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Crypto Market Overview
- In 2024, the crypto industry witnessed more impressive milestones than in 2023, including:
- Launch of spot BTC and ETH ETFs in the US
- Layer-2 development after Dencun
- Surge of AI agents
- Total MC grew by 98% from $1.65T in Jan 2024 to $3.27T in Dec 2024:
- BTC MC: +124%
- ETH MC: +47%
- Stablecoin MC: +54%
- BTC or ETH led the performance of major asset classes 8 out of the last 10 years. BTC overtook the Australian Dollar (AUD) to become the world’s 10th largest currency after its price hit $100,000, reaching a $2T MC.
- Total net inflows of US spot BTC and ETH ETFs reached $40.5B and 2.8B, respectively, with a combined $135B in AUM. BlackRock’s IBIT is now the world’s 31st-largest ETF by AUM.
- Hedge funds and investment advisors were the leading investor types for spot BTC ETFs, while trusts and private equity firms were the largest holder types for ETH ETFs. Looking ahead in 2025, the potential approval of ETFs for SOL and XRP is likely to further drive institutional interest and adoption.
Liquidity
- The combined value of buy and sell orders within a 2% price range for BTC and ETH reached $449M and $328M on average, respectively, in the last 365 days. BTC’s 2% market depth increased towards Q4 2024, which coincided with Trump’s re-election and BTC hitting new all-time highs. ETH showed a similar upward trend in Q4 2024, although it tapered down in 2025 YTD, which coincided with ETH’s price weakness against BTC.
- Spot trading has been strong since Q4 2024, driven by the US presidential election and hype around meme coins. Crypto.com Exchange ranked no. 1 by spot trading market share (38.5%) among USD-supported exchanges, according to The Block in July 2024. Crypto.com Exchange took the top spot on Kaiko’s exchange ranking for Q4 2024, measured against various aspects, including governance, business, liquidity, security, technology, and data quality.
- Trading volume on DEXes also witnessed strong momentum since Q4 2024, driven by prediction markets, meme coins, and expected pro-crypto policies under the Trump administration. Notably, Solana surpassed Ethereum, leading on-chain transactions since Q4 2024.
- DEX-to-CEX spot trading volume rose to an all-time high of 20% in Jan 2025. This reflects the importance of platforms (including launchpads, DEXes, and non-custodial wallets) catching trending meme coin launches, which began in 2024.
Adoption
- More countries are exploring the establishment of a BTC reserve, with Brazil, Russia, Japan, Czechia, Hong Kong, and Poland among them besides the US. This is likely to stabilize BTC’s price and drive it higher.
- Traditional financial institutions are increasingly adopting cryptocurrencies and offering services in crypto trading, custody, private funds, ETPs, payments, and tokenization.
- Global crypto owners increased by 8x from 73M in Jun 2020 to 659M in Dec 2024, representing 8.2% of the world’s population. We expect this number to reach 750–900M in 2025, depending on market conditions.
Outlook
- Stablecoin MC reached a new all-time high of $222B on Feb 6 amid growing institutional adoption, sustaining the strong momentum from 2024. Leading financial institutions are adopting stablecoins for cross-border payments and improved treasury operations. A notable example is PayPal’s PYUSD, which increased 139% in circulating supply over 2024 to reach $560M in Dec 2024.
- RWA value surpassed US$17B as of Jan 2025. This uptrend was led by tokenized private credit, which was up 20.8% YTD, dominating the share at 69.3% of the total RWA value. In 2024, RWA value increased 79% to end the year at $15B. Private credit (64% of the total RWA value as of Dec 31) was up 48% in the year and US Treasury debt (26% of the total) was up 415% in 2024.
- Real-world asset tokenization addresses key market inefficiencies and empower a wide variety of illiquid tangible assets, notably financial assets.
| Traditional Finance | RWA Tokenization |
|---|---|
| ❗ Trillions of illiquid assets (e.g., real estate, private equity) require high capital commitment | ✔️ Fractional ownership enables investors to trade small portions of those assets |
| ❗ Investors pay multiple layers of service fees to intermediaries (e.g., brokers, lawyers) | ✔️ Smart contracts automate the process and reduce the need for multiple intermediaries |
| ❗ Transactions take weeks or months to be finalized because of slow, semi-manual KYC processes, fiat payment transfers, and unstandardized workflows | ✔️ Transactions can be finalized in seconds with platform-agnostic KYC, instant transfer of payments and standardized workflow |
| Traditional Finance | ❗ Trillions of illiquid assets (e.g., real estate, private equity) require high capital commitment |
|---|---|
| RWA Tokenization | ✔️ Fractional ownership enables investors to trade small portions of those assets |
| Traditional Finance | ❗ Investors pay multiple layers of service fees to intermediaries (e.g., brokers, lawyers) |
| RWA Tokenization | ✔️ Smart contracts automate the process and reduce the need for multiple intermediaries |
| Traditional Finance | ❗ Transactions take weeks or months to be finalized because of slow, semi-manual KYC processes, fiat payment transfers, and unstandardized workflows |
| RWA Tokenization | ✔️ Transactions can be finalized in seconds with platform-agnostic KYC, instant transfer of payments and standardized workflow |
Read the full report: The Evolution of the Institutional Crypto Market: From Liquidity to Global Adoption
Authors
Crypto.com Research and Insights Team
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