Compiled by: Deep Tide TechFlow

As 2024 comes to a close, 2025 arrives with anticipation.

Amid the clamor of the bull market, global crypto institutions have released their market outlook for 2025. According to published content, institutions generally believe that 2025 will be a pivotal year for the crypto market: Bitcoin is expected to break the $200,000 mark, crypto assets will further move towards mainstream acceptance, and several crypto unicorns may go public on US stock exchanges.

Notably, many institutions expect that 2025 will bring the peak of this bullish cycle, with inflows into Bitcoin ETFs, traditional financial institutions opening up crypto asset allocations, and AI-enabled innovative applications becoming important driving forces for market development.

Let’s review the core predictions of various institutions for the crypto market in 2025.

VanEck: The crypto market will reach new highs by the end of 2025, with a revival in the NFT market

  • The crypto bull market will reach a mid-term peak in the first quarter and set new highs by the end of the year;

  • The US will further embrace Bitcoin through strategic reserves and policy support;

  • The total value of tokenized securities will exceed $50 billion;

  • The daily trading settlement volume of stablecoins will reach $300 billion;

  • The on-chain activity of AI agents will exceed 1 million;

  • The total locked value (TVL) of Bitcoin's second-layer network will reach 100,000 BTC;

  • The revenue from Ethereum's Blob space fees will reach $1 billion;

  • DeFi trading volume will set a new high of $4 trillion, with total locked value reaching $200 billion;

  • The NFT market will revive, with annual trading volume reaching $30 billion;

  • The performance of decentralized application (DApp) tokens will gradually catch up with mainstream public chain tokens.

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Bitwise: Bitcoin surpasses $200,000, Ethereum surpasses $7,000

  • Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana will reach new historical highs, with Bitcoin trading prices exceeding $200,000;

  • The inflow of funds into Bitcoin ETFs in 2025 will exceed that of 2024;

  • Coinbase will surpass Charles Schwab to become the world's most valuable brokerage firm, with its stock price breaking $700 per share;

  • 2025 will be the 'Year of Crypto IPOs', with at least five crypto unicorns going public in the US;

  • Tokens issued by AI agents will lead to a larger-scale meme coin frenzy than in 2024;

  • The number of countries holding Bitcoin will double;

  • Coinbase will enter the S&P 500 index, and MicroStrategy will enter the Nasdaq 100 index, adding crypto exposure to (almost) every American investor's portfolio;

  • The US Department of Labor will relax restrictions on cryptocurrencies in 401(k) plans, leading to hundreds of billions of dollars flowing into crypto assets;

  • With the US passing long-awaited stablecoin legislation, the scale of stablecoin assets will double to $400 billion;

  • As Wall Street's acceptance of cryptocurrencies deepens, the value of tokenized real-world assets (RWA) will exceed $50 billion.

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Coinbase: The stablecoin market will continue explosive growth

Macroeconomic:

  • The Federal Reserve's monetary policy will ease, potentially providing a favorable backdrop for the development of the cryptocurrency market;

  • The new US Congress will bring a clearer regulatory environment for the cryptocurrency industry and may see the emergence of 'strategic Bitcoin reserves';

  • Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs will reshape the market ecosystem, and more ETFs covering additional assets may emerge in the future;

  • The stablecoin market will continue explosive growth and may expand into global capital flows and commercial payments;

  • RWA will further optimize the construction and management processes of investment portfolios;

  • The DeFi ecosystem is expected to revive and further integrate with traditional finance.

Disruption:

  • Telegram trading bots have become one of the most profitable cryptocurrency applications;

  • The performance of prediction market platforms far exceeds traditional polls, showcasing the unique advantages of blockchain technology;

  • Crypto games are shifting from 'play-to-earn' to providing high-quality gaming experiences, reducing the barrier for new users;

  • The decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) model is expected to solve the challenges of distributing physical resources, but long-term revenue sustainability still needs assessment;

  • AI applications in the crypto space are continuously exploring, but challenges remain in converting their value into enduring liquidity Tokens;

  • Multi-chain ecosystems may become the main pattern of the future, with differentiated advantages allowing for coexistence and development;

  • Improving user experience, including simplifying registration processes, optimizing wallet functions, and enhancing cross-chain experiences, is one of the key factors in promoting the adoption of crypto technology;

  • Decentralized identity verification helps meet regulatory requirements, becoming a core element of the future on-chain experience.

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Hashed: Asia will become the core engine for blockchain innovation and adoption

  • Hashed believes that 2025 will mark the true entry of blockchain into the mass adoption phase, with Asia becoming the core engine of blockchain innovation and adoption, and its technology-friendly environment driving innovative consumer experiences;

  • Stablecoins will become more integrated into traditional markets;

  • Intelligent creators will continuously generate high-quality content, with the future being dominated by intelligent entities (AI AIGENT) that convert users' attention into economic value through smart contracts. Such a mechanism will redistribute profits to Token holders, building a self-reinforcing attention economy system;

  • Blockchain can ensure data ownership and provenance tracking while securely using sensitive data with privacy protection, and incentivize data sharing through transparent economic models. Particularly mentioned are Zettablock and Story Protocol;

  • The next wave of growth in blockchain technology will be driven by consumer-centered applications that make the experience of using crypto technology as simple and smooth as traditional applications;

  • The open ecosystem of Telegram and TON is still in its early stages, with rapid user growth but low activity and retention rates. Compared to the centralized ecosystem of WeChat, Telegram and TON face infrastructure shortcomings and need to establish a middle layer to enhance platform scalability and support ecosystem development;

