As 2024 draws to a close, European crypto investment firm CoinShares has released market predictions for the new year. In its report, CoinShares has identified the key trends that could dominate the crypto industry in 2025.
The report closely examines how the US under President Donald Trump could impact the crypto market. It also discusses the emergence of Bitcoin-yielding companies as a trend to be monitored in 2025.
Trump to Overhaul Crypto?
In a report dated December 11, CoinShares said that the US is expected to undergo significant changes in crypto regulation in 2025 under the Trump administration. Analyst Max Shannon believes the promised regulatory overhaul and support for Bitcoin miners could create a favorable environment for digital assets in 2025.
“As the US shifts towards these policies, altcoins are likely to outperform Bitcoin, despite the latter still potentially being one of the best performing assets in 2025,” the analyst wrote.
It was predicted that miners focused solely on mining Bitcoin would likely outperform those who have diversified into other revenue streams, such as AI or machine manufacturing.
CoinShares further noted that the road ahead for Bitcoin ETFs looks promising, given their rapid success. Also, only 20% of the AUM in Bitcoin ETFs is held by professional firms and money managers. This means there is room for growth with more institutional adoption.
Bitcoin Yielding – The Next Big Thing?
Another trend to be mindful of in 2025 is the emergence of Bitcoin-yielding companies. This comes into focus as businesses are now adopting BTC as a treasury asset.
Analyst Satish Patel has classified BTC yield into three categories. The first is the growth of Bitcoin holdings relative to the company’s shares. The second is yield farming, which generates returns by lending Bitcoin.
The third category involves alternative strategies for leveraging derivatives to generate income from a Bitcoin reserve.
MicroStrategy, holding 423,650 BTC, has even introduced its own version of the “BTC Yield” metric to measure the effectiveness of its strategy. Companies like Block, Marathon Digital, and Metaplanet are following in MicroStrategy’s footsteps as they accumulate Bitcoin to use for profits.
“This trend reflects a broader recognition of Bitcoin’s potential to serve not only as a store of value but also as a means to generate yields,” the analyst said.
Patel also highlighted how several major companies have started accepting crypto as payment in 2024. He believes companies like Amazon, Shopify, and Nike, which are already involved in crypto, either through payments or investments, may consider incorporating Bitcoin into their treasuries in 2025.
What 2025 Holds for Ethereum, Solana
When it comes to Ethereum, CoinShares predicted that usage on Layer 2s will continue to increase over the next year. According to analyst Luke Nolan, the institutionalization of Layer 2 chains, as was the case with Kraken and Sony, will drive adoption in 2025.
“In our view, L2 adoption will continue to rise, which will increase demand for blobs, and Ethereum transaction fee spend,” the analyst said.
He further added that L2s would once again become a source of demand for Ethereum.
As Ethereum prepares for the Pectra upgrade in 2025, the analyst noted that executing the roadmap would bring new efficiencies. The ETH token will also face challenges as it attempts to balance usability and value accrual.
Now, as far as Solana’s future is concerned, the report said that Frankendancer and Firedancer can transform it.
These are validator clients that aim to change up Solana’s networking, runtime, and consensus layers for improved performance and scalability. Nevertheless, Solana also needs to address its transactions per second (TPS) limitations through updates for greater efficiency.
