One picture to recall the joys and sorrows of the crypto world over the past 12 months.

Source: TechFlow

Less than 10 days remain in 2025.

It's often said that a day in the crypto world is like a year in the real world. But those truly in the thick of it probably understand better:

This year has flown by; things that happened at the beginning of the year now seem like three years ago.

How was your year? Did you seize any opportunities, or did the market teach you a lesson in a particular month? Is that coin you heavily invested in at the beginning of the year still around? Which month was that story that got you so excited?

Many answers may have become blurred.

The crypto market's memory is too short; what was hot three months ago is no longer mentioned today, and the confident predictions made then are now embarrassing to revisit.

We've compiled a complete market record for 2025, broken down by month: what happened, which coins rose, and what everyone was talking about.

No predictions, no judgments, just a way to help you recall what we experienced this year.

January: The Highlights of AI Coins and Trump

Keywords: AI Agent, Political Meme, Optimism, and the First Cooling Down at the End of the Month

January's protagonist was the AI ​​Agent.

AI16Z reached an all-time high of $2.47 on January 2nd, with its market capitalization soaring to $2.5 billion, becoming the first AI token on the Solana chain to break this milestone. AIXBT, ARC, ZEREBRO, GRIFFAIN… these names were mentioned almost daily at the time.

Political memes were equally eye-catching. On January 17th, the official Trump token was launched, surging from less than $1 to an all-time high of $75 within two days, with its market capitalization exceeding $14 billion at one point.

I vaguely remember waking up one morning to the shock of Trump's crazy surge. At the time, everyone was wondering if it was officially issued, and later, as the information was confirmed, a president issuing a token became a first in the industry.

Furthermore, XRP surged 50% that month due to news of a meeting between Ripple executives and the Trump team, with the market betting it would be among the first altcoins to receive ETF approval.

On a macro level, Trump signed an executive order on January 23rd: establishing a digital asset task force, exploring a national crypto reserve, and prohibiting the issuance of a CBDC in the US. Market sentiment was initially very optimistic.

However, the tide turned at the end of the month. Around January 20th, DeepSeek released a low-cost AI model, directly impacting the narrative of crypto AI agents, making many agents seem more like toys.

Many of those AI concept coins that had just risen plummeted back to their original levels in the following weeks.

February: LIBRA scam, Bybit hacked

Keywords: Bybit theft, $LIBRA scam, massive liquidation

On February 21st, Bybit suffered the largest cryptocurrency theft in history. North Korean hackers from Lazarus transferred approximately 400,000 ETH (worth about $1.5 billion) to addresses under their control.

This is larger than the losses during the FTX crash and far exceeds any previous exchange theft.

Meanwhile, trust in political memes completely collapsed this month. On Valentine's Day, February 14th, Argentine President Milei posted about a cryptocurrency on social media, causing the token to surge to $5 within 40 minutes, reaching a market capitalization of $4.5 billion. Hours later, the price plummeted by 85%, resulting in losses exceeding $250 million for approximately 40,000 investors.

Milei subsequently deleted the post and denied involvement, and the token named after Trump and his wife also gradually declined throughout the month.

From February 24th to 27th, Bitcoin experienced its worst three-day losing streak since the FTX crash in 2022, plummeting 12.6% and liquidating nearly $3 billion in leveraged positions.

The entire Meme coin sector halved in value, with Solana's TVL crashing 30%, reaching its lowest level since November of last year.

However, there were exceptions. Pi Network officially launched its mainnet on February 20th, with the token reaching a high of $2.98, sparking discussions about "pump and dump schemes finally cashing out."

March: Strategic reserves to the left, tariff fears to the right.

Keywords: Strategic Reserves, Tariff Panic, Meme Crash, Micro-Strategy

March saw the initial effects of favorable policies. Trump hosted the first-ever crypto summit at the White House, signing an executive order to establish a "strategic Bitcoin reserve."

A few days earlier, he announced on Truth Social that XRP, SOL, and ADA would also be included in the digital asset reserve. ADA surged 70% in a single day, breaking through $1, leading the market to believe that regulatory attitudes had completely shifted.

However, the favorable policies failed to support the market. Trump's tariff threats triggered trade war panic, leading to a widespread sell-off of risk assets. The Meme sector experienced a collective collapse: an overall drop of 40-60%.

