State of Crypto 2025 – The themes that defined the year

There was a very real, tangible shift for cryptocurrency in 2025 from the periphery of the financial industry toward the centre. Big institutional partnerships were announced, banks launched tokenisation initiatives, and Bitcoin made new highs without much fanfare, which is telling of how far the industry has come.

Considering the year that was, the developments that moved the needle, and those that didn’t, here are the key themes that defined crypto in 2025.

The year crypto went (more) mainstream

The total crypto market capitalisation crossed $4 trillion for the first time this year. For context, the total value of the S&P 500 sits between $58-$62 trillion. Crypto has only been around for 15 years and has already shown significant adoption during this short time. 

A few factors have been credited with this growth. The continued institutionalisation of crypto assets, with a significant portion of trading volumes flowing through institutional investors, was supported by crypto-friendly regulations in the US and abroad.

“The narrative around cryptocurrency fundamentally shifted in 2025. We’ve moved beyond whether crypto will integrate with traditional finance to how quickly it will occur,” says Christo de Wit, Country Manager for Luno South Africa. 

More than this, traditional financial institutions began integrating crypto technology into their systems. Big names like JP Morgan, BlackRock, and payments firms such as Visa and Stripe have embraced crypto for its efficiency and frictionless payment capabilities. 

In South Africa, forward-looking banks like Discovery Bank made crypto investing available to clients through a partnership with Luno, a significant step for adoption.

“Bitcoin reached several historic milestones in 2025. On Trump’s inauguration day, 20 January, Bitcoin topped R2 million for the first time on Luno, just 11 months after breaching the R1 million mark,” De Wit notes.  

The momentum continued throughout the year, with Bitcoin recording multiple all-time highs – surpassing $111,800 in May and climbing above $125,000 before October’s volatility.

Beyond price, institutional adoption accelerated dramatically. BlackRock’s IBIT Bitcoin ETF became the third-highest revenue-generating fund among the asset manager’s 1,000+ ETFs in less than two years.”

Looking ahead to 2026, several factors suggest continued institutional momentum. “The proposed changes to US workplace pension plans – potentially allowing Bitcoin into 401(k) retirement plans covering over 90 million Americans – could open significant new capital flows if implemented,” says De Wit. 

Bitcoin’s behaving differently

Bitcoin’s 2024 cycle marked a departure from its historical boom-and-bust pattern, previously characterised by large rallies followed by sharp declines and a period of consolidation. Since institutional investors entered in 2024, the dynamics have shifted. This year that theory has gained further support.

For the first time, in 2024, Bitcoin peaked before a halving rather than after, reversing the traditional pattern where halvings were preceded by consolidation periods that gave way to sustained rallies afterward.

This year’s growth curve has been smoother, with Bitcoin showing less volatility than in the past. Many attribute this to the influx of institutional “smart money”. Some argue the four-year cycle is no longer valid, while others suggest the halving remains relevant but only as a short-term event in a broader context. 

Real-world assets continue to be tokenised

Last year, it was evident that tokenisation would continue to gain traction, and this has proven true in 2025. Momentum is expected to carry into 2026 as more real-world assets are digitised and traded on crypto rails, meaning the underlying blockchain infrastructure that moves value. 

In a paper titled From Ripples to Waves, McKinsey estimates that by 2030, roughly $2 trillion worth of assets could be tokenised and live on-chain, with a more bullish scenario putting the figure closer to $4 trillion. For context, global financial assets were estimated at around $400 trillion in 2021, according to the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), including equities, bonds, and real estate.

Luno gave customers in South Africa and Nigeria access to more than 60 of the largest US tokenised stocks this year, providing round-the-clock access without currency conversions necessary. 

These markets are expected to continue opening up to everyday investors, with more assets, beyond tokenised stocks, becoming available on crypto investment platforms.

Says De Wit: “Tokenised stocks have emerged as a powerful demonstration of crypto’s real-world utility. These blockchain-based tokens represent ownership of traditional company shares and are backed by actual shares held in custody, with prices tracking the real-time values of the underlying stocks.

“Nasdaq’s September proposal to the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) to trade tokenised stocks on its exchange was one of the clearest examples yet of the blurring line between traditional finance and cryptocurrency. If approved, one of the largest traditional stock exchanges in the world would be trading what is essentially a cryptocurrency, a token settled on a blockchain.”

Stablecoins enter traditional markets

Tokenising the US dollar was one of the first tokenisation use cases, long before equities and bonds were tokenised. Tokenisation allows for nearly instant settlement, reduces costs, and eliminates the need for intermediaries in transactions. Other fiat currencies have also been tokenised, including the Euro and the South African Rand. This has profound implications for the global payments system, particularly in remittances and cross-border transactions.

Even SWIFT, the global messaging network used by banks to securely send payment instructions, announced plans to integrate crypto rails into its infrastructure. 

AI and crypto converge

Artificial intelligence (AI) is arguably the most transformative technology since the internet, offering vast opportunities but also numerous risks. Questions around ownership, data security, and monopolisation are rapidly emerging as AI continues to infiltrate our personal and professional lives.

Some crypto projects are building decentralised AI networks that spread work across many participants instead of relying on one company. As AI grows, these crypto-powered systems are expected to expand. Helium, for example, lets people run wireless hotspots and earn crypto for providing network coverage, while Bittensor rewards users for contributing useful AI models to a shared network.

Privacy-focused crypto networks

Privacy-focused crypto networks allow people to send cryptocurrency without revealing transaction details. Public networks like Bitcoin make every transfer visible, sender, receiver, and amount. Privacy-focused crypto networks like Zcash instead use zero-knowledge proofs, a type of advanced cryptography that proves a transaction is valid without exposing any details.

In practice, these networks can be used for everyday financial activities where confidentiality matters, including salary payments, business transactions, treasury management, and donations. In 2025, the focus shifted from whether privacy belongs in crypto to how it can coexist with compliance, audits, and lawful oversight.


* This information should not be construed as a solicitation to trade. All opinions, news, research, analysis, prices, or other information is provided as general market commentary for information purposes only and is not investment advice or recommendation. Luno always advises you to obtain your own independent financial advice before investing or trading in cryptocurrency.