- Bitcoin’s market share rose to 59.1% despite falling 11.8%.
- Ethereum’s 2024 beneficial properties worn out in Q1 2025.
- DeFi TVL fell 27.5% all over multichain platforms.
The global cryptocurrency market started 2025 with optimism, fuelled by expectations of beneficial protection shifts below Donald Trump’s presidency and a sturdy rally all over meme money.
But those hopes agree with since been dashed. In maintaining with CoinGecko’s most modern quarterly file, crypto’s total market capitalisation fell 18.6% in Q1 2025, wiping out $633.5 billion in fee.
Trading volumes additionally took a success. The file exhibits that realistic day-to-day trading quantity fell 27.3% when when in contrast with the outdated quarter. Achieve aside trading on centralised exchanges declined 16.3%, a tumble that became once partly attributed to the Bybit hack earlier this year.
Despite indicators of strength in early January, recession concerns and fragmented investor curiosity resulted in a necessary sell-off all over digital resources.
Bitcoin outperforms altcoins nevertheless peaceable falls 11.8%
Bitcoin retained its dominance over the broader market in Q1, accounting for 59.1% of the total crypto market cap — its easiest stage since 2021.
This shift highlights how investors agree with handled Bitcoin as a somewhat extra get asset when when in contrast with altcoins at some level of unsure sessions.
Alternatively, Bitcoin itself became once no longer resistant to losses. It declined 11.8% at some level of the quarter and underperformed outmoded safe havens fancy gold and US Treasury bonds.
The file additionally illustrious that Trump’s newly imposed tariffs caused volatility in the bond market, impacting yields — a key metric closely linked to digital asset flows.
Ethereum seen an even sharper reversal. It gave up all of its 2024 beneficial properties, returning to ranges final considered earlier than its Shanghai upgrade. The file attributed this pattern to declining decentralised finance (DeFi) project and chronic concerns around gas costs and scalability.
DeFi TVL and Solana project decline sharply
Multichain DeFi protocols suffered vastly, with total fee locked (TVL) falling 27.5% over the three-month interval.
Solana, which led the decentralised commerce (DEX) trading condominium at some level of the meme coin frenzy in January, seen its private TVL tumble by extra than 20%.
CoinGecko’s recordsdata implies that market excitement around Trump-themed tokens, in particular the TRUMP coin on Solana, sparked a transient spike in transaction volumes. Alternatively, this project did no longer defend investor curiosity beyond January.
The LIBRA scandal, which emerged quickly after, added additional stress on altcoin sentiment and liquidity.
Despite these setbacks, Bitcoin commerce-traded funds (ETFs) recorded $1 billion in unique inflows in Q1.
But the total resources below administration (AUM) all over these ETFs peaceable fell by virtually $9 billion due to the declining costs, highlighting the gap between funding inflows and market returns.
Structural concerns deepen
While some recordsdata parts prompt restricted resilience, virtually every obvious pattern in the file became once accompanied by a downside nervousness.
The file exhibits that centralised exchanges, stablecoin volumes, and DeFi features all registered lower project in February and March. Many projects lost traction as macroeconomic concerns mounted and investor caution grew.
CoinGecko illustrious that the first quarter of 2025 represents one in every of essentially the most no longer easy sessions for crypto because the FTX collapse in gradual 2022.
The file displays broader market concerns that the crypto sector, despite structural improvements in infrastructure and compliance, stays deeply inclined to global economic shocks.
As recession fears snatch assign and regulatory uncertainties continue to loom in necessary markets, the course forward for crypto in the arrival months stays extremely unsure.
Regardless that Bitcoin’s rising market share signals a flight to perceived safety, the broader market can also need extra than optimism and meme coin rallies to gain higher from this quarter’s losses.
