The cryptocurrency market kicked off 2025 on a rollercoaster ride

The cryptocurrency market kicked off 2025 on a rollercoaster ride, shedding over $633 billion in value within the first three months of the year.

The cryptocurrency market kicked off 2025 on a rollercoaster ride, shedding over $633 billion in value within the first three months of the year as major assets, NFTs, and DeFi protocols sustained substantial losses amid global economic uncertainty, regulatory crackdowns, and meme coin hysteria.

According to CoinGecko’s newly released 2025 Q1 Crypto Industry Report, at the beginning of the year, optimism ran high as Bitcoin attained a new all-time high of $106,182 on January 22, just two days after Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.

However, this enthusiasm was short-lived. As the U.S. administration imposed new trade tariffs against major economies, investor sentiment soured, leading to a market-wide sell-off.

By the end of March, the total crypto market cap had fallen to $2.8 trillion from a peak of $3.8 trillion, marking an 18.6% decline.

Bitcoin dipped by 11.8%, closing Q1 at $82,514, though notably, its market dominance rose to 59.1%, its highest since early 2021.

On the other hand, Ethereum (ETH) experienced a brutal quarter, crashing by 45.3% to $1,805 and shedding significant market share.

Another major talking point of the quarter was the meteoric rise and swift collapse of memecoins. Trump’s official $TRUMP token launched in January, sending Solana (SOL) soaring by nearly 39% to a record $293.

But this rally did not last.

SOL, along with the broader memecoin category, suffered heavy losses after a scandal involving $LIBRA, a token endorsed by Argentinian president Javier Milei, which turned out to be a classic rug pull, wiping $4.6 billion off its market cap in hours.

The aftermath saw activity on memecoin launch platform Pump.fun plummet, with daily token launches falling by over 56% from January to the end of Q1.

Stablecoins, RWAs and Bitcoin ETs a safe haven

While much of the market bled value, stablecoins remained resilient. The stablecoin sector grew by $24.5 billion in Q1, reaching a record $226.1 billion in total market cap. USDC saw the biggest jump, adding $16.1 billion, while USDT grew by $6.4 billion.

Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenisation projects also gained traction as investors sought safer, yield-generating options outside of volatile coins. TVL in RWA protocols surged to $10 billion, with major players like BlackRock and Fidelity expanding their blockchain-based funds.

The U.S. spot Bitcoin ETs also attracted $1 billion in net inflows, even though overall assets under management declined due to Bitcoin’s price drop.

However, the decentralised finance (DeFi) sector was not spared, shedding $23 billion in market cap, a 19.3% drop. Liquid staking and restaking protocols were particularly battered, losing $32 billion in total value locked. Yet, DeFi’s share of the total crypto market remained steady at 3.5%, buoyed by growing institutional interest in RWAs and stablecoin-backed protocols.

Berachain, a new entrant to the DeFi scene, rapidly amassed $5.2 billion in TVL within weeks of its February launch, a rare bright spot in an otherwise gloomy DeFi quarter.

NFT trading slumps, Bitcoin Ordinals rise

NFTs took a beating, with trading volumes falling 38.2% from December’s $1.3 billion to $800 million in March. Ethereum-based NFTs were the biggest casualties, with volumes plummeting by over 85%.

However, Bitcoin NFTs (Ordinals) saw a surprising surge, overtaking Ethereum NFT trading volume in March after a wave of high-profile Ordinals mints on Magic Eden.

At the exchanges pront Spot trading volume on the top 10 centralised exchanges dropped 16.3% to $5.4 trillion. Binance, however, clawed back market share to 40.7%. Notably, Bybit’s volumes halved after a $1.4 billion hack in February.

In contrast, decentralised exchanges (DEXes) held firm, with volumes climbing 6.2% to $700.7 billion. Solana-based DEXes like Raydium and Orca recorded strong growth, fuelled by the memecoin craze.

Perpetual futures DEXes enjoyed a record quarter, with Hyperliquid capturing a commanding 68.8% market share after processing $549.8 billion in trades.

As Q2 unfolds bearing several uncertainties, the industry faces a cautious outlook. While macroeconomic pressures and regulatory uncertainties persist