Author | Wu Blockchain Blockchain
1. Bybit suffers largest hack in history, approximately $1.44 billion in assets stolen .
On February 21, 2025, leading crypto exchage Bybit suffered one of the largest hacking attacks in the industry's history. Attackers used precise techniques including front-end tampering and multi-signature spoofing to compromise the platform's Ethereum multi-signature cold wallet, stealing approximately $1.44 billion in ETH and staked derivatives. Following the attack, the price of Ethereum fell nearly 4% within four hours, and over $450 million in liquidations occurred across the network within 24 hours. With support from various parties, Bybit used its own assets to fully cover the stolen funds after the attack.
Bybit stated that it has completed a new round of security system upgrades following the hacking attack in February. This upgrade includes nine joint internal and external security audits, enhanced wallet operation processes and cold wallet security mechanisms, integration of MPC and HSM technologies, and ISO/IEC 27001 information security certification. Currently, Bybit is still tracking down stolen funds through its "LazarusBounty" program, having distributed over $2.3 million in rewards.
2. October 11th saw a "Black Tuesday" in the cryptocurrency market, with over $19 billion in liquidations in a single day.
On October 11, 2025, the cryptocurrency market experienced its most severe crash of the year, dubbed "Black Tuesday." Affected by multiple factors, including weaker-than-expected macroeconomic data and excessive leverage, the prices of major cryptocurrencies plummeted in a short period. Bitcoin plunged over 13% within 24 hours, rapidly falling from a high of approximately $117,000 to below $110,000, hitting a low of $105,900, a nearly 20% drop from its all-time high of $126,250 reached earlier this week. Ethereum fell by over 20% intraday, hitting a low of approximately $3,380. Ripple (XRP), Binance Coin (BNB), and other well-known tokens fell by over 30%, and some small-cap Altcoin nearly reached zero within minutes. The market volatility triggered a chain reaction of liquidations across the entire cryptocurrency exchange. According to Coinglass, a cryptocurrency data platform, the total liquidation amount reached $19.358 billion that day, forcing approximately 1.66 million traders to liquidate their positions and exit the market. This set a record for the largest single-day deleveraging in the history of the crypto market. Some analysts estimate that the actual liquidation scale may be between $30 billion and $40 billion. This crash also affected the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. The price of USDe, a synthetic stablecoin issued by Ethena Labs, was severely decoupled from the US dollar, falling as low as $0.62 on some decentralized exchanges, a decoupling of 38%.
Following the October 11 crash, BitMine Chairman Tom Lee stated in an interview with CNBC that this event was the largest liquidation in crypto history. The subsequent collapse of other DeFi protocols, such as the Balancer hack, further impacted market confidence. He anticipates the market will need several weeks to digest the effects, but the number of affected projects is currently limited and does not constitute a systemic risk. The overall crypto market remains sluggish as of the end of 2025.
3. The Trumps' successive issuance of Meme coins has sparked controversy. link
In January 2025, former US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania Trump launched their own eponymous Meme tokens. On January 18, Trump announced the launch of his personal Meme token, TruMP, on his Truth Social account. After the news was confirmed, TruMP's total market capitalization briefly reached $50 billion. On January 20, Trump reposted information about his wife Melania Trump launching an official token on the same social media account. Leveraging Trump's political influence and online presence, both tokens attracted a large number of retail investors in their initial launch period. By the end of the month, TruMP's price had plummeted from its all-time high of $75.35 to $4.93, a drop of over 90%; and Melania's market capitalization had evaporated by 99% from its peak.
4. The concept of a cryptocurrency treasury gains popularity, and the correlation between cryptocurrencies and stocks becomes the core of market speculation .
In the first half of 2025, the concept of crypto treasury continued to heat up, becoming one of the core drivers of market sentiment. This concept focuses on the allocation logic of companies incorporating crypto assets into their balance sheets, fueling increasingly intense speculation linking traditional capital with the crypto market. Many institutions seized the opportunity to explore innovative products such as tokenized stocks, attempting to break down trading barriers between blockchain and the traditional US stock market. Leading platforms like Coinbase actively promoted compliance applications for related products, making the linkage between crypto and stocks one of the hottest market narratives of the year, attracting a large influx of cross-industry capital into the crypto sector.
