2025 crypto year results: Institutional adoption and failed altseason

​Many traders pinned high hopes on the outgoing year 2025, expecting explosive growth in altcoins. Reality, however, turned out differently: despite the active integration of cryptocurrencies by corporations and governments, the market remained stuck in a sideways trend.

Atypical year for cryptocurrencies

Previously, any year in the crypto market could be clearly defined as either bullish or bearish. Often, three years of growth were followed by a year of sharp correction. For this reason, most market participants expected the cycle peak to occur this year: even conservative analysts at Standard Chartered were forecasting Bitcoin at $200,000, while altcoins under such conditions could have delivered the long-awaited “multipliers.”

Throughout the year, initiative alternated between bulls and bears. In the first quarter, cryptocurrencies saw a modest correction, but in the second and third quarters they posted impressive results: BTC reached $126,000, and total market capitalization exceeded $4 trillion. However, profit-taking by large players, outflows from crypto ETFs, and rising geopolitical tensions led to a capital shift into precious metals, pushing cryptocurrencies back to their early-year levels.

Bitcoin remains the clear leader, with its market dominance continuing to grow. Overall, there were no changes in the Top 5, while the main battle unfolded in the lower half of the top ten: USDC and TRON strengthened their positions, whereas Solana and Dogecoin, by contrast, lost market capitalization.

Event of the year: Adoption of the GENIUS Act

On July 18, Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act passed by the Senate. At the World Economic Forum, this event was described as a turning point in global financial regulation. But why?

The GENIUS Act became the first crypto law in the United States to define requirements for stablecoins, their issuers, and market oversight. In particular, all stablecoins must be 100% backed by U.S. dollars or U.S. Treasury securities.

This year has also seen continued progress in implementing crypto market regulation in the EU under the MiCA framework, albeit unevenly. For example, in Poland, President Karol Nawrocki vetoed the measures and has refused to tighten cryptocurrency regulation.

One way or another, the status of cryptocurrencies is becoming official, and competition between regulatory regimes will largely determine shifts in global financial flows (so far, the situation is clearly not in the EU’s favor).

Uncertainty of the year: Trump and cryptocurrencies

Donald Trump’s team positioned him as the “first crypto president,” and the head of state himself repeatedly stated that he would make the United States the “crypto capital of the world” by creating unique conditions for miners and other industry participants. Expectations of significant market growth were priced into cryptocurrencies as early as last year—immediately after the election—when Bitcoin surpassed $100,000 for the first time.

Despite the adoption of the aforementioned GENIUS Act, many investors remain largely disappointed with Trump’s policies, primarily because a federal-level Bitcoin reserve has still not been established. Such a move could undoubtedly have triggered a record-breaking crypto rally and sparked competition for the limited supply of Bitcoin from China and other governments around the world. 

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In practice, Trump’s statements acted as a source of market volatility, alternately fueling hope and disappointment among coin holders. This was further amplified by his sharp remarks toward Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and even threats to dismiss him—despite the fact that U.S. law does not grant the president such authority. That said, Powell is likely to leave his post next year, though this will be due to the expiration of his term rather than political pressure.

Success of the year: Stablecoins and BlackRock’s ETFs

Although Bitcoin is ending the year in a sideways range and many altcoins have suffered significant price declines, there have been several major success stories over the past few months. Let’s start with stablecoins, which found themselves at the center of attention not only from regulators, but also from investors.

Annual transaction volume in stablecoins reached $40 trillion, a figure comparable to that of traditional payment systems such as Visa and Mastercard. As many as seven stablecoins are now in the Top 50 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, and the Top 100 also includes two “gold-backed stablecoins”: Tether Gold and PAX Gold. In this way, many investors prefer to weather periods of instability by gaining exposure to gold, while still using digital assets.

Another clear success story is BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, IBIT. Experts had predicted strong performance from BlackRock’s crypto exchange-traded products from the outset, but this is a case where results exceeded all expectations. IBIT’s total net assets exceed $72.5 billion, and both fund performance and client trading activity rank among the absolute leaders across all asset classes. IBIT’s share is also approaching 4% of Bitcoin’s total supply. 

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Another notable development this year was the expansion of the number of altcoins underlying spot crypto ETFs. Previously, this market was limited to Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, but this year regulators approved ETFs based on SOL, XRP, DOGE, HBAR, and LINK. Applications for funds tied to a wide range of additional coins and tokens are currently under review.

Hope of the year: Prediction markets

The Polymarket platform began gaining rapid popularity back in the fall of 2024, when bets on the outcome of the U.S. presidential election attracted significant public attention. As it turned out, the probabilities reflected on the platform proved to be closer to reality than the forecasts of most experts.

