Standing on the shoulders of crypto giants: Takeaways from 10 crypto outlooks for 2025

After diving into a range of crypto outlooks and forecasts for 2025, I set out to consolidate the collective wisdom. While this started as a personal exercise, I realized it might be valuable to share. Each outlook brought unique perspectives, reflecting the expertise and positioning of its authors—some leaning heavily on price and technical analysis, others emphasizing innovation and technological adoption. Based on these insights, here’s my summary of the big trends and themes expected to shape crypto in the year ahead.

Summary trends for 2025

• Sovereign Adoption & Regulation: Between 1 and 9 additional countries adopting Bitcoin. Expectations of a more favorable regulatory environment, particularly for retail.
• Bitcoin: Bullish price predictions ranging from $140,000 to $180,000. Significant growth anticipated in Bitcoin Layer 2 solutions. Interest in Ordinals and Runes to continue but with reduced hype.
• ETFs & crypto equities: Inflows to the US BTC ETFs (2X+ current AUM). Anticipation of new ETFs (e.g., SOL, XRP, LTC) and potentially in-kind settlement. Recovery in listed crypto company stock prices, with new unicorn IPOs on the horizon.
• Ethereum & Layer 1s: Ethereum’s recovery, driven by BLOB space usage and growth of existing and new Layer 2s. Solana expected to gain market share due to traditional finance adoption, the Firedancer upgrade, and its own Layer 2s—but unlikely to flip Ethereum. TON and SUI positioned as user-friendly Layer 1s with growing traction.
• Real-World Assets (RWAs): Tokenized securities projected to grow from $12-14 billion to ~$50 billion, with diversification into new asset types such as private credit.
• Stablecoins: Daily transfer volumes forecast to rise from $193 billion (Nov 2024) to $300–400 billion in 2025 as use cases continue to grow
• DeFi: Increased volumes and Total Value Locked (TVL). Potential for regulatory clarity. Derivative DEXs set for continued growth. Established projects likely to outperform newer ones.
• AI: Expansion of AI agents with large growth of AI generated memecoins, thanks to tools like Clanker.
• DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure): Sustained growth, led by decentralized broadband solutions and infrastructure enabling AI use cases.

Observations and Surprises

The analysis revealed some clear consensus points—ETFs, Bitcoin (especially sovereign adoption), Ethereum, and Layer 1s were widely covered and prioritized. However, it was surprising that Bitcoin Layer 2s, Memecoins, Depin and AI beyond agents were not highlighted more consistently. The table above summarizes reports that were structured in a “top 10” format with colouration for the common themes. This suggests to me that although some main narratives are clear there is still space during this cycle for many others to come to the centre.?

Final Thoughts

The diversity of perspectives in these reports underscores the dynamic and fast-evolving nature of the crypto space. While some themes are already in focus, others may yet surprise us by rising to prominence.

Whatever happens, I very much look forward to seeing the results. Wishing everyone a fantastic 2025.

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Note: Apologies to 21 Shares, where I cut off the last two of the their twelve recommendations to fit the table

Bibliography

1. Bitwise: https://bitwiseinvestments.com/crypto-market-insights/the-year-ahead-10-crypto-predictions-for-2025?
2. Bitcoin Suisse: https://files.bitcoinsuisse.com/assets/pdf/BitcoinSuisse_CryptoOutlook2025.pdf?
3. Coinbase: https://coinbase.bynder.com/m/18348e25ea106276/original/Coinbase_Institutional_Crypto-Market-Outlook_2025_v1.pdf?
4. Coinshares: https://coinshares.com/en/d/resources/research/2025-outlook/?
5. Fidelity: https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/trading-investing/crypto-outlook-2025?
6. Galaxy: https://www.galaxy.com/insights/research/crypto-predictions-2025/?
7. Hashdex: https://app-na1.hubspotdocuments.com/documents/4822441/view/975713910?accessId=2cbb38?
8. VanEck: https://www.vaneck.com/us/en/blogs/digital-assets/matthew-sigel-vanecks-10-crypto-predictions-for-2025/?
9. 21Shares: https://5994002.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/5994002/21Shares_M_SOC-13_EN_web.pdf?
10. Miles Deutscher: https://x.com/milesdeutscher/status/1874218327108968675?