If 2024 was the year of cryptocurrency resurgence, then 2025 will be a pivotal year for the industry to gain regulatory recognition and for public opinion to shift from speculation to financial market infrastructure.
The following are the key winners in 2025:
1. The United States and Trump: Shifting the industry's focus, defining stablecoins through the GENIUS Act, issuing an executive order on Bitcoin reserves, and pushing for leadership changes at the SEC/CFTC to clear regulatory obstacles.
2. Spot ETFs: IBIT ranks among the top 10 ETFs in terms of inflows in the US, surpassing traditional giants; the SEC approves general listing standards to simplify approval, giving rise to ETFs such as Ethereum, Solana, and XRP.
3. Solana: Shedding the "beta" label, its on-chain transaction volume has ranked first for three consecutive months, transforming into a global liquidity layer, and shifting from competing with Ethereum to benchmarking against Nasdaq.
4. Ripple: Ends long-running lawsuit with the SEC, shifts narrative to "liquidity engine" and launches spot ETFs; Ripple spends $4 billion to acquire traditional financial infrastructure, transforming into a full-stack institutional payment giant.
5. RWA: From pilot to critical infrastructure, BlackRock's BUIDL fund becomes off-exchange collateral, tokenized assets exceed $20 billion, and traditional financial giants are entering the market.
6. Stablecoins: Market capitalization surpasses $300 billion, with a record high of 200 million holders, becoming a global fintech settlement layer; the GENIUS Act provides legal clarity for banks to enter the market.
7. Hong Kong: The ETP market ranks third globally, with an average daily transaction volume of HK$37.8 billion; the VATP licensing system is sound, and the stablecoin regulations have attracted more than 30 applicants.
8. Base: Leveraging Coinbase's massive user base, it has become the preferred platform for consumer applications and stablecoin experiments, bridging the on-chain world and the compliant environment.
9. Zcash and Privacy: Zcash has led privacy coins to shed their "illegal" stigma and become one of the best performing sectors of the year, pushing Ethereum to accelerate its privacy protection efforts. The SEC has already discussed compliance architecture with Zcash.
10. Perpetual DEXs: On-chain derivatives break through the trust gap and successfully capture trading volume from CEXs. The rise of DEXs such as Hyperliquid marks the maturity of the DeFi market structure.
11. Prediction Markets: Platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket have set records, with traditional institutions and crypto companies like Gemini and Coinbase getting involved, bridging the gap between speculation and finance.
12. Early believers: They persevered through industry downturns and regulatory pressures, and their efforts were eventually validated, allowing them to enter the market before institutions like BlackRock.