However, the long-term prospects of prediction markets remained uncertain for some time, especially in the post-election period. Still, 2025 confirmed that demand for prediction markets continues to grow steadily, while the range of covered events keeps expanding—from cryptocurrency price movements to sports, politics, and show business. Trading volumes in this segment are now measured in billions of dollars per week, with Polymarket (operating on the Polygon network) and Kalshi (largely operating off-chain, while developing solutions based on Solana) remaining the undisputed leaders in terms of transaction volume and number of active users.

Regulatory recognition of such platforms is also increasing, particularly in the United States. As a result, expert consensus on prediction markets has shifted dramatically over the past year—from skepticism and distrust to recognition of their potential and their role within the broader crypto market infrastructure.

Recognition of the year: Robinhood and Coinbase

Although Robinhood is formally a fintech rather than a pure cryptocurrency company, its success and inclusion in the prestigious S&P 500 index are largely driven by the crypto services it provides. In particular, clients have access to a range of popular coins (BTC, ETH, SOL, DOGE, and others), with trading offered commission-free, though spreads are built into prices.

Robinhood also offers custodial storage of cryptocurrencies on its platform with the option to withdraw them. At the same time, for several years the company has been serving users who prefer non-custodial solutions through its Web3 product, the Robinhood Wallet.

The inclusion of Coinbase in the S&P 500 in May sent a clear signal of official acceptance and recognition of crypto assets by major institutional players. Coinbase replaced Discover Financial Services in the index, which is symbolic even in itself, reflecting the gradual displacement of traditional financial companies by leaders of the crypto industry. COIN shares ended the year in a sideways range, mirroring their close correlation with the prices of major crypto assets.

Disappointment of the year: Memecoins and AI tokens

At the end of 2024, a number of crypto influencers began promoting the idea of a “memecoin supercycle,” claiming that promising memecoins would rise hundreds or even thousands of times in 2025. As often happens, however, hype produced the opposite effect.

Only two memecoins remain in the Top 50: Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, with the latter’s position also having weakened significantly. For example, the once well-known memecoin Moodeng is now ranked near the bottom of the fifth hundred by market capitalization. As for tokens launched on the Pump.fun platform, thousands of them have effectively gone to zero.

The situation with AI tokens, while slightly better, is still largely disappointing. One of the strongest performers in the segment, the leader TAO, still lost more than half its value over the year. Another popular AI token, FET, shed nearly 90% of its price.

While the AI industry itself continues to develop, excessive optimism and forecasts of a rapid AI revolution failed to materialize. The result was a sharp decline across the sector. If anyone benefited from the partial pivot toward AI, it was Bitcoin miners—such as Core Scientific, Riot Platforms, and Bitfarms—who diversified their operations and increased revenues.

Challenge of the year: Michael Saylor Strategy

The outgoing year proved to be the most difficult for Michael Saylor’s company since 2022. Despite Bitcoin’s relatively stable price, MSTR shares fell by more than half. On the one hand, this demonstrated that the company cannot consistently deliver returns that outperform its underlying asset, as it had in previous years.

On the other hand, rumors once again began circulating that Strategy might eventually be forced to sell some of its Bitcoin to meet obligations to creditors related to borrowed funds.At the same time, CEO Phong Le stated that selling Bitcoin would only be possible if the company’s NAV (net asset value) were to fall below 1. Strategy also plans to hold Bitcoin on its balance sheet at least until 2065. While the debt-based approach to raising capital for purchasing BTC continues to provoke mixed reactions within the crypto community, the broader trend of using Bitcoin as a reserve asset by dozens of new corporations is becoming increasingly evident.

Comeback of the year: CZ back in action

On October 23, one of the most significant events of the year took place: Donald Trump officially pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao. As a result, criminal proceedings against CZ were terminated, and he is now able to return to involvement in crypto projects in one form or another. 

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Will he become Binance’s CEO again? Most likely not. Under the plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, CZ committed not to hold executive positions at Binance or related entities. In addition, regulators such as the SEC, CFTC, and FinCEN would also likely oppose such a development.

Nevertheless, Changpeng Zhao can openly participate in Binance’s corporate life, albeit without executive status. In any case, investors reacted extremely positively to the news, and the price of BNB not only set a new all-time high but at one point exceeded $1,300 per coin.

Conclusion

For many traders, 2025 brought considerable disappointment due to unrealized profits and the absence of the long-awaited altseason. At the same time, it would be wrong to label the year as a failure. The expansion and regulatory recognition of stablecoins, the growth of Bitcoin ETFs, and the launch of funds based on a wide range of altcoins all confirm strong institutional interest in the industry.

Moreover, if Bitcoin’s price is measured against gold rather than the U.S. dollar, the decline has been ongoing for about a year already, with the peak reached back in December 2024. This may suggest that growth could soon resume and that we have likely experienced the mildest bear market in BTC’s history.

Whether this proves true will become clear in 2026. The Traders Union team is already preparing many surprises and high-quality content for you in the coming months. In-depth analytics, news, and podcasts will help you navigate the world of cryptocurrencies and make well-informed investment decisions.