2025 was supposed to be a monster year for crypto.

Bitcoin (BTC) surged to a new all-time high… Wall Street poured hundreds of billions into ETFs… Washington finally stopped trying to kill the industry… and real-world crypto apps quietly pulled in record revenues.

On paper, everything lined up for another monster bull run.

But if you’ve been watching the charts, you know that’s not how it played out.

Bitcoin is flat on the year. Ethereum (ETH) is down. And 99% of the crypto market feels like it’s asleep.

So, what gives?

Today, I want to show you what really happened in 2025… and why this year’s “disappointment” may be the best thing that could’ve happened to crypto.

• This wasn’t a crash. It was a handoff.

In past cycles, most bitcoin was owned by early believers. These were folks who’d weathered every crash and weren’t selling unless they had to.

So when new money rushed in, it had to pry coins from tight hands—sending prices vertical.

This time was different.

When bitcoin tagged $100,000 back in January, it was a wake-up call for long-term investors: “If I’m ever going to take profits… it’s now.”

And many long-time holders did just that.

But instead of a crash, we got a quiet transfer. Wall Street stepped in and bought what they were selling.

BlackRock’s (BLK) bitcoin ETF—the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT)—became the fastest fund ever to hit $100 billion in assets. Ethereum got scooped up by new “digital Treasuries.” Retirement accounts and paycheck flows started auto-buying crypto every month.

That’s why prices held steady even as $50 billion in bitcoin changed hands.

Short term, this caps upside. Every rally runs into someone selling at breakeven.

But long term, this creates something we’ve never had in crypto before: A permanent, steady bid. The kind that keeps buying dips instead of puking at the lows.

That’s the foundation of a mature market.

• Crypto finally built something people use.

The first 15 years of crypto were all about infrastructure. We built exchanges, blockchains, wallets… but very few things a normal person could actually use.

That changed this year.

In 2025, over 70 crypto protocols are on track to pull in $100 million in revenue. And for the first time, apps brought in more revenue than the blockchains they run on.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana (SOL) still make up 90% of crypto’s total market cap—but they only capture 19% of the revenue.

Meanwhile, exchanges, lending markets, and tokenization platforms capture two-thirds of the revenue… yet they make up just 10% of the market.

Source: Forbes

That kind of mismatch is what long-term investors dream of.

Every big tech wave follows this pattern. You build the pipes… then the apps take over.

2025 was the year crypto hit that tipping point.

• The suits have entered the chat.

Crypto used to be fringe. It was the Wild West.

Now?

Visa (V) launched a platform to let banks issue tokens on public blockchains. Mastercard (MA) tokenized a $10 million shipment that settled in seconds. Shopify (SHOP) teamed up with Coinbase (COIN) and Stripe to accept stablecoins at checkout.

Google (GOOGL) even shipped a tool so artificial intelligence agents can pay each other using crypto.

This is no longer about speculation. It’s about real companies solving real problems with crypto infrastructure.

It’s the financial system quietly upgrading behind the scenes.

• The story no one’s talking about…

On the surface, it feels like 2025 was a letdown.

But underneath, something much more important happened:

• The holder base flipped from early adopters to long-term investors.
• Real revenue is finally driving real adoption.
• Wall Street, big tech, and global banks are building on crypto rails.

That’s the kind of shift that doesn’t show up in a headline or a one-week price chart. But it does set the stage for the next leg higher.

I’ll take flat prices and strong fundamentals over meme-fueled mania any day.

Because in markets, what feels good in the short term rarely builds lasting wealth.

The truth is that crypto just had its silent reset. And those paying attention are getting positioned for what’s next.

This is something I help my readers track every week in The Jolt: opportunities that are quietly shifting beneath the surface of the market… and how to play them.

If you’re not signed up yet, you can join us here.

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Stephen McBride is Chief Analyst, RiskHedge. To get more ideas like this sent straight to your inbox every Monday and Friday, make sure to sign up for The Jolt, a free investment letter focused on profiting from disruption.