Crypto industry leaders told Cointelegraph about the key narratives emerging in 2025, from some of the safest crypto investments to more speculative bets.
From Bitcoin’s historic rise to $100,000 to the emergence of artificial intelligence-driven crypto projects and tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), 2024 reshaped the landscape of crypto investments.
With favorable regulatory changes and institutional interest on the rise, 2025 promises to offer significant opportunities for investors.
To help investors prepare for 2025, Cointelegraph spoke with industry experts to outline the best ways to navigate the crypto market.
The safe bet: Bitcoin
Coming as no surprise, the world’s first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin BTC $94,139 , is considered the least risky bet in the crypto industry due to its inherent decentralization, robust security and growing institutional adoption.
Thanks to its fixed monetary policy and inherent decentralization, Bitcoin is increasingly viewed as a hedge against monetary debasement.
More institutions are recognizing Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, partly thanks to the United States’ spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Institutional investors owned 27% of Bitcoin ETFs by the end of the second quarter of 2024, Cointelegraph reported.
In 2024, Bitcoin generated an impressive 110% return on investment for holders, outperforming most major asset classes, including China equities, which rose 29% and US equities at 21.7%, BlackRock data shows.
Analysts expect improved macroeconomic conditions and more crypto-friendly regulations fueled by the incoming pro-crypto administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Bitcoin is set for another year of robust gains based on the four-year Bitcoin halving cycle, which sets the cycle top for the third quarter of 2025.
According to some analysts, Bitcoin could reach $160,000 in 2025, gaining over 72% from the current price tag, according to a Matrixport report.
According to Blockstream co-founder and Hashcash inventor Adam Back, BTC could hit $1 million if the Trump administration approves a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
Still, investors should be mindful of a potential correction in the first part of 2025. Based on Bitcoin’s correlation with the liquidity index, BTC could see a “local top” of $110,000 in January before staging a temporary correction to $70,000.
The speculative investment: AI-crypto projects
While Bitcoin remains the safest bet in cryptocurrency, some traders are looking for riskier investment opportunities that present more upside potential, like the emerging field of AI cryptocurrencies.
The current Bitcoin correction under $100,000 is driving more interest in AI-crypto projects, such as AI platform ai16z and decentralized trading protocol Hyperliquid, according to Alvin Kan, chief operating officer of Bitget Wallet.
Both ai16z and Hyperliquid are “poised for growth in 2025,” Kan told Cointelegraph:
“Emerging narratives like AI-driven investments, decentralized AI agents, and tokenized assets hint at a tech-driven shift, though with added risk.”
Ai16z is considering creating a platform similar to Pump.fun for launching AI agents, according to a post on its governance forum. It is also contemplating “[p]ositioning ai16z as an L1 blockchain for AI,” the post added.
Showcasing the lucrative financial opportunity, onchain AI agents generated a cumulative $8.7 million worth of revenue in the five weeks leading up to June 2024, according to VanEck data.
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