Bitcoin to the moon. Ether to the moon. Solana to the moon. All-time highs across the board dominate crypto predictions for 2025.
But beyond price, what are the key industry trends we should be looking out for in the next 12 months? Cryptonews has asked a panel of experts to give us their thoughts.
CoinMarketCap’s head of research Alice Liu told us that DeFi is poised to make a comeback, with regulations set to loosen at the Securities and Exchange Commission as Donald Trump begins his second term.
“The DeFi sector has the potential to 3-5X in 2025, provided there is a crypto-friendly regulatory framework. Since the election date, the total market cap of the DeFi sector has already soared from $77 billion to $154 billion. The top DEXs on the leading L1s, staking/liquid restaking, payments, wallets, etc., will be at the forefront to capture this wave of growth.”
Alice is also keeping her eye on the tokenization of real-world assets — with projects focused on tokenized commodities popping up in the United Arab Emirates, the U.S. leading the way on money market funds, and Europe bringing real estate to blockchains.
“A new wave of regulatory and licensing support will help drive RWA forward in 2025. We are likely to witness the first $1 billion tokenized fund in crypto history in the coming months — the current top two are the Hashnote USYC ($704 million) and the BlackRock BUIDL (>$600 million).”
Wild excesses and froth among smaller altcoins is a common symptom of bull markets — and Alice told Cryptonews that this cycle will be no different.
“Meme coins will continue to provide opportunities for quick 100X gains. A newer generation of fair-launch products is emerging to improve upon Pump.fun and replace it. These products will help facilitate more playful engagement among meme communities.”
Institutions Turn to Crypto
Coinme CEO and co-founder Neil Bergquist told Cryptonews that institutions will increase their exposure to crypto once Gary Gensler’s tenure at the SEC comes to an end on inauguration day: January 20.
“We’re already seeing it happen. Morgan Stanley’s recent declaration of $272.1 million in Bitcoin exchange-traded fund holdings, along with Goldman Sachs and DRW Capital’s combined $600 million investment in spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, marked a significant turning point in Wall Street’s stance on cryptocurrency earlier this year — a trend I see gaining momentum in 2025.”
But Wall Street’s embrace of digital assets comes at a cost, with YouHodler’s chief of markets Ruslan Lienkha warning that crypto’s performance will now depend heavily on equities.
“If stock markets remain stable or continue to grow, we may witness new all-time highs for major cryptocurrencies. Conversely, a significant correction or a medium-term bearish trend in equities would likely extend to the cryptocurrency market as well, given the increasing correlation between traditional and digital assets. In such a scenario, digital assets would mirror the broader market’s downward trajectory.”
Bull markets also give an opening for opportunistic thieves to prey on greedy or inexperienced investors — and Chainalysis director of investigations Phil Larratt told us that vigilance is needed.
“We will likely see an uptick in investment scams, Ponzi schemes, ICOs, approval phishing and the use of drainers. The current bull market we’re experiencing is set to continue into 2025, so the proliferation of this type of financial crime will be a key challenge facing the industry next year.”
Crypto’s fast-moving nature makes it difficult to predict in some ways. The projects and trends that’ll dominate 2025 probably don’t exist yet.
But a strong showing from Bitcoin and Ether ETFs will likely lead to a flurry of applications (and approvals) for funds tracking the price of smaller cryptocurrencies like XRP and Solana.
It also seems inevitable that we’ll see countries around the world begin to seriously explore launching a strategic Bitcoin reserve — either by holding on to digital assets seized from criminals, or buying some outright. This will happen whether Trump comes good on this policy or not.
And a bonus prediction from me — keep a very close eye on MicroStrategy. The company has pulled a blinder by borrowing aggressively to accrue as much BTC as possible, with analysts saying that an “infinite money glitch” has started to form. But nothing lasts forever, and the next bear market could prove consequential for this publicly listed company — and Bitcoin.
The post Crypto Predictions 2025: Where are the Biggest Opportunities? appeared first on Cryptonews.
