2025 Crypto "Rich List": 12 Big Winners, Who Made the Right Bet?

The rise logic of the 12 major winners and industry trend predictions for 2026.

Written by: Oluwapelumi Adejumo

Translated by: Saoirse, Foresight News

If 2024 is the "year of recovery" for the cryptocurrency industry, then 2025 is the year when the industry's "infrastructure finally gains recognition."

This year, the emerging industry set off in January with cautious optimism and by December had gained clear support from federal regulations.

As a result, the industry narrative has completely shifted from "cryptocurrency equals casino" to "cryptocurrency is capital market infrastructure."

During this period, trading volume migrated on-chain, policy-making entered the White House's field of vision, and large asset management companies no longer hesitated—Vanguard's change of stance earlier this month is the most vivid proof, as the company has now allowed cryptocurrency ETFs to be listed on its platform.

However, despite record capital inflows and legislative victories in the industry this year, the gains were not evenly distributed among all participants.

The winners of 2025 are not just those assets whose prices have risen, but also the protocols, individuals, and products that have fundamentally secured their place in the future financial landscape.

Based on CryptoSlate's analysis, here are the 12 clear winners of the year and their significance:

1. The United States and the Trump Administration

When discussing the cryptocurrency landscape in 2025, one cannot ignore the tremendous impact of the shift in the U.S. stance. For years, the cryptocurrency industry has been in a state of "ready to exit at any time," viewing Dubai or Singapore as potential "safe havens."

But in 2025, the U.S. completely closed this "exit door," and all parties within the industry were happy to embrace this change. Therefore, this victory belongs both to the U.S. as a jurisdiction and to the top-level core forces driving this transformation.

The U.S. government, led by the 47th President Trump, achieved many of the cryptocurrency industry's long-standing demands in less than 12 months, effectively "bringing the digital asset economy back home."

Several executive orders supporting digital assets set the tone, with strategic victories reflected in specific strategies:

The "GENIUS Act" signed on July 18 provided a federal definition for stablecoins for the first time;

The "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" executive order issued in March sent a clear signal to global sovereign wealth funds—digital assets have become a key issue in national security.

Crucially, by promoting leadership changes at the U.S. SEC and CFTC, the Trump administration dispelled the fog of "regulation by enforcement."

Essentially, Trump's series of actions set the tone for the U.S. to "become the global center of cryptocurrency."

2026 Outlook: U.S. Hegemony Consolidated

The U.S. is expected to actively export its newly established industry standards. In addition, the executive order effective January 1 explicitly prohibits the issuance of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), clearing the way for private sector innovation: the dollar will still become digital in the future, but the issuers will be Tether, Circle, and various banks, not the Federal Reserve.

2. U.S. Spot ETFs

(Represented by IBIT, including ETH, SOL, and XRP ETF camps)

As the main tool for institutional entry into the cryptocurrency market, spot cryptocurrency ETFs not only "survived their second year" in 2025, but also thrived even when bitcoin underperformed.

BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) became one of the top ten U.S. ETFs by capital inflow, even surpassing traditional giants like the Invesco QQQ Trust and SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), which is the most direct proof.

IBIT cumulative net inflow (Source: SoSo Value)

In addition to bitcoin, Ethereum spot ETFs have also solidified their position as the "default entry channel" for wealth management institutions—making debates like "not your keys, not your coins" irrelevant among institutional investors.

September was a key turning point: the SEC approved the "universal listing standard." This technical but crucial policy victory greatly reduced the approval process for future products, eliminating the need to submit a separate 19b-4 filing for each new ticker.

After that, the market welcomed a large number of new products focused on other digital assets (such as Solana and XRP), all of which performed strongly this year.

2026 Outlook: Product Diversification and Risk Reduction

With Vanguard opening the cryptocurrency ETF channel on December 1, a large number of "basket asset ETFs" and "covered call ETFs" are expected to emerge. A more robust options market will begin to reduce actual volatility, ultimately enabling this asset class to be accepted by conservative pension funds.

3. Solana (SOL)

In 2025, Solana completely shed its label as a "high-risk beta asset," and the old narrative of "fast but unreliable" has become history.

At the same time, Solana completed the industry's toughest transformation this year: from a "meme coin casino" to a "liquidity layer for global markets."

While maintaining its dominance in the cultural sector, CoinGecko data shows that Solana has been the most watched blockchain ecosystem globally for two consecutive years (2024-2025).

Today, the Solana network is no longer just about speculative tokens but has become a "hub for efficient capital."

According to Artemis data, Solana has become the core liquidity layer: its on-chain SOL-USD trading volume has exceeded the combined SOL spot trading volume of Binance and Bybit (two of the top three global centralized exchanges) for three consecutive months.

Solana on-chain trading volume exceeds Binance and Bybit spot trading volume (Source: Artemis)

Essentially, Solana has positioned itself as the "main venue for activities sensitive to trading execution speed." Its competitors are no longer just Ethereum, but also traditional financial market platforms like Nasdaq.

