Author: Lei, Jinse Finance
2025 is considered an important year for the crypto industry to mature and become more standardized. A series of major events and technological breakthroughs will drive the market into a new stage, while also having a profound impact on the global financial system. The following are eight major crypto industry events to watch in 2025, along with their background and impact.
I. The New Trump Administration Takes Office: A Turning Point for Crypto Market Regulation
Trump's second term is expected to bring a new direction to U.S. financial regulation, particularly in the policy-making of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The new leadership team may adopt a more open and flexible regulatory approach to drive market development.
Background
1. CFTC's Advancement
More crypto assets classified as commodities: The CFTC may classify more mainstream crypto assets (such as Solana and Polygon) as commodities, clarifying their regulatory framework.
Promoting the expansion of the crypto derivatives market: The CFTC may accelerate the approval of more crypto futures and options trading, providing institutional investors with a wider range of hedging tools.
Global cooperation: By strengthening cooperation with other national regulators, it will promote the compliance and standardization of cross-border transactions.
2. SEC's Transformation
Expansion of spot ETFs: In addition to Bitcoin and Ethereum spot ETFs, ETFs for more mainstream assets (such as Solana, Hedera) may be approved, further driving capital inflows.
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 CFTC and SEC
Introduce a unified crypto asset classification standard.
Facilitate smoother institutional capital entry into the crypto market.
Impact
Increased market transparency: A clear regulatory framework will reduce market uncertainty and attract a large influx of institutional capital.
Industry reshuffle: Stricter compliance requirements may eliminate some small and medium-sized projects, leading the market to become more concentrated and mature.
II. Ethereum's Dencun Upgrade and Pectra Technical Innovation
Ethereum will see multiple technical upgrades in 2025, including the full implementation of Danksharding and an upgrade called "Pectra". These technological improvements will significantly enhance Ethereum's scalability and user experience.
Background
Account abstraction (EIP-7702): Simplifying user operations and supporting complex decentralized applications (DApps).
Zero-knowledge proof support (EIP-2537): Improving privacy and scalability.
Increased validator staking cap (EIP-7251): Improving network efficiency and facilitating institutional staking participation.
Data availability sampling (PeerDAS): Reducing Layer-2 transaction costs and driving ecosystem expansion.
Impact
Attracting more developers and users to the Ethereum ecosystem.
Promoting further development of decentralized finance (DeFi) and the NFT market.
III. Global Stablecoin Regulatory Framework Implementation
In 2025, the G20 is expected to complete a unified global stablecoin regulatory framework, which will have a significant impact on stablecoin issuance, reserve requirements, and cross-border payment applications.
Background
Financing dynamics: Stablecoin sector financing reached $1.86 billion in 2024, with Stripe acquiring Bridge Network for $1.1 billion.
Traditional institution involvement: PayPal's PYUSD has a market capitalization exceeding $1 billion, driving the integration of stablecoin payments and traditional payments.
Regional regulations: The EU's MiCA regulation and Hong Kong's stablecoin sandbox program will be fully implemented in 2025.
Impact
Accelerated global payment adoption: Stablecoins will play an important role in high-inflation regions and international trade.
Market size expansion: The stablecoin market capitalization is expected to exceed $400 billion, becoming the fastest-growing sector in the crypto industry.
IV. The Deep Integration of AI and Blockchain
The combination 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 fusion 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. Identity Verification and Privacy Protection: The combination of AI technology and blockchain ensures the authenticity and privacy of interactions.
4. AI Agents: Virtual as the new generation of AI and blockchain protocols, through rapid deployment, autonomous intelligent agents, and plug-and-play infrastructure, has driven the application of AI in the metaverse and Web3, attracting widespread community participation and investment support. Eliza, as the world's first chatbot, has laid the theoretical foundation for human-machine interaction, providing important inspiration and historical accumulation for the logic and functions of modern AI agents.
5. Tech giants like Google and Apple launching AI agent products. Decentralized AI networks (such as Fetch.ai) becoming market hotspots.
Impact
The integration of AI and blockchain can help lower the technical threshold of Web3, enhance user privacy and security, and drive the integration 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.
V. Global Expansion of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs
The approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs has brought capital inflows and mainstream recognition to the crypto market. In 2025, more assets may enter the ETF space.
Background
Capital inflows: As of December 2024, the assets under management of Bitcoin ETFs have exceeded $100 billion.
