Written by: Lei, Jinse Finance
2025 is regarded as an important year for the maturation and normalization 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 to watch in 2025, along with their background and impacts.
One, the new government team of Trump takes office: a turning point in cryptocurrency market regulation
Trump's second term is expected to bring new directions for U.S. financial regulation, especially in the policy-making 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 attitude to promote market development.
Background
1. The advancement of the CFTC
More commodity-type crypto assets are brought under regulatory scope: The CFTC may classify more mainstream crypto assets (such as Solana and Polygon) as commodities, clarifying their regulatory framework.
Promote the expansion of the crypto derivatives market: The CFTC may expedite the approval of more crypto futures and options trading, providing institutional investors with broader hedging tools.
Global cooperation: Strengthening collaboration with regulatory agencies in other countries to promote compliance and standardization of cross-border trading.
2. The SEC's shift
Expansion of spot ETFs: Following the approval of Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs, more mainstream asset ETFs (such as Solana, Hedera) may be approved, further driving capital inflow.
Stablecoin regulatory framework implementation: Stablecoins may be included in the 'payment tool' framework, promoting the integration of mainstream payment and settlement systems.
3. Joint actions of the CFTC and SEC
Launch a unified classification standard for crypto assets.
Facilitate smoother entry of institutional funds into the cryptocurrency market.
Impact
Increased market transparency: A clear regulatory framework will reduce market uncertainty and attract large institutional funds.
Industry reshuffling: Stricter compliance requirements may eliminate some small and medium-sized projects, and the market will develop in a more concentrated and mature direction.
Two, Ethereum Dencun upgrade and Pectra technological innovation
Ethereum will undergo multiple technological upgrades in 2025, including the full implementation of Danksharding and an upgrade named 'Pectra.' These technological improvements will significantly enhance Ethereum's scalability and user experience.
Background
Account abstraction (EIP-7702): Simplifies user operations and supports complex decentralized applications (DApp).
Zero-knowledge proof support (EIP-2537): Enhances privacy and scalability.
Validator staking cap increase (EIP-7251): Improves network efficiency and facilitates institutional participation in staking.
Data availability sampling (PeerDAS): Reduces Layer-2 transaction costs and promotes ecosystem expansion.
Impact
Attract more developers and users into the Ethereum ecosystem.
Promote further development of decentralized finance (DeFi) and the NFT market.
Three, the global stablecoin regulatory framework is implemented
In 2025, the G20 is expected to complete a unified regulatory framework for global stablecoins, which will significantly impact 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 entering 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 program will be fully implemented in 2025.
Impact
International payment acceleration: Stablecoins will play an important role in high-inflation areas and international trade.
Market scale expansion: The market value of stablecoins is expected to exceed $40 billion, becoming the fastest-growing sector in the cryptocurrency field.
Four, Deep Integration of AI and Blockchain
The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain is leading technological innovation, particularly in the areas 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 manage assets autonomously 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 of AI and blockchain protocol, promotes the application of AI in the Metaverse and Web3 through rapid deployment, autonomous agents, and plug-and-play infrastructure, attracting widespread community participation and investment support. 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, and promotes the integrated development of virtual and real economies. It is expected to give rise to more mainstream applications and technological breakthroughs by 2025, leading the industry towards maturity.
Five, the global expansion of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs
The approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs brings capital inflow and mainstream recognition to the cryptocurrency market, and more assets may 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 on submissions in November 2024, and the final approval deadline is expected to be in early August 2025. At the same time, institutions like Canary Capital and Bitwise have submitted applications for spot XRP ETFs to the SEC.
Impact
Acceleration of mainstreaming: The popularity of ETFs will enhance market liquidity and transparency.
More institutional participation: Traditional institutional funds will flood in.
Six, breakthroughs in the tokenization of real-world assets (RWA)
The tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) achieved significant results in 2024, and the market size may further expand in 2025.
Background
2024 locked amount: The total value of the RWA market has reached $60 billion.
Major projects: Ondo Finance, Maple Finance, and Centrifuge promote asset tokenization.
Market value of stablecoins: 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: The locked amount of RWA is expected to exceed $200 billion.
More asset categories: The tokenization of assets including stocks, real estate, and commodities will accelerate.
Seven, NFT Revival
NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are gradually transforming from initial art collectibles and speculative tools to more practical on-chain tools. In 2025, with the development of blockchain technology and the expansion of the Web3 ecosystem, the potential of NFTs in real applications will be more widely explored.
Background
Usability 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 achieve economic value development of digital identities and on-chain wearable devices by combining NFTs with the emoji market.
Technology and industry support: NFTs in 2024 show greater technological flexibility, being used to mark, transfer, and evaluate digital and real-world assets.
Impact
Promote the maturation of the Web3 ecosystem: The practical application of NFTs injects new vitality into the Web3 ecosystem through the integration of identity management, membership rights, and cross-industry innovative applications.
Reconstruct 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.
Promote the protection and monetization of intellectual property: Projects like Story Protocol illustrate that NFTs can become important tools for protecting intellectual property, especially in combating counterfeit products and empowering creators.
Accelerate 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 greater transparency and liquidity for capital markets.
Investment market activity and normalization: The NFT market in 2025 will be more standardized, with NFTs no longer merely speculative tools but asset classes with long-term value support.
Eight, DeFi 2.0: Capital efficiency and compliance enhancement
DeFi protocols will further develop in 2025 by enhancing capital efficiency, introducing on-chain credit, and integrating RWA.
Background
DeFi protocols significantly promoted capital efficiency in 2024 by optimizing funding utilization through innovative mechanisms. Traditional DeFi protocols (like Aave, Compound) relied on high collateralization ratios, leading to low capital efficiency, while emerging protocols adopted the Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL) model, reducing reliance on external capital by holding liquidity pool assets or introducing locking mechanisms, such as Balancer and Curve's 'liquidity locking rewards' significantly improving liquidity stability.
The introduction of on-chain credit is an important direction for DeFi development in 2024, assessing credit through users' on-chain behavior (such as trading and repayment records) to reduce collateral requirements and release more capital liquidity. For example, credit scoring protocols like Arcx and Spectral have begun to be applied to multiple lending platforms, while mainstream protocols like Aave and Maple Finance are testing low or no collateral lending models, bringing new capital release pathways to 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 receivables. For example, MakerDAO has added U.S. Treasury and corporate bonds as collateral, leading to a more than 20% increase in the supply of its Dai stablecoin. Additionally, Ondo Finance focuses on tokenizing U.S. Treasury bonds, with its locked amount exceeding $600 million.
Hyperliquid's innovative token standards HIP-1 and HIP-2 enhance the usability and liquidity of tokens, with HIP-1 allowing 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 immediate tradability and high performance, specifically designed for financial assets.
Impact
Capital efficiency improvement: POL and dynamic lending rates will attract more capital inflow, pushing the total value locked in DeFi to exceed $300 billion in 2025.
On-chain credit reshapes lending: The popularization of on-chain credit lowers collateral thresholds, promoting a surge in low-collateral lending scale, attracting more users and capital participation.
RWA tokenization expands asset categories.
Compliance and institutional participation accelerate: The introduction of compliance frameworks attracts institutional funds, promoting diversified development of DeFi and strengthening its deep integration with traditional finance.
Summary
2025 will be a year for the cryptocurrency industry to mature and diversify. These major events and trends will jointly drive the normalization, technological innovation, and mainstreaming of the market, while attracting more traditional institutions and retail users, accelerating the deep integration of the cryptocurrency industry with the global financial system.