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Blockworks: The ICO model will return, with Base becoming a dark horse

  • The US will rise again as the core center of global cryptocurrencies;

  • More than 10 DeFi protocols will officially start fee switches, including Uniswap;

  • DeFi protocols will gradually adopt rehypothecation of customer assets as a new business model;

  • The debate within the Ethereum community about the 'North Star' roadmap will reach a conclusion, ultimately reaffirming the Rollup-centric roadmap, while Max's scaling proposal will fail to gain sufficient support. This outcome will bring much-needed cohesion to the Ethereum community and improve overall market sentiment;

  • The price of ETH tokens is expected to perform strongly;

  • Rollup-based solutions will still find it difficult to achieve significant breakthroughs in 2025;

  • Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) will gradually become an important part of L2 infrastructure and ultimately become a permanent feature;

  • Solana's momentum will continue throughout this cycle, but issues will gradually emerge by 2025;

  • The Firedancer client will officially launch in the fourth quarter, at which point Solana's network will achieve a processing capacity of 100,000 TPS;

  • Solana may adjust its token issuance policy to reduce inflation, while Ethereum will not make similar changes;

  • Base will become a dark horse in the Rollup ecosystem and a major competitor to Solana;

  • Base will also become the preferred chain for AI agents and other AI applications;

  • Stablecoins will gradually become the dominant asset on L2 networks, with their quantity expected to exceed twice that of ETH; the stablecoin market will see breakthrough growth in the coming year;

  • More than five large fintech companies or traditional financial institutions will launch their own stablecoins in 2025;

  • More than ten enterprises (including banks and Web2 giants) will launch their own L2 networks in 2025;

  • With a large user base and strong brand influence, Robinhood will become one of the dominant forces in the industry by 2025;

  • Investment opportunities in L1 blockchains still exist and will not disappear in the short term;

  • The ICO model will return, but will not dominate like it did in 2017;

  • Crypto companies will see a window for IPOs, but there will not be a large-scale listing wave;

  • The mainstream trend in 2025 will be the combination of AI and crypto;

  • The application scenarios for AI will become more diverse and not limited to agents;

  • TikTok's influence in the crypto space will reach unprecedented heights;

  • Bitcoin's L2 solutions will still find it difficult to achieve breakthroughs by 2025.

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DeFiprime: The deep integration of DeFi and AI will see the market reach a cyclical peak by 2025

  • Clarification of the regulatory environment;

  • DeFi and Web3 may return to the US;

  • Stablecoins will become the main force in the payment field;

  • The market may reach a cyclical peak in 2025;

  • Ethereum will continue to explore new development narratives;

  • The Token craze sweeps Web3;

  • The focus of investment in crypto infrastructure will shift;

  • The deep integration of DeFi and AI;

  • New token distribution and fundraising models;

  • NFT 2.0: Moving towards dynamism and efficiency.

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Messari: Base and Solana will continue to dominate DEX market share

  • The macro environment will provide strong support for crypto assets, and the depth and breadth of institutional participation will further expand, no longer viewing crypto merely as an investment asset, but beginning to value its potential as a financial infrastructure;

  • The inflow of Bitcoin ETFs has greatly exceeded expectations, and over time, institutions are likely to become the main drivers of daily BTC price movements;

  • The Ethereum Layer 2 ecosystem will have advantages over Layer 1 and face two paths for value capture: a token valuation model based on security demand and fee capture through native Rollups;

  • Solana's development is expected to exceed purely speculative application scenarios, potentially launching a spot Solana ETF, while the AI x Crypto field will continue to lead Solana's ecosystem innovations;

  • Base and Solana will continue to dominate DEX market share;

  • Prediction markets and RWA will continue to develop;

  • AI agents may surpass traditional memecoins, becoming new speculative hotspots;

  • Mobile applications will become a decisive trend, with Solana continuing to dominate memecoin trading activity;

  • Exchanges will accelerate the integration of on-chain and off-chain services, and the new government may relax restrictions on the listing of new coins on exchanges.

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Framework Co-founders: The inflow of funds into Ethereum and Bitcoin ETFs will reach the same level

  • Trump will establish a new global monetary framework, similar to the Plaza Accord of 1985. This framework will promote a significant depreciation of the dollar, facilitating the return of manufacturing to the US while directing liquidity towards the US market and high-risk assets like cryptocurrencies;

  • Major global armed conflicts are expected to end in the first half of 2025, leading to an optimistic era of peace and security;

  • The inflows into Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs will reach the same level in the second half of 2025, with daily average inflows of $1 billion each. This trend is primarily driven by the introduction of composite ETFs;

  • The listing plans for other cryptocurrency ETFs, aside from Bitcoin and Ethereum, will be postponed until 2026;

  • The combination of gaming and artificial intelligence (AI) will become the vertical field with the highest user volume (MAUs/DAUs), thanks to the significant enhancement of gaming experiences and interactions by AI technology;

  • Memecoins will be subdivided into multiple categories, including ephemeral, AI-driven, factory-produced, and large-cap types, intensifying market differentiation, but competition remains fierce;

  • The total revenue from fees in decentralized finance (DeFi) will exceed $10 billion in 2025, while the supply of stablecoins is expected to reach $500 billion by the end of the year;

  • Assets of large banks will begin to be tokenized, a trend that will significantly reduce resource wastage in the US financial system and enhance efficiency.

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