Expansion to other assets: Multiple institutions have submitted applications for Solana ETFs, including Bitwise, VanEck, 21Shares, and Canary Capital. These applications were mainly concentrated in November 2024, and the expected final approval deadline will be in early August 2025. Meanwhile, institutions like Canary Capital and Bitwise have also submitted applications for spot XRP ETFs to the SEC.
Impact
Accelerated mainstreaming: The proliferation of ETFs will enhance market liquidity and transparency.
Increased institutional participation: Traditional institutional capital will flow into the market on a large scale.
VI. Breakthrough in Real-World Asset (RWA) Tokenization
Real-World Asset (RWA) tokenization made significant progress in 2024, and the market size is expected to further expand in 2025.
Background
2024 locked value: The total RWA market value has reached $60 billion.
Major projects: Ondo Finance, Maple Finance, and Centrifuge have driven asset on-chaining.
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
Breakthrough in market size: The RWA locked value is expected to exceed $200 billion.
More asset classes: The tokenization of assets such as stocks, real estate, and commodities will accelerate.
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are gradually transforming from their initial use as art collectibles and speculative tools to 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 collection value, but are gradually integrated into practical application scenarios, such as on-chain identity (DID), in-game assets, membership rights, and consumer rewards.
Emerging markets and cross-industry collaboration: projects like Sofamon combine NFTs with the emoji market to develop the economic value of digital identity and on-chain wearable devices.
Technical and industry support: NFTs will exhibit higher technical flexibility in 2024, being used to mark, transfer, and evaluate digital assets and real-world assets.
Impact
Promoting the maturity of the Web3 ecosystem: the practicalization of NFTs injects new vitality into the Web3 ecosystem. Through the integration of identity management, membership rights, and cross-industry innovative applications.
Reshaping 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 experience and brand loyalty.
Promoting the protection and monetization of intellectual property: projects like Story Protocol show that NFTs can become 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 valuation capabilities of NFTs, the connection between crypto assets and the real economy will become closer, providing the capital market with higher transparency and liquidity.
Active and standardized investment market: the NFT market in 2025 will be more standardized, and NFTs will no longer be simply speculative tools, but asset classes with long-term value support.
DeFi 2.0: Improved Capital Efficiency and Compliance
DeFi protocols will further develop in 2025 by enhancing capital efficiency, introducing on-chain credit, and integrating real-world assets (RWAs).
Background
DeFi protocols significantly improved capital efficiency in 2024 by optimizing funding utilization models through innovative mechanisms. Traditional DeFi protocols (such as Aave and Compound) rely on high collateral rate mechanisms, leading to low capital efficiency, while emerging protocols have adopted a Protocol-Owned Liquidity (POL) model, reducing dependence on external capital by holding liquidity pool assets or introducing locking mechanisms, such as Balancer and Curve's "liquidity lock-up rewards" that significantly improved liquidity stability.
The introduction of on-chain credit is an important direction for DeFi development in 2024, using users' on-chain behavior (such as transaction and repayment records) to assess credit, thereby reducing collateral requirements and releasing more 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-collateral or uncollateralized lending models, bringing new capital release paths to the DeFi field.
The integration of real-world assets (RWAs) is another highlight of DeFi development in 2024, improving capital efficiency by tokenizing traditional assets such as bonds, real estate, and accounts receivable. For example, MakerDAO has added US Treasuries and corporate bonds as collateral, causing its Dai stablecoin supply to grow by more than 20%. In addition, Ondo Finance focuses on the tokenization of US Treasuries, with its locked-in 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 immediate tradability and high performance, designed specifically for financial assets.
Impact
Improved capital efficiency: POL and dynamic lending rates will attract more capital inflows, driving the total value locked in DeFi to surpass $300 billion by 2025.
On-chain credit reshaping lending: the widespread adoption of on-chain credit will lower collateral thresholds, promoting a surge in low-collateral lending, attracting more users and capital to participate.
RWA tokenization expanding asset classes.
Compliance and institutional participation acceleration: the introduction of compliance frameworks will attract institutional capital, promoting the diversified development of DeFi and strengthening its deep integration with traditional finance.
Summary
2025 will be a year of maturity and diversification for the crypto industry. These major events and trends will collectively drive the normalization, technological innovation, and mainstream adoption of the market, while attracting more traditional institutions and retail users, accelerating the deep integration of the crypto industry with the global financial system.