The BSC chain unexpectedly became a safe haven. The Middle East-themed Meme coin Mubarak surged over a thousandfold after multiple endorsements from CZ, and BSC chain trading volume at one point surpassed Solana.

Meanwhile, the biggest trust crisis in March occurred at Hyperliquid. Attackers used the JELLY token to short-sell, manipulating the price and causing HLP vaults to face losses of approximately $12 million. Hyperliquid's response—a vote to delist tokens and forced settlement—led many to re-evaluate the definition of a DEX, highlighting the centralized handling of the crisis by "decentralized exchanges."

Off-chain, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) continued to increase its holdings, announcing on March 18th a $500 million preferred stock offering specifically for purchasing BTC. Bitcoin hoarders' faith remained steadfast.

April: Policy Shift, Sentiment Recovery

Keywords: Tariff Suspension, Regulatory Shift, SOL ETF, Sentiment Reversal

April was a month of sentiment recovery.

On April 9th, Trump announced a 90-day tariff suspension. The news sent the S&P 500 surging 9.5% in a single day, its largest single-day gain since 2008. On the same day, the SEC approved ETH ETF options trading, further improving institutional allocation tools.

Meanwhile, the appointment of Paul Atkins as the new SEC chairman, with his pro-crypto stance, gave the market hope.

The total market capitalization of the crypto market rebounded by 10.8% that month, with Bitcoin recovering from a low of $76,000 to break $90,000 by the end of the month.

Canada launched the world's first Solana spot ETF that month. SUI benefited from news of a partnership between Grayscale Trust and Mastercard, with a monthly gain exceeding 50%.

Meme coin also revived. Fartcoin rebounded hundreds of times from its bottom, becoming the leading stock in the rally, while RFC (often referred to as "Musk's mouthpiece") rose thousands of times.

After the brutal trials of February and March, April was the first time many felt, "We're back!"

May: We're So Back!

Keywords: All-time high, US-China easing, DAT narrative, ICP, Hyperliquid

May was the most sentiment-driven month of 2025 so far.

On May 2nd, the US and China reached a 90-day tariff suspension agreement, temporarily alleviating the trade war shadow and triggering a broad rebound in risk assets.

On May 7th, Ethereum completed the Pectra upgrade, the largest hard fork since the 2022 Merge. Although not immediately reflected in the price, ETH rose 44% that month, indicating a significant improvement in market sentiment.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin broke through $110,000, setting a new all-time high. Everything seemed to be back, and the crypto market began to flourish on multiple fronts:

The narrative of listed companies' "Digital Asset Treasury" (DAT) continued to heat up. GameStop, SharpLink Gaming, and others initiated buying BTC and ETH, and the Strategy model is being replicated.

On-chain, new gameplay is emerging one after another. The Believe platform became a hit, allowing users to launch their own tokens with a single click by simply adding the token name to @launchcoin on X, giving rise to the so-called ICP narrative (Internet Capital Market); the platform's token, LAUNCHCOIN, surged that month.

Virtuals Protocol launched the Genesis Launch platform, reigniting the AI ​​token ICO craze, with VIRTUAL rising by 60%. Kaito's Yap Points reward system took on-chain social interaction to a new level, with its token rising by 190%, and "talking" (or "voice-based") tokens gradually becoming a mainstream way to generate profits.

Meanwhile, Hyperliquid's token, HYPE, rose by 75% that month, prompting a belated but enthusiastic discussion within the Chinese crypto community about the new DEX model and the so-called "human efficiency ratio," namely Hyperliquid's ability to generate massive profits with a minimal workforce.

May was good for everyone; everything finally came back to life.

June: DAT heats up, stablecoins go wild.

Keywords: Circle IPO, DAT Expansion, Tokenization of US Stocks

June saw the stablecoin narrative explode.

On June 5th, Circle went public on the NYSE under the ticker symbol CRCL, with an IPO price of $31 and an oversubscription of 25 times. By June 23rd, the stock price had surged to an all-time high of $298.99, nearly nine times its IPO price.

This was a high point for crypto-native companies on the US stock market and a landmark event signifying traditional capital's recognition of the stablecoin sector.

Four days later, another stablecoin project created an even bigger sensation. Plasma launched its public offering on Cobie's Sonar platform, raising $500 million in just 5 minutes.