As of the end of the month, Ethereum treasury company BitMine Immersion (BMNR) announced that its total holdings of crypto assets and cash reached approximately $13.2 billion, including 4.066 million ETH (approximately 3.37% of the total Ethereum supply), 193 BTC, and $1 billion in cash.
Due to the continued slump in the concept of treasury companies at the end of the year, many treasury companies have had net assets lower than their market value for a long time. For example, Ethereum treasury company FG Nexus sold about 10,000 ETH at the end of the year to accelerate share buybacks and enhance shareholder value.
5. CZ granted amnesty; US SEC formally withdraws lawsuit against Binance and CZ.
Following CZ's release from prison on September 28, 2024, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) formally withdrew its lawsuit against Binance and its founder, CZ, on May 30, 2025, thus ending one of the agency's last few crypto enforcement actions. On October 23, 2025, President Trump pardoned CZ, the convicted Binance founder. Previously, the SEC's lawsuit against Binance for violating securities regulations had sparked widespread concern in the industry about regulatory uncertainty. Bloomberg reported that this was a sign of a significant shift in the regulator's approach to cryptocurrency regulation.
6. Circle, the "first stablecoin stock," went public, and its stock price surged on its first day of trading .
In October 2025, Circle, the issuer of USDC, the world's second-largest stablecoin, successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming the first stablecoin to go public. This IPO was seen as a significant milestone for the stablecoin industry's integration into the mainstream financial system. Circle explicitly emphasized its compliant development path in its prospectus and planned to further expand its payment network's interface with traditional financial systems. On its first day of trading, Circle's stock price surged, and its market capitalization exceeded 10 billion USD.
As of the end of the month, the total market capitalization of the USDC stablecoin was $76.3 billion, accounting for 24.7% of the total stablecoin market capitalization of $308.5 billion. $Circle's stock price closed at $82.64, a 29.12% increase from its opening price of $64, but had fallen more than 70% from its high of $298.99.
7. The GENIUS Act was officially signed into law, establishing the US regulatory framework for stablecoins .
In mid-2025, the United States formally signed the Crypto Asset Innovation and Regulation Act (GENIUS Act), the first federally enacted law to systematically regulate stablecoins. This act explicitly includes fiat-pegged payment stablecoins within its regulatory scope, setting clear requirements for issuer qualifications, reserve asset composition (limited to highly liquid assets), information disclosure, and regular auditing obligations, thus preventing systemic risks in the stablecoin sector from an institutional perspective. The implementation of the GENIUS Act filled a regulatory gap in the United States and has become an important reference model for stablecoin regulation globally.
The stablecoin market reached $310 billion on December 12, 2025, representing a year-on-year growth of approximately 70%. USDT and USDC together accounted for about 80% of market activity. Multiple studies indicate that institutional use of stablecoins is shifting from speculation to practical operational scenarios, primarily for cross-border settlements and corporate payments. Industry analysts predict that if large financial institutions further consolidate their holdings, the stablecoin supply could reach $2 trillion by 2028.
8. China tightens crypto regulations again, comprehensively covering mining, stablecoins, and RWA sectors .
On November 29, 2025, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) held a coordination mechanism meeting, emphasizing that virtual currencies do not have the same legal status as legal tender, lack legal tender status, and should not and cannot be used as currency in the market; related business activities constitute illegal financial activities. Stablecoins are a form of virtual currency, and currently cannot effectively meet the requirements for customer identification and anti-money laundering, posing a risk of being used for illegal activities such as money laundering, fundraising fraud, and illegal cross-border fund transfers.
On December 5, 2025, seven major industry associations, including the National Internet Finance Association of China, the China Banking Association, and the Securities Association of China, jointly issued a risk warning, reiterating that the issuance, trading, and financing of any form of virtual currency and RWA tokens are prohibited in China. Relevant institutions are prohibited from conducting business related to virtual currencies and real-world asset tokens. The public should be highly vigilant against all forms of virtual currency and real-world asset token business activities.
