We survived another unhinged year in crypto. Barely.
Now, before we collectively log off and touch some grass, here’s a wrap-up of 2025 – the biggest stories, the core narratives, and the vibe.
The year of presidential rug pulls
This is the sentence historians are going to underline.
In 2025, politicians discovered memecoins, and the public learned why that’s a terrible idea.
It started in January, when Donald Trump launched TRUMP. Days later, Melania Trump followed with MELANIA.
Both followed the same arc:
π Explosive launches;
π Extreme insider concentration;
π Massive fee extraction;
π Then brutal collapses that wiped retail.
And it wasn’t just the US.
In Argentina, President Javier Milei publicly supported LIBRA, which pumped, crashed, and detonated into a national scandal dubbed Cryptogate – complete with lawsuits, investigations, and international embarrassment.
After these coins launched, presidential memecoins became a genre:
π Sitting presidents launching tokens;
π First families monetizing attention;
π Nationalist branding turned into on-chain liquidity.
And spoiler alert: most of those projects rugged.
|
The year governments stopped fighting Bitcoin
While memecoins were embarrassing everyone, something serious happened at the same time.
In March, the US government formally created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, treating BTC as a sovereign asset.
That was a huge change: Bitcoin went from speculative risk β national balance-sheet consideration.
And others took notes – countries like El Salvador, Bhutan, the UAE, Pakistan, and Singapore all started positioning Bitcoin as a strategic asset.
|
The year Bitcoin broke $100K
Sure, this sounds strange given the current market situation – but it was really a big year for Bitcoin.
In 2025, it set a new all-time high above $126K.
…. Then reality checked in.
A brutal liquidation cascade followed, and it wiped out billions + reminded everyone (again) why leverage is a loaded weapon. Prices came down hard, volatility spiked, and sentiment flipped.
But Bitcoin didn’t collapse; it reset.
For most of the year:
π BTC stayed structurally strong;
π Dips were violent, but buyers showed up;
π The “Bitcoin as a sovereign-grade asset” narrative held.
Altcoins, on the other hand? Not so lucky.
Outside some short-lived rotations, most alts never reclaimed previous highs, and liquidity stayed concentrated in BTC.
So, it was a Bitcoin-led year.
The year stablecoins grew up
π In the US, the GENIUS Act was passed, and it gave banks and issuers clear rules covering reserves, disclosures, and who’s allowed to issue stablecoins.
π In Europe, stablecoin rules under MiCA began taking effect.
π In places like Singapore and Japan, regulators tightened licensing and expanded bank-issued stablecoin pilots.
π Across emerging markets, stablecoins became what they were always supposed to be: a practical way to access dollars.
The result was subtle but big.
TradFi started participating. New regulated stablecoins launched. And stablecoins themselves changed status from niche crypto plumbing to actual financial infrastructure.
|
The year hacks hit biblical levels
Crypto security had its worst year ever.
$3.4B+ in crypto was stolen in 2025. This includes the Bybit hack, where $1.5B was stolen (the largest crypto theft on record).
The dominant actors were state-linked hacking groups, operating with patience, resources, and geopolitical incentives.
Throughout the year, security incidents expanded beyond outright thefts to insider compromises, arrests, and cross-border investigations involving multiple law enforcement agencies at once.
|
The year institutions said “we’re not leaving”
Despite the chaos:
π Major companies kept buying Bitcoin;
π M&A in crypto hit record highs;
π TradFi didn’t flinch.
Basically, retail may panic. Institutions accumulate.
So⦠what was the overall vibe?
2025 was political, extractive, volatile, sometimes embarrassing, but undeniably historic.
And if this year taught us anything, it’s this:
2026 is either going to be calmer… or somehow even more unhinged.
Either way –
we’ll be here π₯Ήπ₯