2026 Outlook: On-chain Price Discovery Goes Mainstream

This "on-chain migration" of trading volume marks a structural change: price discovery is shifting from centralized exchanges to on-chain. In 2026, Solana will no longer be a "high-risk beta network" but the main venue for high-frequency, stablecoin-denominated trading.

4. Ethereum Layer 2 Network Base

If Solana's advantage is "speed," then Coinbase's Ethereum Layer 2 network Base wins with its "user reach."

By leveraging the large existing user base of this U.S. exchange, Base has become the "default choice for consumer applications and stablecoin experiments," with extremely high user stickiness.

Base's success proves that in the 2025 cryptocurrency industry, "user reach" is more important than "novel cryptographic technology." It has become an incubator for "mass-market crypto applications"—these consumer fintech apps use crypto infrastructure on the backend, but users are completely unaware. In short, Base is the bridge connecting the chaotic on-chain world with Coinbase's compliant and secure system.

2026 Outlook: Rise of "Wallet-Native Commerce"

Base is expected to become Coinbase's "core engine" for entering the merchant payments field next year, and "wallet-native commerce" (commerce based on crypto wallets) may become a new industry trend.

5. Ripple and XRP

After years of legal troubles, 2025 finally became the year of "regaining freedom" for Ripple and XRP.

The long-standing legal battle between Ripple and the SEC ended with a final verdict, clearing the way for institutional adoption of XRP.

As a result, the narrative around XRP shifted overnight from "litigation risk asset" to "liquidity engine," driving up its price and paving the way for the launch of the first XRP spot ETFs in November.

XRP ETF daily fund flow (Source: SoSo Value)

Meanwhile, Ripple made major acquisitions of traditional financial infrastructure this year: in 2025 alone, Ripple spent over $4 billion on strategic acquisitions, including the purchase of prime broker Hidden Road, treasury management firm GTreasury, and stablecoin infrastructure provider Rail.

These moves have completely transformed Ripple from a "payments company" into a "full-stack institutional giant."

2026 Outlook: Integration of Traditional Finance and Crypto Ecosystem

XRP's "ETF-ization" is just the beginning. As legal risks dissipate and Wall Street products are launched, 2026 will be a "year of integration": Ripple's newly acquired treasury management and brokerage divisions are expected to begin cross-selling RLUSD stablecoins to Fortune 500 companies, ultimately breaking down the barriers between the Ripple ledger and corporate balance sheets.

6. Zcash and the Privacy Coin Sector

The revival of Zcash and the entire privacy coin sector is the most surprising "comeback story" of the cryptocurrency industry in 2025.

As the best-performing sector of the year, privacy coins have shed the stigma of "illegal use" and become the darlings of the "post-surveillance economy era."

Outstanding performance of privacy coins in 2025 (Source: Artemis)

Although Zcash is the leader of this revival, the momentum covers the entire privacy coin sector: Ethereum developers have accelerated privacy-related plans, and other privacy solutions have finally achieved real-world applications on mainnet.

In addition, the regulatory environment has clearly "thawed"—the SEC held formal meetings with privacy protocol leaders for the first time to discuss compliance frameworks. This would have been unimaginable a year ago.

2026 Outlook: Birth of "Privacy DeFi"

The privacy coin sector is expected to "diversify" in 2026: privacy will become a "premium feature" for compliant institutions. Wall Street will actively adopt these "selective disclosure tools" to prevent MEV (Maximum Extractable Value) frontrunning and protect the confidentiality of proprietary trading strategies.

7. Asset Tokenization (RWAs)

With strong support from the SEC's friendly attitude, real-world assets (RWAs) have shifted from "pilot projects" to "core infrastructure" in the cryptocurrency industry.

The SEC's abandonment of hostile enforcement has allowed large institutions to confidently integrate these assets without worrying about receiving a "Wells Notice" (a precursor to SEC enforcement investigations).

BlackRock's BUIDL fund being accepted by Binance as "off-chain collateral" was a watershed event in this sector—it blurred the lines between traditional finance (TradFi) and crypto market structures.

By December, the assets under management (AUM) of tokenized money market funds and U.S. Treasuries had exceeded $8 billion, while the entire RWA market was about $20 billion.

RWA assets (Source: RWA.xyz)

In addition, traditional financial giants such as BlackRock, JPMorgan, Fidelity, Nasdaq, and the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) all have high hopes for the RWA sector, aiming to use it to improve transparency and efficiency in traditional finance.

As SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said:

"On-chain markets will bring investors greater predictability, transparency, and efficiency."

2026 Outlook: Improved "Repo-like" Efficiency

As JPMorgan, BNY Mellon, and other large banks continue to integrate RWA assets, a 24/7 collateral market is expected to gradually form, pushing the sector's AUM toward $18 billion.

8. Stablecoins

The debate over the "killer app" for cryptocurrency is settled: stablecoins are the core infrastructure. In October 2025, the total market cap of stablecoins surpassed $300 billion; in September, the supply of stablecoins in the Ethereum ecosystem also hit a record high of $166 billion.

In fact, Token Terminal data shows that the total number of stablecoin holders has reached a historic peak of about 200 million people.

