Over the past few years, crypto currency has experienced its own share of triumphs and turbulence. The crypto market bounced back in 2024 after a long-standing struggle for survival in the financial market. According to a Statista report, the global cryptocurrency market is projected to reach $85.7 billion in 2025. It is also expected to demonstrate a compound annual growth rate of 11.01%, leading to a total of $95.1 billion by 2026. The number of users in this digital currency market is anticipated to reach 962.92 million by 2026. Moreover, the crypto market is likely to have a better 2025 turnover and a promising future, with the market cap size expected to reach $2.2 billion by 2026 from $1.6 billion in 2021.
The US trade tariffs in the first quarter of 2025 are also influencing the rising trend in the global cryptocurrency market, leading to a short-term decline and high Bitcoin volatility. However, observing the latest statistics, it can be said that crypto is rising firmly again and shows great potential to reshape its future with some emerging trends.
In this article, we will share the most significant trends that are rewriting the future of the bull market with innovation and technology. Additionally, we will also consider highlighting the environmental and regulatory concerns that could influence the market in the near future.
Crypto Trends Ruling the 2025 and Beyond
The following are some of the most talked-about crypto trends that are likely to dominate 2025 and beyond.
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Emergence of Bull Market After ETFs Approval
Bitcoin experienced a setback in 2025’s first quarter due to the imposition of trade tariffs by the US government and various macroeconomic uncertainties. However, despite the cumulative market environment, Bitcoin is emerging as extremely resilient. Showing its resilience, we can expect a rebound of this digital currency by the second quarter of 2025. Bitcoin’s price started at $44,000 in 2024 but had skyrocketed to almost $70,000 by late May.
(Source: BINANCE, 2025)
A survey revealed that the Bitcoin price could surge to $123,000 by the end of 2025. According to BINANCE, BITCOIN’s price as of 19 September 2025 is $117,119.86, compared to its price of $63,068.3 as of September 21, 2024, indicating a surge of 85.19%.
Two key factors stimulated this growth in the bull market: one is the approval of ETFs, and the other is the current halving event. Both of these events occurred last year, marking the spark of the bull market. Crypto sentiments shift rapidly, and this can ignite changes within an hour. As the ETFs have enabled investors to have a low-cost investment in Bitcoin without operating on an exchange.
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Regulatory Changes in Cryptocurrency and Exchanges
The crypto collapse of FTX and other exchanges unveils the regulation of the industry. One must know that there weren’t many regulations related to crypto at the beginning. That scenario has changed now. Governments worldwide are taking on crypto regulations. However, the policies vary from country to country, and the US has taken up a more hands-off approach towards crypto since the Trump administration came into force. SEC is the most proactive regulatory body in the US crypto market. SEC made it mandatory for a crypto exchange to register with the SEC and follow the disclosure requirements. In June 2023, it sued Coinbase, a crypto firm, with a fine of $4 billion for not registering as a broker.
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AI Making Its Way into the Crypto World
With artificial intelligence (AI) making its way into all industries, it has been working to enter the cryptocurrency world. AI tokens are the biggest example of an AI venture in this industry. These tokens can be integrated into blockchain protocols, decentralized machine learning platforms, and decentralized web platforms.
Users can use these tokens to pay for services or access data on the platform. Whereas the platform can use these tokens to pay rewards to the users. According to statistics, at present, there are more than 200 AI tokens in the crypto space. BitTensor is one of the most popular AI tokens. The market value of AI tokens has surpassed $36 billion this year.
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Funding, Acquisitions, and Mergers in the Crypto Market
2022 was a year of crypto bankruptcies, which gradually changed in late 2023. This is when investors regained their confidence in the market. Since then, the crypto market has observed a relatively steady growth, with venture capital investments in crypto startups reaching $4.9 billion in the first quarter of 2025. As of May 2025, Binance receives 76.7 million visitors each month for investment. Investors are anticipating an integration of crypto ecosystems and fintech companies in the near future.
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Turning Real-world Assets into Digital with Blockchain
Tokenizing assets is another trend within the crypto world that leverages blockchain to tokenize real-world assets. Tokens in crypto represent real-world assets, such as art, bonds, real estate, intellectual property, and more. It enables the automation of specific actions related to the asset, which include unlocking fractional ownership, providing traceability, and increasing liquidity. Financial institutions are taking an interest in this new concept. Crypto trading platforms, such as BlackRock, Securitize, and others, are excelling in tokenization, with Securitize being a specialist in digital asset tokenization. According to Statista, the United States leads the tokenization market with a projected revenue of $18.6 billion in 2025.
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Rising Impact of Crypto on the Environment
Environmental issues occur in the proof-of-work process of cryptocurrency mining. In the process, miners solve complex mathematical problems using a high level of computing power. This computing requires an enormous amount of energy and water, which affects the climate and natural resources. It is said that a single transaction of Bitcoin uses the same amount of energy as an average US household for almost 26 days. Scientists from the United Nations have reported that 67% of the energy used in crypto mining comes from fossil fuels, and the carbon emissions alone can impact the world’s climate goals. Thus, to address these environmental concerns, Ethereum introduced The Merge in 2022. It is a software that cuts the miners’ energy use by 99%.
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Exploration of Central Bank Digital Currency
The global banking system is in the process of developing its own digital currencies, namely the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). As stated by the Brookings Institution, this would create a centralized virtual currency, which is managed by central banks. Digital currencies are being developed or tested in 132 countries right now. This amounts to 98% of the world’s GDP.
CBDCs are already operational in Nigeria, the Bahamas, and Jamaica, and China is piloting the largest CBDC trial in the world. SWIFT is planning to launch a network of CBDC platforms in the next year or two to connect various CBDCs. This network aims to unlock cross-border use of different CBDCs and enable banks to continue using their existing infrastructure to manage transactions.
However, despite the growing global interest in the development of CBDCs, US officials are doubtful about it. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell clarified in a Senate hearing that a CBDC won’t be built in the US in a way that allows the government to spy on people. He is also worried about the negative impact that CBDCs could have on costs and availability of credit, decrease the stability of the entire financial system, and push commercial banks toward possible failure.
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