The daily limit was raised to $1 billion, which was filled in 30 minutes. Tether CEO, Peter Thiel, and Bybit were among the early investors. The market's fervor for "stablecoin infrastructure" exceeded everyone's expectations.

The DAT narrative continued to gain momentum. Strategy continued its buying spree, with Metaplanet purchasing 1088 BTC in a month. DeFi Development Corp announced a $5 billion equity funding round specifically for increasing its SOL holdings, aiming to become the "SOL version of MicroStrategy." SharpLink Gaming continued to increase its ETH holdings, bringing its total to 188,000 ETH.

On the 30th, another new narrative quietly emerged: the tokenization of US stocks.

Kraken and Bybit simultaneously launched xStocks, allowing over 60 US stocks (Tesla, Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, etc.) to be traded as tokens on Solana.

Meanwhile, Hyperliquid solidified its position as the leader in on-chain derivatives trading, with Ethereum staking reaching a record high. The meme sector also saw highlights, with BANANAS31 experiencing a surge; USELESS, due to its absurd and seemingly useless name, also rose by over 2000%.

July: The Genius Bill was passed, and both BTC and ETH reached new highs.

Keywords: GENIUS Act, BTC/ETH New High, Tokenization Expansion, Stablecoin Public Chains

On July 18th, Trump signed the GENIUS Act, the first federal regulatory law for stablecoins in US history.

Bitcoin was also active. It began breaking out on July 10th, reaching a new all-time high of over $120,000 on July 14th, with ETF inflows reaching a record $1.2 billion in a single day.

ETH also surged, reaching a new 2025 high of $3,848 on July 21st.

Meanwhile, the tokenization narrative intensified. Robinhood launched tokenized trading of over 200 US stocks, running on Arbitrum, including private equity tokens from OpenAI and SpaceX.

PENGU also made a significant move, submitting an application for a PENGU ETF; this could be the world's first ETF to include NFTs.

The stablecoin public chain war has also begun. Tether and Bitfinex-backed "Stable" released its roadmap on July 1st, entering competition with Tempo and Circle's own Arc.

Regarding Memecoins, SPX6900 rose by over 100%, and the established stablecoin ENA rose by over 160%. Everything is going well.

August: OKB surged, and BTC hit a new high again.

Keywords: Exchange Token Surge

August's overall impression was "not bad."

BTC reached a new high of $124,000 in mid-August before pulling back, closing at around $108,000 at the end of the month. However, the altcoin market was booming, with exchange tokens being the biggest winners.

On August 13th, OKX announced a one-time burn of 65.25 million OKB tokens, locking the total supply from 300 million to 21 million; simultaneously, it upgraded its XLayer public chain. Upon the announcement, OKB surged 170% that day, reaching a new high of $148, and subsequently continued to climb to $255, a nearly 400% increase from its bottom.

Meanwhile, MNT (Mantle) was integrated into the Bybit exchange, primarily for the RWA public chain. In the future, MNT will be used as a transaction fee token on Bybit, similar to a platform coin.

On August 28th, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced a partnership with Chainlink and Pyth to put macroeconomic data such as GDP and PCE on the blockchain; the news drove LINK up by about 61% in August, and Pyth surged over 70% that day.

Hong Kong's stablecoin regulation also officially came into effect. The Stablecoin Ordinance took effect on August 1st, and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority opened license applications, attracting many mainland companies such as JD.com (although they later withdrew for various reasons).

Of course, there was also the drama surrounding celebrity tokens. On August 21st, Kanye West launched the YZY token on Solana, which surged 1400% to $3 within an hour, with the FDV briefly reaching $3 billion, and then… plummeted 80%, gradually returning to zero.

Kanye claimed his Instagram was hacked and that the token being promoted was fake. Regardless of the truth, this is yet another classic case of celebrity tokens becoming a "fan-driven" scam.

ZORA, a SocialFi platform, also saw a surge in popularity, riding the wave of Coinbase's Base App integration and the Creator Coins boom. Its August gains exceeded 100%, reaching an all-time high of $0.15.

Pump.fun also recovered, regaining a significant share of the Solana launcher market, with August revenue reaching $46 million.

September: Fed rate cuts, ASTER rises.

Keywords: Interest Rate Cut, Crypto IPO, Aster

On September 17th, the FOMC announced a 25 basis point interest rate cut, the first rate cut in 2025.

