Written by: Lei, Golden Financial
2025 is considered an important year for the maturity and standardization of the cryptocurrency industry. A series of major events and technological breakthroughs will drive the market into a new phase, while having a profound impact on the global financial system. Here are eight major events in the cryptocurrency industry worth paying attention to in 2025, along with their background and impact.
One, Trump’s new government lineup takes office: A turning point in cryptocurrency market regulation
Trump's second term is expected to bring new directions to U.S. financial regulation, especially in the policy formulation of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The new leadership may adopt a more open and flexible regulatory approach to promote market development.
Background
1. CFTC's promotion
More commodity-like crypto assets brought under regulatory scope: CFTC may classify more mainstream crypto assets (like Solana and Polygon) as commodities, clarifying their regulatory framework.
Promoting the expansion of the crypto derivatives market: CFTC may accelerate the approval of more crypto futures and options trading, providing a wider range of hedging tools for institutional investors.
Global cooperation: Strengthening cooperation with regulatory agencies in other countries to promote compliance and standardization of cross-border transactions.
2. SEC's transition
Expansion of spot ETFs: Following the approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs, more mainstream asset ETFs (such as Solana and Hedera) may be approved, further driving capital inflow.
Stablecoin regulatory framework implementation: Stablecoins may be incorporated into the 'payment tool' framework, promoting the integration of mainstream payment and settlement systems.
3. Joint actions by CFTC and SEC
Launch a unified classification standard for crypto assets.
Facilitate smoother entry of institutional funds into the crypto market.
Impact
Improvement in market transparency: A clear regulatory framework will reduce market uncertainty, attracting massive institutional funds to enter.
Industry reshuffling: Stricter compliance requirements may eliminate some small and medium-sized projects, leading the market towards a more concentrated and mature direction.
Two, Ethereum Dencun upgrade and Pectra technological innovation
Ethereum will undergo multiple technical upgrades in 2025, including the full implementation of Danksharding and an upgrade called 'Pectra'. These technical improvements will significantly enhance Ethereum's scalability and user experience.
Background
Account abstraction (EIP-7702): Simplifying user operations, supporting complex decentralized applications (DApp).
Zero-knowledge proof support (EIP-2537): Enhancing privacy and scalability.
Validator staking cap increase (EIP-7251): Improving network efficiency and facilitating institutional participation in staking.
Data availability sampling (PeerDAS): Reducing Layer-2 transaction costs and promoting ecosystem expansion.
Impact
Attracting more developers and users to the Ethereum ecosystem.
Promoting further development of decentralized finance (DeFi) and the NFT market.
Three, Global stablecoin regulatory framework implementation
In 2025, the G20 is expected to complete a unified regulatory framework for global stablecoins, which will have a significant impact on the issuance, reserve requirements, and cross-border payment applications of stablecoins.
Background
Financing dynamics: In 2024, financing in the stablecoin sector reached $1.86 billion, with Stripe acquiring Bridge Network for $1.1 billion.
Traditional institutions enter the market: PayPal's PYUSD market value has exceeded $1 billion, promoting the integration of stablecoin payments with traditional payments.
Regional regulation: The EU's MiCA regulations and Hong Kong's stablecoin sandbox plan will be fully implemented in 2025.
Impact
International payment accelerates popularization: Stablecoins will play an important role in high-inflation regions and international trade.
Market scale expansion: The market value of stablecoins is expected to exceed $400 billion, becoming the fastest-growing track in the crypto field.
Four, Deep integration of AI and blockchain
The combination of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain is leading technological innovation, especially in the fields of AI wallets, decentralized AI agents, and AI training networks. In 2025, this integration will give rise to multiple new technologies and applications.
Background
1. Decentralized Autonomous Chatbots (DACs): Blockchain-based AI chatbots can autonomously manage assets and complete complex tasks.
2. AI Wallets: AI agents will support autonomous investment and payment functions.
3. Authentication and privacy protection: The combination of AI technology and blockchain ensures the authenticity and privacy of interactions.
4. AI Agent: Virtual as a new generation AI and blockchain protocol promotes AI applications in the metaverse and Web3 through rapid deployment, autonomous agents, and plug-and-play infrastructure, attracting widespread community participation and investment support. Meanwhile, Eliza, as the world's first chatbot, laid the theoretical foundation for human-computer interaction, providing important inspiration and historical accumulation for the logic and functionality of modern AI agents.
5. Tech giants like Google and Apple launch AI agent products. Decentralized AI networks (like Fetch.ai) become market hotspots.
Impact
The combination of AI and blockchain helps lower the technical threshold of Web3, enhances user privacy and security, while promoting the integrated development of the virtual economy and the real economy. By 2025, it is expected to give rise to more mainstream applications and technological breakthroughs, leading the industry towards maturity.
Five, Global expansion of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs
The approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs has brought capital inflow and mainstream recognition to the crypto market, and more assets are likely to enter the ETF space in 2025.
Background
Capital inflow: As of December 2024, the management scale of Bitcoin ETFs has exceeded $100 billion.
Expansion to other assets: Several institutions have submitted applications for Solana ETFs, including Bitwise, VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary Capital. These applications are mainly concentrated in November 2024, with the final approval deadline expected in early August 2025. At the same time, institutions like Canary Capital and Bitwise have submitted applications for a spot XRP ETF to the SEC.