Stablecoin holders (Source: Token Terminal)

This data shows that the growth of the stablecoin sector comes from its core capability of "cross-border, 24/7, instant settlement."

Meanwhile, legislative progress in the U.S. (especially the passage of the GENIUS Act) has provided legal certainty for banks to enter the stablecoin sector.

Essentially, stablecoins are no longer just "trading chips," but are becoming the "settlement layer" of global fintech. As Open Eden founder Jeremy NG said:

"Stablecoins have crossed from being 'infrastructure accessories' of crypto to the 'core of financial infrastructure.'"

2026 Outlook: Yield-Driven Growth

"Programmatic Treasury investment" and "foreign exchange trading use cases" are expected to become the core drivers of stablecoin growth, with the total stablecoin market cap expected to reach a baseline of $380 billion in 2026.

9. Perp DEXs

On-chain derivatives completely broke through the "credibility bottleneck" in 2025—monthly trading volume hit a record $1.2 trillion in October.

This sector became a winner because it successfully attracted large trading volumes from centralized exchanges (CEXs): by offering "self-custody" features and more attractive incentive mechanisms, on-chain perpetual contract exchanges won the favor of traders.

Rising trading volume of perpetual DEXs (Source: DeFiLlama)

The rise of perpetual DEXs such as Hyperliquid and Aster marks the maturity of DeFi market structure. Now, traders are willing to take on billions of dollars in smart contract risk to avoid counterparty risk.

2026 Outlook: Intensified Fee Competition

On-chain open interest (OI) is becoming a legitimate macro risk indicator. However, the sector may see a fierce "fee war" in 2026—as protocols compete for this $1.2 trillion in monthly trading volume.

10. Prediction Markets

2025 was the year "event contracts" (the core product of prediction markets) entered the U.S. mainstream market: the two leading platforms in the sector, Kalshi and Polymarket, both set record trading volumes.

But the more symbolic victory is that many traditional financial institutions and crypto-native companies such as Gemini and Coinbase have also entered this emerging field.

Weekly trading volume of prediction markets (Source: Dune Analytics)

Prediction markets became winners because they bridged the gap between "gambling" and "finance." In addition, Polymarket gained a clear development path through the revised CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) framework, turning "event contracts" from "niche internet curiosities" into "compliant hedging tools."

2026 Outlook: Standardization and Scaling

Event contracts are becoming a standardized asset class. As the "outcome economy" (financial activities around event outcomes) is expected to reach a notional value of $60 billion, crypto wallet infrastructure and USDC fund flows are expected to grow significantly as a result.

11. Hong Kong, China

While the U.S. focused on legislation, Hong Kong, China, focused on "execution advantage"—and the data proves it. In the third quarter of 2025, Hong Kong's ETP (exchange-traded product) market surpassed South Korea and Japan by trading volume, becoming the world's third-largest ETP market, with an average daily turnover of HKD 37.8 billion, up 150% year-on-year.

Hong Kong's strategy of "attracting the industry through clear regulation" has achieved tangible results in the exchange sector: the Virtual Asset Trading Platform (VATP) regime has evolved from a vague "deemed licensed" status to a sound ecosystem.

By mid-2025, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) had issued formal licenses to more global major exchanges, bringing the total number of licensed exchanges to 11. This move effectively brought institutional liquidity in the region into a "compliant, bank-connected" system, while isolating unregulated participants.

Meanwhile, the "Stablecoin Ordinance" effective August 1 in Hong Kong created a "high-quality sandbox"—by the September application deadline, the sandbox had attracted over 30 applications.

2026 Outlook: Becoming Asia's Settlement Center

With the first batch of stablecoin licenses expected to be issued in early 2026, Hong Kong is poised to become Asia's cryptocurrency settlement center. By combining a "top three global ETP market" with "licensed stablecoin infrastructure," Hong Kong has successfully positioned itself as the "key valve for institutional liquidity in the Asia-Pacific region."

12. Early Believers (Cryptocurrency Investors)

The final spot on this list belongs to "those who held on"—the early believers in cryptocurrency.

In the challenging years past, early believers constantly heard that "cryptocurrency is a scam, a bubble, or a dead end." They endured the industry crash of 2022, the regulatory crackdown of the "Gensler era," and the industry lull of 2024. In 2025, their perseverance was finally vindicated.

(Gensler era: refers to the period when Gary Gensler served as chairman of the U.S. SEC)

The significance of this year is not just "asset price appreciation," but that "core beliefs were proven correct."

As a result, these early believers successfully "outpaced the world's most renowned institutions": when BlackRock, Vanguard, and sovereign wealth funds made major moves into the cryptocurrency market this year, the assets they bought were precisely those held by early believers during the industry's darkest times, thanks to their unwavering conviction.

2026 Outlook: From Investors to "Ecosystem Bankers"

As this group achieves "intergenerational wealth accumulation," they are not exiting the crypto ecosystem but are becoming its "bankers." This group is expected to become the main liquidity providers (LPs) of the new decentralized capital markets, funding the next wave of innovation that banks have yet to understand.