In 2025, China continued its strict regulatory stance in the crypto sector, further expanding its regulatory scope to three core areas: mining, stablecoins, and RWA (Real-World Assets). Regulatory authorities cracked down on illegal activities such as virtual currency trading and speculation, and mining within China by strengthening investigations and rectification efforts and improving cross-departmental coordination mechanisms. The issuance and circulation of stablecoins within China were explicitly prohibited, and cross-border transactions of RWA-related crypto products were strictly controlled.
9. The United States introduces a crypto innovation exemption policy, allowing pension funds to invest in cryptocurrencies and establish a national cryptocurrency reserve .
On December 2, 2025, SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins stated in an interview with CNBC that the SEC expects to release an "innovation exemption" for the crypto industry "in about a month." He mentioned that the original schedule was delayed due to the government shutdown, but the SEC has now resumed normal operations and will continue to push for a regulatory framework that supports crypto innovation, reversing its resistance stance of the past few years. Atkins also stated that the SEC plans to introduce new policies next year to improve the market environment for IPOs.
On March 7, 2025, David Sacks, the White House's Director of AI and Crypto Affairs and known as the "Crypto Czar," tweeted that Trump had signed an executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve. The funds would come from Bitcoins acquired by the federal government through criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings, and would not involve taxpayer funds. These Bitcoins would serve as a store of value and would not be sold. In addition, the executive order established a U.S. Digital Asset Reserve to hold forfeited digital assets other than Bitcoin, but would not acquire any new assets. This reserve would be managed by the U.S. Treasury Department.
On August 7, 2025, the White House announced that President Donald J. Trump had signed an executive order allowing 401(k) investors access to alternative assets such as private equity, real estate, and digital assets to enhance returns and diversify risk. The order requires the Secretary of Labor to review and clarify the Department of Labor's trustee responsibilities and procedures for alternative asset investments in 401(k) and other defined contribution plans under the jurisdiction of ERISA, and to collaborate with federal agencies such as the Treasury Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to promote regulatory adjustments. It also instructs the SEC to revise regulations to facilitate the allocation of such assets to retirement savings plans.
10. Hot Sectors: On-chain Derivatives, US Stock Tokenization, and the Prediction Market Boom
In 2025, hot sectors such as on-chain derivatives, US stock tokenization, and the Prediction Market developed rapidly in the cryptocurrency field.
In the on-chain derivatives sector, Hyperliquid added approximately 609,700 new users in 2025, with a cumulative transaction volume of approximately $2.95 trillion and 198.9 billion transactions; its annual revenue was approximately $844 million, with a net inflow of $3.87 billion, and its current TVL is approximately $4.15 billion. Newcomers such as ASTER and Lighter are gradually increasing their market share in this sector, leading to fierce competition.
Regarding US stock tokenization, Ondo Finance and Ondo Foundation have launched over 100 tokenized US stocks and ETFs on Ethereum, providing 24/7 on-chain trading for qualified investors in Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Trading is not available in the US and UK to ensure compliance. Ondo Global Markets' total trading volume (CEX+DEX+Mint/Redeem) has exceeded $5.5 billion, with Mint/Redeem trading volume exceeding $1.3 billion. Currently, Ondo's tokenized assets have a total value (TVL) of $384 million, with the highest value of the tokenized ETF being the SPDR S&P 500 ETF at $27 million, and the highest value of the tokenized stock being Circle Internet Group at $16.2 million.
In the prediction market, ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, invested $2 billion, pushing Polymarket's valuation to $8 billion. Polymarket's competitor, Kalshi, reached a valuation of $5 billion with investments led by a16z and Sequoia Capital. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin stated that prediction markets are actually a "rational tool" in many emotionally charged issues. He pointed out that although prediction markets may theoretically create unhealthy incentives, in reality, small-scale prediction markets do not lead to large-scale harm; and the stock market itself carries similar risks. Compared to the emotional manipulation and lack of accountability on social media, prediction markets constrain opinions with real funds, which is more conducive to approaching the truth in the long run and provides more credible probability expectations. Vitalik also stated that the fixed price range of 0–1 makes prediction markets less susceptible to "musical chairs" and excessive speculation than traditional markets.
