The cryptocurrency market is struggling to recover after a major correction. Real Vision crypto analyst Jamie Coutts has taken a detailed look at the sector and shared the major trends he predicts for 2025. According to Coutts, some altcoins have the potential to explode.
The crypto market is trying to recover, with the leading coin Bitcoin struggling to reclaim the $100,000 level. Coutts notes that the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector could grow 4 to 5 times as the traditional finance sector (TradFi) enters the space more. In this context, the analyst expects that altcoins in the DeFi space will experience explosive growth.
Coutts predicts that some DeFi protocols could outperform major coins like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL) during this growth period. He also notes that the DeFi and TradFi sectors will become increasingly intertwined in the coming year. Among the major trends predicted for 2025 are:
TradFi is rapidly starting to integrate with crypto: acquisitions by CEXs (centralized exchanges) and further crypto integrations (e.g. Robinhood/Arbitrum) are expected.
Some CEXs will begin trading and be listed on traditional financial exchanges.
CEXs will build their own DEX platforms (L2s) or multi-chain integrations.
As the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) increases, valuations of financial assets, particularly equities and fixed income products, are rising.
TradFi investors will start investing in growth-oriented crypto arms. The DeFi sector will be one of the priority sectors as it can be modeled on cash flows.
The DeFi sector has the potential to grow 4-5x, and some protocols could outperform major coins like Ethereum, Solana, and Bitcoin.
Coutts emphasizes that crypto is rapidly gaining ground against the TradFi sector. At the time of writing, the total market cap of DeFi altcoins was $152.6 billion. “This is truly incredible,” Coutts says. “Crypto is eating TradFi’s lunch.”
According to the analyst, some notable developments include:
Coinbase generates 11% of global exchange revenues, placing it in 5th place, ahead of Nasdaq.
DEXs (decentralized exchanges) have overtaken the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) and CBOE.
Total CEX revenues are expected to be on par with TradFi by 2024.
CEX and DEXs are growing 2.5 to 4 times faster than the TradFi sector.
DEXs stand out as some of the most profitable applications in the world.
According to Coinbase’s price/sales ratio, the CEX sector has reached a total market value of $749 billion, while TradFi’s value remains at $610 billion.