In early 2025, the cryptocurrency market suffered a setback, in stark contrast to the heated high point at the end of 2024. The total cryptocurrency market value dropped by -18.6% in the first quarter, closing at $2.8 trillion, after briefly touching $3.8 trillion on January 18th - just before Donald Trump's inauguration. Accompanying the decline was a reduction in investor activity, with the average daily trading volume plummeting by -27.3% quarter-on-quarter to $146 billion.
During the market downturn, Bitcoin strengthened its dominance, reaching 59.1% by the end of the first quarter - the highest level since early 2021 - as Altcoins were primarily impacted by the decline. Although Bitcoin set a historical new high of $106,182 in January, it had fallen back to $82,514 by the end of the quarter, a decrease of -11.8%.
Our comprehensive "Q1 2025 Cryptocurrency Industry Report" covers everything from the cryptocurrency market overview to analyzing Bitcoin and Ethereum, delving deep into the DeFi and Non-Fungible Token ecosystems, and reviewing the performance of centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX).
Eight Highlights of CoinGecko's Q1 2025 Cryptocurrency Industry Report
- Total cryptocurrency market value declined by -18.6% in Q1 2025, after previously reaching a year-to-date high of $3.8 trillion
- Bitcoin's dominance strengthened, currently accounting for 59.1% of the total cryptocurrency market value
- Bitcoin declined by -11.8% in Q1 2025, underperforming gold and US Treasury bonds
- Ethereum's price plummeted from $3,336 to $1,805 in Q1 2025, erasing all gains from 2024
- After the Libra incident, meme coins crashed, with daily token deployments on Pump.fun dropping by -56.3%
- Centralized exchange spot trading volume reached $5.4 trillion in Q1 2025, a quarter-on-quarter decline of -16.3%
- Solana continued its dominance in on-chain spot decentralized exchange trading, accounting for 39.6% of all trades in Q1 2025
- Total TVL of Multichain DeFi evaporated by $48.9 billion in Q1 2025, a decline of -27.5%
Binance remains the dominant spot CEX, with a market share of 40.7% in March. Its market share continues to rise this quarter. However, its trading volume plummeted to $58.87 billion in March, after breaking the $1 trillion mark in December.
HTX is the only exchange in the top 10 that achieved growth in the first quarter, with a trading volume increase of +11.4%. The trading volumes of other top 10 CEXs declined between 1.8% and 34.0%. Upbit saw the largest drop, with its trading volume plunging -34.0% from $56.19 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024 to $37.10 billion in the first quarter of 2025.
After suffering a major hack in February, Bybit experienced the largest month-on-month decline, dropping from $178.2 billion to $84.7 billion, a decrease of -52.4%.
7. Solana continued its dominance in on-chain spot DEX trading since the end of 2024, accounting for 39.6% of all trades in the first quarter of 2025
Continuing the trend from the end of 2024, Solana maintained its dominance in DEX trading, with a market share of 52% in January; newcomers Sonic and Bera began to emerge.
Solana was the primary chain for DEX trading in the first quarter of 2025, with a quarterly market share of 39.6%. It grew by +35.3%, increasing from $217.0 billion in the fourth quarter to $293.7 billion in the first quarter.
In January, driven by the "political meme coin" wave led by $TRUMP, Solana accounted for 52% of on-chain trades among the top 12 blockchains. Its trading volume exceeded $184.8 billion, setting a new historical high for the chain. This caused Ethereum's market share to drop below 20% for the first time.
However, as the meme coin trend subsided, Ethereum successfully reclaimed the top spot in March, with a market share of 30.1%, while Solana was at 23.4%.
Optimism and Polygon were pushed out of the top 10 by newcomers Sonic and Berachain in March. However, for the entire quarter, these two chains remained leading.
8. In the first quarter of 2025, the total TVL of Multichain DeFi evaporated by $48.9 billion, a decline of -27.5%
The total locked value (TVL) of Multichain DeFi declined in the first quarter of 2025, dropping -27.5% from $177.4 billion at the end of 2024 to $128.6 billion at the end of March 2025. This was primarily due to the significant devaluation of altcoin values.
Ethereum, in particular, lost a significant portion of its TVL, with its dominance declining from 63.5% at the beginning of 2025 to 56.6% at the end of the first quarter. Its TVL decreased by 35.4%, from $112.6 billion to $72.7 billion.
Solana and Base's TVL also declined significantly, by -23.5% and -15.3% respectively, mainly due to the sharp drops in SOL and ETH prices. Nevertheless, the TVL dominance of these two networks saw a slight increase.
Berachain, launched on February 6, rapidly grew to $5.2 billion in DeFi TVL by the end of the first quarter of 2025, currently holding the sixth-largest TVL share. Its Boyco deposit vault alone attracted around $2.3 billion in funds, enhancing its first-day liquidity.
