February: The Bybit theft recenters the market on operational risk
On Feb. 24, the crypto industry faced a renewed security reckoning after about $1.4 billion was stolen from Bybit, making it one of the largest exchange-related thefts on record.
US authorities publicly attributed the attack to actors linked to North Korea and warned that the stolen assets would likely be laundered through a network of addresses and intermediaries.
For operator-led businesses, the takeaway was not “don’t use crypto.” It was that counterparty exposure and custody decisions, including exchange risk, wallet providers, signing flows and withdrawal assumptions, can become severe operational risks overnight, even when the underlying blockchain continues to operate normally.
April: Tariffs hit risk appetite, and crypto trades like a macro asset
In early April, crypto-linked equities fell, and Bitcoin (BTC) reached a new low for the year amid escalating tariff tensions and broader risk-off sentiment across global markets.
The drawdown underscored a pattern that became increasingly clear in 2025. For large pools of capital, crypto behaved less like a standalone alternative asset and more like a liquid, high-beta macro trade during periods of headline-driven stress.
The move reinforced that crypto is increasingly exposed to global macro shocks. As more institutional capital flows in, prices increasingly react to trade policy, risk sentiment and liquidity conditions, meaning crypto volatility can be driven by non-crypto headlines just as quickly as by onchain events.
July: The US GENIUS Act puts stablecoins into a federal framework
On July 18, US President Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law, establishing a federal regulatory framework for “payment stablecoins.”
The statute set baseline requirements for issuance, reserves and oversight, formally bringing qualifying dollar-pegged tokens under a federal supervisory framework.
For issuers, a federal framework creates clearer rules around reserves, disclosures and oversight, reducing regulatory uncertainty while increasing compliance obligations. For users, it strengthens confidence that dollar-pegged tokens are backed, supervised and treated as legitimate payment instruments, improving trust, reliability and long-term usability across platforms and borders.
Summer into fall: Stablecoins move toward the center
In August, Circle, the issuer of USDC (USDC), announced the pricing of its public offering, marking one of the most prominent stablecoin-related entries into public markets to date.
The milestone reflected how stablecoins were increasingly treated not just as crypto trading instruments but as regulated payments infrastructure with institutional relevance.
Regardless of views on individual issuers, the broader direction was clear throughout 2025. Stablecoins were no longer peripheral tools; they were increasingly positioned as core components of financial systems, policy discussions and fintech roadmaps.
Did you know? Swedish fintech firm Klarna launched its own dollar-backed stablecoin, KlarnaUSD, built on the Tempo blockchain and designed to support faster and cheaper cross-border payments.
September: The SEC opens a faster lane for spot crypto ETP listings
In September, US regulators approved “generic listing standards” for commodity-based trust shares, including crypto-backed exchange-traded products (ETPs).
The change allowed qualifying products to list under standardized criteria rather than requiring bespoke approvals for each new offering.
In practical terms, this marked a shift in US market structure. Crypto exposure moved closer to the way traditional commodities are packaged and distributed, with long-term implications for liquidity, access and how digital assets are incorporated into mainstream portfolios.
October: Peak euphoria, record inflows, then a liquidation cascade
Bitcoin reached record highs in early October, briefly trading above $125,000 as institutional positioning and ETP inflows accelerated; however, the rally proved short-lived.
Global crypto funds recorded their largest weekly inflows on record, driven primarily by US-listed products.
The rally was short-lived. Within days, the market sharply de-risked. A rapid price decline triggered more than $19 billion in liquidations across leveraged positions, making it one of the largest liquidation events in crypto history.
If the first half of 2025 was about access and integration, October exposed the system’s reflexivity. Leverage, automated liquidations and exchange-traded-fund-driven flows amplified both upside momentum and downside stress.
Did you know? Longtime Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff remained one of the most vocal skeptics in 2025, continuing to argue publicly that Bitcoin lacks intrinsic value while maintaining a strong public presence in crypto market debates.
December: Integration accelerates and so do the rules
By year-end, crypto’s integration into traditional finance deepened alongside tighter oversight.
In the United States, several crypto-native firms, including Circle and Ripple, received preliminary or conditional approval to establish national trust banks or convert existing state charters, signaling a push toward federally regulated crypto banking infrastructure.
In the United Kingdom, regulators launched a consultation proposing comprehensive rules for crypto markets, with feedback extending into early 2026 and implementation targeted for later years.
In Hong Kong, licensed exchanges continued to signal institutional demand, including a major public offering that highlighted the region’s ambition to position itself as a regulated crypto hub. HashKey debuted on Hong Kong’s HKEX following a $206-million oversubscribed initial public offering.
On the enforcement front, the long-running TerraUSD and LUNA collapse reached a major legal milestone. Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud-related charges, closing one of the most consequential cases of the previous cycle.
What crypto investors and enthusiasts should remember about 2025
The crypto industry did not have a standout crypto story that dominated headlines in 2025; instead, it delivered a sequence of events, including hacks, policy shifts, market-structure upgrades and deeper convergence between traditional finance and onchain systems that reshaped who participates in crypto markets, how risk travels and what “mainstream adoption” looks like in practice.
Operational risk became unavoidable: Crypto exposure now includes custody, counterparties, access controls and infrastructure design as core risks. Asset safety depends not only on protocols but also on how platforms, wallets and institutions operate under stress.
Crypto fully joined the macro risk cycle: Price action increasingly moved with global liquidity, policy expectations and risk sentiment. Crypto behaved less like a standalone alternative and more like a high-beta component of broader capital markets.
Stablecoins crossed into financial infrastructure: Dollar-linked tokens shifted from optional tools to regulated rails. Their role in payments, settlements and platform economics made compliance, issuer structure and transparency central to their adoption.
Market access expanded faster than risk discipline: Distribution improved and participation widened, but leverage and reflexive positioning remained powerful forces. Structural maturity did not remove volatility; it amplified the speed and scale at which markets can move.
These four dynamics define how crypto changed in 2025 and set an important reference point for how the market may behave going forward in 2026 and beyond.
