A16zcrypto report 2025 shows crypto market maturity and growth

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A16zcrypto report 2025

Quality growth outpaces financial metrics

Researchers note that despite a prolonged downturn and political uncertainty, the market size has doubled over the past few years. Blockchains now process over 3,400 transactions per second — a 100x increase compared to five years ago.

Over $175 billion is held in Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange-traded products, while stablecoins facilitate $46 trillion in annual transaction volume ($9 trillion adjusted), rivaling Visa and PayPal.

Traditional financial giants such as Visa, BlackRock, Fidelity, and JPMorgan Chase, along with fintech competitors PayPal, Stripe, and Robinhood, have launched or integrated crypto products — a clear sign of the industry’s penetration into the global financial system.

The number of users of various cryptocurrencies. Source: a16z

In 2025, the total crypto market capitalization surpassed $4 trillion for the first time, while the number of mobile wallet users hit record highs, up 20% year-over-year.

“We estimate around 40–70 million active crypto users — up by 10 million from last year — based on our updated methodology,” the report says.

These figures contrast with an estimated 716 million people owning crypto (up 16% YoY), yet only a fraction actively transact on-chain — about 181 million monthly active addresses, down 18% from the previous year.This gap between passive holders and active users represents a major opportunity for builders to engage existing crypto owners more effectively.

The maturity phase has arrived

According to a16zcrypto, as blockchains scale, fee markets evolve, and new apps emerge, metrics reflecting real economic activity become more important — particularly “real economic value”, showing how much users actually pay to use blockchains.

Currently, Hyperliquid and Solana account for 53% of all revenue-generating activity, a significant shift from the former dominance of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Developer activity remains concentrated in Bitcoin, Ethereum (and its L2s), and Solana — with Solana seeing a 78% surge in developer interest over the past two years, making it one of the fastest-growing ecosystems.

A key ongoing trend is the rise of multichain platforms, which will likely drive greater stablecoin usage for cross-border payments, particularly in regions with volatile fiat currencies.

As we wrote, Crypto Foundations are slowing progress, says a16z legal head

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