Crypto market in Q1 2025:- Cypto market this week has witnessed unprecedented bullish momentum. Bitcoin Price has surpassed $96,000 – registering 2.7% weekly gain.
This was followed by the 1.25% gain in Ethereum – currently trading at $1,836.
This all seems to auguring well for the Q2 2025 of crypto market. However, in Q1 2025, the total market cap of crypto market fell by 18.6% according to the latest report of Coingecko.
This comes despite the fact that Q1 of crypto market was marked by major pro-crypto political actions and subsequent market reactions.
This includes:
1. The US President Donald Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2025.
2. 24-hour DEX Volume on Solana exceeded $3.8 Billion – surpassing the trading volume of Ethereum and Base combined
3. Uniswap’s Layer-2 Unichain went live
4. SEC Droppef its lawsuit against XRP
5. Trump signed executive order to set up Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, among other major moves
Also Read: Bitcoin Eyeing $100k!
Bitcoin and Ethereum Lead the Crypto Market Decline
The Coingecko report reveals that total market cap of crypto market reached its high on two days before Trump’s Inauguration Day – at $3.8 trillion on January 18 – only to end at $2.8 trillion by Q1.
This fell was lead by Ethereum which saw drastic fall of 45.3%. Completely erasing its gains from 2024, it fall from $3,336 to $1,805.
Bitcoin followed this decline at -11.8% . Though it reached all-time high at $106,182 on Jan 22, it ended Q1 at $82,514.
Among these, the report highlights that Gold emerged as the strongest asset class in Q1 2025 – with 18% gain. This comes as many analysts like Peter Schioff consider Gold and not Bitocin as hedge against inflation.
Despite Bitcoin’s higher returns, gold’s consistent performance and lower volatility make it an attractive option for risk-averse investors seeking capital preservation.
$LIBRA Scandal Caused the Decline in Meme Tokens Activity by 56%
One of the first direct crypto bet that US Prez Donald Trump and his wife Melania Turmp made were the memecoins.
On January 17, Donald Trump launched his $TRUMP meme coin as a “digital collectible” on the Solana blockchain.
The initial coin offering (ICO) released 200 million tokens to the public, while 800 million remained under Trump-affiliated entities. The token’s value surged rapidly, reaching a market capitalization of over $14 billion within 24 hours.
Just two days later, Melania Trump also launched her own token, $MELANIA, on the Solana blockchain. Promoted as a means to “support” and “engage” with her fanbase, the coin quickly achieved a market cap of approximately $13 billion. H
Following their initial peaks, both tokens experienced substantial declines. By early February 2025, $TRUMP had lost about 75% of its value, while $MELANIA had dropped by nearly 90%.
In the past 8 days, the $Melania project team has continued to sell 9.99 million MELANIA worth around 4.65 million USD).
According to the report, the political memecoins frenzy was further busted by the $LIBRA scandal pin. The launch of $TRUMP and $MELANIA token did spark a meme coin frenzy. However, the Quarter ended with -53% trading volume in memcoins – from its ATH of 72k on pump.fun.
The number of memecoins deployed on the memecoin platform came down to 31K by the end of 2025 Q1.
The report also highlights that the launch of $TRUMP token pushed SOL price to ATH of $293. However, since then the native token, $SOL of leading blockchain Solana has declined by 57%.
Also Read: Solana Price Predicted to Hit $750!
Apart from these, the report also shares the stats for DeFi ecosystem and NFT Market – both of which witnessed decline in Q1.
US Spot Ethereum ETFs Inflows Decline by 50%
In the first quarter of 2025, U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs experienced significant fluctuations in investor inflows and outflows.
The report highlights that U.S. spot Ethereum ETFs recorded net outflows totaling $77.5 million. The majority of these outflows were from Bitwise’s ETHW ($56.1 million) and Grayscale’s ETHE ($21.4 million).
On January 10, 2025, the ETFs saw further net outflows of $68.5 million, contributing to a weekly total outflow of $185.8 million.
Thus, the first quarter of 2025 highlighted the sensitivity of Ethereum ETF investments to market dynamics and product competitiveness.
While periods of inflows indicated investor interest, significant outflows underscored the impact of market volatility and the importance of favorable ETF structures.
Also Read: Ethereum Price At Risk
CEX And DEX Trading Volume Decline
In the first quarter of 2025, both centralized exchanges (CEXs) and decentralized exchanges (DEXs) experienced notable declines in trading volumes.
According to the repot, the total spot trading volume on CEXs dropped to $5.4 trillion. This marked a 16.3% decrease compared to the previous quarter.
In Q1 2025, Binance dominated the centralized exchange (CEX) market with a 50% share. This was followed by Bybit (9%), Upbit (8%), OKX (7%), and Crypto.com (6%). Binance alone recorded $1.4 trillion in spot trading volume, maintaining its lead.
For DEXs, Ethereum’s dominance in DEX trading continued to wane. By Q1 2025, its share ended up falling below 40% as traders explored alternative platforms.
This came as Solana maintained its position as a leading chain for DEX trading, ccounting for 39.6% of all trades in Q1 2025. This shift indicates traders’ growing preference for platforms offering lower fees and faster transactions.
All Eyes Now on Q2 2025 of Crypto Market
Thus, the Q1 2025 began with strong momentum but closed with cooling market sentiment. Crypto trading volumes across CEXs and DEXs declined. Bitcoin declined but remained dominant, outperforming Ethereum and altcoins in both market cap and interest.
The only positive numbers came from NFTs and GameFi markets, witnessing renewed activity. Memecoins surged briefly before retracing due to scandals and collapses sparking huge market volatility. Regulatory uncertainty and ETF inflow volatility added to the cautious investor tone.
Eyeing Q2 2025, the industry awaits clearer macro signals, potential ETF developments, and renewed innovation to drive fresh momentum.
With the ongoing bullish momentum, the next quarter is expected to perform better for the crypto market.
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