The cryptocurrency market suffered an 18.6% decline in Q1 2025, totaling $2.8 trillion. Bitcoin’s market share grew to 59.1%, while Ethereum fell to a five-year low of 7.9%. Daily trading volume dropped significantly, and meme coins saw major losses following notable incidents. Centralised exchange volumes decreased, with Binance maintaining a dominant share despite challenges. Overall, Solana led DEX trading, while total value locked in DeFi fell drastically.
In the first quarter of 2025, the cryptocurrency market capitalisation experienced an 18.6% decline, falling to $2.8 trillion as analysed by Coingecko. Bitcoin maintained its dominance, with its market share rising to 59.1%, attributed to investors shying away from volatile altcoins. Meanwhile, stablecoins like USDT and USDC gained traction, whilst Ethereum’s market share dropped to a five-year low of 7.9%.
Bitcoin peaked at over $100,000 in January but concluded Q1 at $82,514, reflecting an 11.8% decrease. Despite outperforming risk assets such as the Nasdaq, which fell by 10.3%, Bitcoin failed to match gold’s performance, which rose by 18%. This downturn aligned with other factors such as a strengthening Japanese yen and euro, influenced by shifting monetary policies and geopolitical uncertainties.
Ethereum faced a significant decline of 45.3%, settling at $1,805 and erasing all prior gains from 2024. The daily trading volume decreased to $24.4 billion, with price drops intensifying during high-volume days. In contrast, major altcoins like Solana, XRP, and BNB exhibited less severe pullbacks, underscoring Ethereum’s relative weakness in the market.
Meme coins, particularly those linked to politicians such as TRUMP and MELANIA, suffered large losses following the LIBRA rug-pull incident associated with Argentine President Javier Milei. Coingecko noted a 56.3% drop in daily token deployments from 72,000 to 31,000 by the end of Q1.
Spot trading volumes on centralised exchange (CEX) platforms decreased by 16.3% to $5.4 trillion. Binance retained a 40.7% market share, despite a decline in March. HTX was the only top-ten exchange that experienced growth at 11.4%, whereas Bybit saw its volumes decrease significantly following a February hack, according to Coingecko.
In decentralised exchange (DEX) trading, Solana led with a 39.6% market share for Q1 activities, although Ethereum regained the top position briefly in March. The total value locked (TVL) across various chains in decentralised finance (DeFi) saw a 27.5% decrease to $128.6 billion, largely due to altcoin declines, with Ethereum’s DeFi share reducing to 56.6%. Berachain emerged as a newcomer with a TVL of $5.2 billion, as reported by Coingecko.