Impact
Acceleration of mainstreaming: The proliferation of ETFs will enhance market liquidity and transparency.
More institutional participation: Traditional institutional funds will flow in on a large scale.
Six, Breakthrough in Real World Assets (RWA) Tokenization
Real World Asset tokenization (RWA) achieved significant results in 2024, and the market scale may further expand in 2025.
Background
2024 locked value: The total value of the RWA market has reached $60 billion.
Major projects: Ondo Finance, Maple Finance, and Centrifuge promote asset tokenization.
Stablecoin market value: As of March 2024, stablecoins, as the largest segment of RWA, have a market value exceeding $150 billion.
Tokenized financial products: Institutions like BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Ondo Finance have launched their own tokenized financial products.
Impact
Market scale breakthrough: RWA locked value is expected to exceed $200 billion.
More asset classes: Tokenization of stocks, real estate, and commodities will accelerate.
Seven, NFT Renaissance
NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are gradually transforming from their initial role as art collectibles and speculative tools into more practical on-chain tools. By 2025, with the development of blockchain technology and the expansion of the Web3 ecosystem, the potential of NFTs in practical applications will be more widely explored.
Background
Practicality becomes the core driver: NFTs are no longer limited to collectible value but are gradually integrated into practical application scenarios, such as on-chain identity (DID), in-game assets, memberships, and consumer rewards.
Emerging markets and cross-border cooperation: Projects like Sofamon create economic value by combining NFTs with the emoji market, realizing the digital identity and on-chain wearable devices.
Technology and industry support: NFTs demonstrate higher technical flexibility in 2024, used for labeling, transferring, and evaluating digital and real-world assets.
Impact
Driving the maturity of the Web3 ecosystem: The practicality of NFTs injects new vitality into the Web3 ecosystem through the integration of identity management, membership rights, and innovative applications across industries.
Redefining brand and consumer relationships: The participation of traditional brands (such as IWC) indicates that NFTs have become an important tool for brands to redefine user experiences and brand loyalty.
Promoting the protection and monetization of intellectual property: Projects like Story Protocol show that NFTs can be an important tool for intellectual property protection, especially in combating counterfeit products and empowering creators.
Accelerating the integration of on-chain and off-chain economies: Through the tokenization and evaluation capabilities of NFTs, the connection between crypto assets and the real economy will become closer, providing higher transparency and liquidity for capital markets.
Activation and standardization of the investment market: The NFT market in 2025 will be more standardized, with NFTs no longer being mere speculative tools but an asset class supported by long-term value.
Eight, DeFi 2.0: Enhancing Capital Efficiency and Compliance
DeFi protocols will further develop in 2025 by enhancing capital efficiency, introducing on-chain credit, and integrating RWA.
Background
DeFi protocols significantly enhanced capital efficiency in 2024, optimizing funding utilization models through innovative mechanisms. Traditional DeFi protocols (like Aave and Compound) rely on high collateral ratios, leading to low capital efficiency, while emerging protocols adopt a Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL) model, reducing reliance on external capital by holding liquidity pool assets or introducing locking mechanisms. For example, Balancer and Curve's 'liquidity locking rewards' significantly improved liquidity stability.
The introduction of on-chain credit is an important direction for DeFi development in 2024, assessing credit through users' on-chain behaviors (such as transaction and repayment records) to lower collateral requirements and release more capital liquidity. For instance, credit scoring protocols like Arcx and Spectral have begun to be applied across multiple lending platforms, while mainstream protocols like Aave and Maple Finance are testing low-collateral or no-collateral lending models, creating new pathways for capital release in the DeFi space.
The integration of Real World Assets (RWA) is another highlight of DeFi development in 2024, enhancing capital efficiency by tokenizing traditional assets such as bonds, real estate, and accounts receivable. For example, MakerDAO added U.S. Treasury bonds and corporate bonds as collateral, resulting in a more than 20% increase in the supply of its Dai stablecoin. Additionally, Ondo Finance focuses on the tokenization of U.S. Treasury bonds, with its locked value exceeding $600 million.
Hyperliquid's innovative token standards HIP-1 and HIP-2 enhance the utility and liquidity of tokens. HIP-1 allows users to create fungible tokens directly linked to on-chain spot order books, elevating tokens to specialized financial instruments. Compared to the ERC-20 standard, it ensures instant tradability and high performance, specifically designed for financial assets.
Impact
Enhancement of capital efficiency: POL and dynamic lending rates will attract more capital inflow, driving the total value locked in DeFi to exceed $300 billion by 2025.
On-chain credit reshapes lending: The popularization of on-chain credit lowers collateral thresholds, promotes a surge in low-collateral lending volume, attracting more users and funds to participate.
RWA tokenization expands asset classes.
Compliance and institutional participation accelerate: The introduction of a compliance framework attracts institutional funds, promotes the diversified development of DeFi, and strengthens its deep integration with traditional finance.
Summary
2025 will be a year of maturity and diversification for the cryptocurrency industry. These major events and trends will jointly drive the market's standardization, technological innovation, and mainstreaming, while attracting more traditional institutions and retail users, accelerating the deep integration of the cryptocurrency industry with the global financial system.
