The crypto market of 2025 is experiencing an counterintuitive phenomenon

On the surface, the 2025 crypto market appears to be in ruins.
The largest drawdown within #BTC year exceeds 30%,
Altcoins are bleeding profusely,
The phrase "Crypto is dead" echoes once again in the community.
The new retail investors who chased the market at the beginning of the year,
Some accounts have been halved, some have completely sold off and uninstalled the app,
Others are holding on stubbornly, waiting for a long-awaited bailout.
Emotionally, this has been the worst year since the #FTX explosion in 2022.
But just as retail investors collectively become pessimistic and the market seems to lose faith,
Another group is quietly doing the exact opposite:疯狂扫货.
Beneath the ruins, capital is gathering
According to PitchBook data,
The total M&A volume in the crypto industry in 2025 reached $8.6 billion, with 267 deals, up 18% year-over-year.
How exaggerated is this number?
It is nearly 4 times that of 2024,
Exceeding the total M&A of the past four years.
If we adopt a broader statistical scope from Architect Partners,
this figure even reaches $12.9 billion.
More importantly—
This is not retail investors buying coins, but institutions acquiring “foundations.”
They are not buying tokens,
But:
Custody systems
Clearing systems
Payment channels
Regulatory licenses
Institutional-grade back-end systems
In other words:
Retail investors are surrendering on price, while institutions are building positions in the industry.
Why are they not buying coins, but acquiring companies?
The answer is simple.
If it’s just a bet on price, buying BTC alone suffices,
There’s no need to spend billions of dollars acquiring a company.
What they truly care about is how crypto will be integrated into mainstream finance.
When an industry transitions from “wild growth” to “institutionalization,”
The most valuable thing is never price volatility,
But who controls the entry points, channels, and rules.
This is very similar to Wall Street after the 2008 financial crisis:
Lehman collapsed,
Bear Stearns disappeared,
But the institutions that survived,
Not only did they not die, but they also absorbed大量资产 during the downturn.
After the crisis, industry concentration increased significantly,
The strong got stronger.
The crypto industry of 2025 is reenacting this script.
Why specifically 2025?
Because three key “institutional keys” turn simultaneously in the same year.
The first key: Regulatory attitude undergoes a complete reversal
In recent years, the crypto industry has been in a state of extreme uncertainty:
You don’t know if you are operating “illegally”
You don’t know which activities will be classified as securities
You don’t even know if your company will still exist next year
This environment is fatal for mergers and acquisitions.
Until early 2025, a fundamental change occurred in US regulatory direction.
The regulatory logic shifted from **“enforce first, interpret later”**,
To **“communicate first, then set rules”**.
Many legacy cases were quickly cleared,
And in a way that cannot be re-litigated.
This sends a clear message to the market:
Old issues are behind us, it’s time to start fresh.
The second key: Financial licenses begin to loosen
In the past, the biggest barrier for crypto companies was not technology,
But the inability to access core financial systems.
By 2025, regulators began systematically easing restrictions:
Custody qualifications
Payment and settlement capabilities
Direct connection with traditional banking systems
A very straightforward data point:
In 2025, the number of financial license applications received in the US
was dozens of times higher than the previous year.
What does this mean?
It means crypto is no longer just a “financial fringe experiment,”
But is starting to be allowed into the formal financial system.
The third key: Stablecoins are officially “recognized”
Stablecoins are the most critical link in the entire crypto ecosystem.
In 2025, the US’s first federal-level crypto legislation was enacted,
Clarifying three things:
Stablecoins must have 1:1 reserves
Periodic disclosures
Priority repayment in bankruptcy
More importantly:
Regulatory-compliant stablecoins are no longer considered securities or commodities.
This is equivalent to giving stablecoins a “legal ID.”
As a result:
Banks dare to accept,
Payment companies dare to use,
Businesses dare to go on-chain.
A door has been fully opened
Clear regulations, obtainable licenses, and legal stablecoins.
All three events happening simultaneously
Have created today’s scene:
Retail investors discussing “whether to cut losses”
Institutions discussing “which infrastructure is most cost-effective to buy”
They are not betting on short-term rises and falls,
But making a judgment:
Crypto will not disappear, only be absorbed.
And once absorbed,
What is truly valuable is never speculation,
But who stands at the key nodes of the system.
Conclusion: True differentiation is not in price, but in cognition
The crypto market of 2025 is indeed fragmented.
Not in longs and shorts,
But in two perspectives:
One focuses only on candlestick charts,
The other on a ten-year industry structure.
When retail investors exit in fear,
When emotions hit rock bottom,
It is precisely the time when capital is most calm and patient.
History repeatedly proves one thing:
The real bottom is often not the price bottom,
But the moment when confidence is completely exhausted.
And right now,
It may just be that moment.