Crypto results of 2025: a year of records, losses, and unexpected victories

Crypto results of 2025: RWA and privacy coins lead the way

Crypto results: new market records and individual digital assets

In October 2025, according to data from the monitoring service CoinMarketCap, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization exceeded $4 trillion for the first time, reaching a record $4.28 trillion.

In the same month, the leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) also updated its all-time high (ATH), reaching $126,000 — more than 80% above the previous record set in November 2021. Key altcoins also reached new historical highs:

Ethereum (ETH) — $4,953 in August;
BNB (BNB) — $1,370 in October;
Solana (SOL) — $293 in January.

However, after reaching record levels amid overall economic instability and geopolitical tensions, including the US-China trade war, the fourth quarter proved the worst for the crypto market.

As of the end of 2025, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization stood at $2.96 trillion, 44% below the October peak.

The price of the first cryptocurrency, BTC, fell by more than 30% from its all-time high and by 20% year-to-date, down to $87,400. For most altcoins, with rare exceptions, the decline relative to ATH and since the beginning of 2025 was even more pronounced:

Ethereum (ETH) — more than 40% and 12% year-to-date;
Binance Coin (BNB) — down 39%, but up almost 20% year-to-date;
Solana (SOL) — down 58% and 35%, respectively.

The remaining altcoins from the top ten cryptocurrencies show the following performance:

XRP (XRP) — down 11.2% to $1.84;
TRON (TRX) — up 10.2% to $0.28;
Dogecoin (DOGE) — down 61.1% to $0.12;
Cardano (ADA) — down 58.7% to $0.35.

According to the crypto results, the worst-performing assets among the top 100 cryptocurrencies were:

Celestia (TIA) — collapse of nearly 90% to $0.46;
Optimism (OP) — decline of 84.5% to $0.27;
Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) — down 82.3% to $0.69;
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) — drop of nearly 84% to $0.21;
Stacks (STX) — collapse of 83% to $0.25.

At the same time, the price of almost half of the cryptocurrencies from the top 100 digital assets fell by more than 50% according to the 2025 crypto results.

DeFi market overview

The situation in the decentralized finance (DeFi) market is mixed. The best-performing segments were real-world assets (RWA) and lending. According to the year's crypto results, the total value locked (TVL) in the RWA sector more than doubled — from $7.7 billion to $17 billion. Meanwhile, TVL in the lending market increased by 28% — from $49.2 billion to $63 billion.

However, the segments of DEXes (decentralized exchanges), liquid staking*, and restaking* showed declines. TVL of decentralized exchanges fell by about one-third, to $16.8 billion, the liquid staking segment declined by more than 7% to $54.6 billion, and restaking dropped by more than 22% to $18.6 billion.

* Liquid staking is a form of cryptocurrency staking in which users lock their assets to help secure a blockchain while retaining liquidity. In exchange for staked coins, users receive a special liquid staking token (Liquid Staking Token, LST) that represents a claim on the underlying asset and accrued rewards. This token can be freely sold, exchanged, or used in other DeFi protocols — for example, in lending or on decentralized exchanges — without waiting for the staking lock-up period to end.

* Restaking is a more complex crypto asset management model in which already staked funds or their liquid derivatives are reused to secure and operate additional blockchain protocols, services, or layer-two networks. Restaking allows participants to earn extra income on top of standard staking rewards but involves increased risk: in the event of failures, rule violations, or attacks on one of the connected protocols, users may face penalties (slashing) that affect multiple layers of their investments at once.

Stablecoins and security incidents

The stablecoin market reached new highs, surpassing the $300 billion mark for the first time. As of the end of 2025, the total market capitalization of stablecoins stands at $316 billion.

However, according to the crypto results of the same year, the crypto market also set an anti-record related to fraudulent and hacker attacks on digital asset platforms. According to data from the analytics platform Chainalysis, criminals stole a total of $3.4 billion in cryptocurrency in 2025, up $1.2 billion from the previous year. Notably, 70% of total losses were attributed to just three major incidents.

Which coins performed best in 2025?

OKB — the native token of the well-known crypto exchange OKX — rounds out the top five fastest-growing digital assets according to the 2025 crypto results. Despite the overall crypto market collapse, the OKB token rose by 117% year-to-date to nearly $107.

Among the main reasons for OKB's strong price surge were a one-time burn of 65 million tokens, accounting for more than half of the total supply, and the launch of its own layer-two blockchain, X Layer.

Even stronger growth according to the 2025 crypto results was demonstrated by privacy-focused cryptocurrencies ZCash (ZEC) and Monero (XMR), which rose to $509 and showed gains of 801% and 136% to $509 and $459, respectively.

According to experts, the growth of privacy cryptocurrencies was driven by increased user interest amid tightening regulatory oversight. Analysts also note growing institutional interest in privacy coins.

An even more significant increase was shown by the AB cryptocurrency, associated with one of the fastest-growing segments — RWA. Since the beginning of the year, the AB token has risen by more than 2,700% and reached $0.0045. According to expert observations, one of the key growth drivers was a partnership with the World Liberty Financial project and the integration of its USD1 stablecoin into the AB Chain blockchain, which attracted investor attention to the project.

Unexpectedly, the leader of the 2025 crypto results ranking became the memecoin pippin (PIPPIN), which suddenly surged by 5,909% and entered the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. After being listed on exchanges in January 2025, PIPPIN's price jumped to $0.21, then fell more than 20 times to $0.01 by October. Still, in the final quarter of 2025, it unexpectedly began rising rapidly again, setting a new all-time high at $0.61.

Experts note that the reasons for the sharp surge in the memecoin may have been driven by hype around artificial intelligence (AI) and by a viral effect on social media, triggered by posts from well-known bloggers.

According to the 2025 crypto results, only 13 of the top 100 digital assets posted positive performance.

Crypto results: what is forecast?

At Bitwise, analysts predict that 2026 will be a "bullish" year for the cryptocurrency market, with Bitcoin breaking out of its traditional four-year cycle and reaching new highs. At the same time, analysts believe that volatility in major cryptocurrencies will decrease, their price movements will become more stable and predictable, and their correlation with stock indices will be lower than before.

Experts also expect the number of launched crypto ETFs in 2026 to exceed one hundred, making digital asset-based funds a mass-market phenomenon.

VanEck experts add that Bitcoin miners will increasingly shift toward AI computing, while the role of stablecoins in B2B payments and international settlements will continue to grow.