earlier parts of this year led by Naval Ravikant's October 1 endorsement of Zcash as "insurance against Bitcoin." The largest privacy token saw its price reach a 7-year high of over $750 at one point, representing a 1000% rally from its yearly lows.
Despite recent price corrections, Zcash network utility is expanding. Shielded transaction adoption grew to 18% this year, while Zcash volume via the NEAR Intents cross-chain bridge has surged to become the bridge's second-largest activity driver. This growth underscores rising demand for privacy-embedded solutions among institutional investors and high-net-worth participants.
Another privacy project that benefited from revival of interest surrounding private transactions is Aztec Network's Ignition Chain. The project successfully raised over $60M via a Continuous Clearing Auction, with the final clearing price finishing 59% above the initial offering. Attracting more than 17,000 participants, the sale's success underscores a significant resurgence in organic demand for privacy-centric solutions in 2025.
RWA
Prediction Market
Perp DEXs
What used to be a monopoly by Hyperliquid in perpetual DEX trading, owning more than 70% market share in January, quickly developed into a diversified market with several leading perpetual DEXs. In the second half of 2025, the launch of Aster and Lighter quickly stole market share away from Hyperliquid as they competed on offering a wider range of long tail assets and lower fees, underscoring the fragility of liquidity.
To conclude the year, 3 leading perpetual DEXs now command ⅔ of all perpetual trading volume with each of them having similar market share.
Yield Bearing Stablecoin
Beyond traditional payment use cases led by USDC and USDT, the demand for liquid yield-bearing stablecoins gained significant traction in 2025, with this growth expected to accelerate through 2026. In contrast to USDC and USDT which collectively grew ~45% YoY in market supply, the supply of yield-bearing stablecoins has surged ~85% YoY underscoring stablecoin's role not just for seamless payment transactions but also as a source of liquid, easily accessible yields.
While Ethena's sUSDe started the year strong and led the pack, the confluence of geopolitical tension between US and China coupled with the mismanagement and poor risk controls in several yield bearing stablecoin projects dragged down its performance, further highlighting the importance of risk management.
Meanwhile, Sky's sUSDS saw net inflows of around $3.5B this year as it offers attractive yields that are backed by diversified onchain/offchain collateral including stablecoins, RWAs, lending, staking etc.
AI — x402
The x402 protocol has emerged as a key infrastructure layer for AI agents to make payments, enabling seamless machine-to-machine transactions. This development marks a significant milestone in the agent economy, allowing AI systems to autonomously execute financial transactions.
The Year Crypto Card Took Off
Funding & IPOs
This year reignited market interests within the digital asset ecosystem with total funding reaching $22.7B. After a long dry spell for crypto IPOs, the liquidity environment for crypto companies has eased under more favorable regulatory policies.
In terms of public listing, companies such as Circle, Bullish, Galaxy Digital, Gemini, eToro, and Figure went public in the US. In Hong Kong, HashKey Group makes its HKEX debut, underscoring the increasing legitimacy of digital assets under sufficient, favorable regulatory oversight.
In terms of M&A, M&A activity reached $8.6B across 267 deals in 2025, almost quadruple the number recorded in 2024. Major themes surrounding such acquisitions include licensing, expansion of stablecoin capabilities, as well as derivative access.
Conclusion
With that, it's a wrap for 2025 and see you in 2026! Happy New Year everyone!