That same month, Tether raised funds privately at a valuation of $500 billion, once again highlighting its financial strength, but irrelevant to most retail investors.

However, Tether co-founder Reeve Collins launched the STBL protocol, which debuted on Binance Alpha on September 16th, surging 455% on its first day, with FDV exceeding $1 billion. Within a month, it had increased 44 times from its lowest point to its highest.

A mini-boom occurred in crypto company IPOs. On September 11th, Figure listed on Nasdaq, becoming the first RWA stock; Gemini followed suit the next day. Wall Street's attitude towards crypto has visibly shifted.

In the crypto space, a "DEX war" erupted in the on-chain contract sector, with Aster emerging and its token surging 2800% in its first week; its seven-day trading volume even surpassed Hyperliquid at one point.

Regarding tokens, PUMP rose 160% in a month thanks to an aggressive buyback strategy (accumulating over $95 million in buybacks), hitting an ATH on September 14th. AVNT surged 660% after its quick listing on Upbit and Binance within a week. BNB rose 19.7% after expanding its Benji platform in Franklin Templeton. MNT rose 130% due to its integration into the Bybit ecosystem.

Coinbase's x402 protocol was announced this month, foreshadowing the 402 sector's explosive growth in the following two months.

October: A Binance experience followed by a bloody liquidation.

Keywords: Epic Liquidation, Binance Life

October was supposed to be "Uptober."

The first Chinese meme coin, "Binance Life," launched on October 4th, with the slogan "Drive a Binance car, live in a Binance community, enjoy the Binance life." This meme resonated with the collective sentiment of the Chinese-speaking world, causing its market capitalization to surge from zero to $500 million within five days, a gain of over 3000%.

For the past seven years, BTC had never fallen in October. But October 2025 completely shattered this tradition.

At the beginning of October, BTC was still hitting new highs, reaching an all-time high of $126,000 on October 3rd. Then, on October 11th, an epic liquidation occurred, with $19 billion in leveraged positions forcibly liquidated within 24 hours, resulting in the largest single-day liquidation disaster in crypto history.

The crypto market, sentiment, and liquidity all began to plummet from this point onward.

Although Zcash saw a localized surge this month thanks to Naval's recommendations, no other major market drivers emerged afterward. Both institutional and retail investors suffered immeasurable losses in this wave.

November: A disheartening decline, privacy-focused stocks bucking the trend.

Keywords: BTC $80K, DeFi collapse, privacy rise, x402, fraudsters' BTC seized

October's liquidation wave was thought to be the worst, but November proved the market could be even worse.

BTC plummeted from $110K at the beginning of the month to $80K, a seven-month low. The total market capitalization evaporated by nearly $1 trillion, falling from $4.2 trillion to $3.2 trillion. BlackRock's IBIT saw a monthly outflow of $2.34 billion, marking the largest monthly outflow since the ETF's inception.

But some people profited in the bear market. Privacy coins unexpectedly became a safe haven, with ZEC surging from $40 in September to over $600 in November, a gain of over 1200%. DASH also rose from $20 to $136, a more than sixfold increase.

The AI ​​payment narrative also briefly gained traction. Coinbase's x402 protocol allowed AI agents to autonomously pay for services, causing its ecosystem token PING to surge from zero to a $70 million market capitalization, with related cryptocurrencies like PayAI and Santana following suit. However, the hype was short-lived, and the trend began to subside by the end of the month.

Meanwhile, the "Digital Asset Treasury" (DAT) sector collectively faced difficulties.

Strategy plummeted 36% in November, and MSCI is evaluating whether to remove it from its index; other ETH and SOL-based companies also continued their decline.

Furthermore, the confiscation of nearly 190,000 BTC by authorities in the cases of fraudsters Qian Zhimin and Chen Zhi raised concerns about potential selling pressure and amplified the "crypto = money laundering" label.

December: Boring, Gossip, and Infighting

I hopped on my electric scooter and finished the delivery. No narrative, just emotions.

The group chat wasn't about positions, it was gossip: who ran off with the money, who committed fraud, who had a dispute over profit sharing.

Some call this a "silent bear market." Slowly, silently, it's wearing down everyone's enthusiasm. The only consensus is: wait. Wait for liquidity to return.

Next year is almost here.

Those of us in the crypto world don't know where we're going, but we're still on the road.

Hopefully, 2026 will be better for us all.