Bitcoin and Crypto Markets: What to Expect in the Second Half of 2025

As 2025 moves into its second half, the tone surrounding digital assets has changed. Bitcoin’s steady climb toward record highs, coupled with regulatory and corporate shifts, has positioned crypto in a new light. No longer viewed purely through a speculative lens, bitcoin in particular has begun to take on a broader economic role, touching everything from treasury management to public policy. For investors, businesses, and regulators alike, the coming months could prove decisive.

Altcoins Face Structural Pressure

The broader crypto market hasn’t moved in lockstep with bitcoin. Altcoins, once buoyed by speculative momentum and novelty, now face more complex challenges. Investors are no longer looking for hype. They’re asking for clarity: What is the use case? Is the network scalable? Can the token deliver anything not already covered by Bitcoin or traditional tools?

In prior cycles, altcoins offered exposure to high beta, a way to amplify returns during a bull run. But with institutional products now covering that ground through options and leveraged ETFs, demand has shifted. Investors seeking volatility can find it without venturing into lower-liquidity coins.

Even so, presales continue to occupy a distinct niche in the market. For early-stage projects, they remain one of the few accessible avenues for bootstrapping funding and community support. Yet the environment in 2025 is markedly different from earlier cycles. Investors are applying sharper scrutiny, asking whether teams have viable roadmaps, regulatory awareness, and a clear utility case. Rather than serving as hype-driven fundraising, presales have become a proving ground—where only projects like Maxi Doge and other spin-offs of popular coins like Doge and Pepe, with strong fundamentals and execution, stand a chance of attracting meaningful participation.

Bitcoin Treasuries Are No Longer Fringe

In the early days of corporate crypto exposure, holding bitcoin on a balance sheet was a niche move, often limited to headline-seeking tech firms. That has shifted significantly in 2025. More than 130 public companies now report bitcoin holdings, representing a range of industries and approaches. While some have adopted conservative positions, others have used debt instruments or equity offerings to fund larger acquisitions of the asset.

One of the more visible examples remains Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), which has continued to expand its Bitcoin holdings. Newer entrants, including Metaplanet and Twenty One, have followed suit. These companies are not making short-term speculative plays, they are making structured financial decisions based on bitcoin’s perceived long-term value as a store of capital in a complex macro environment.

At the same time, Bitcoin’s role in payment infrastructure has grown. A number of licensed gambling operators have added support for digital assets like bitcoin and stablecoins, not as treasury assets, but as a method of accelerating customer transactions. In markets where banking services are limited or slow, crypto has served as a useful workaround. 

Policy Shifts and Institutional Access

One of the biggest changes so far this year has come not from the private sector, but from Washington. In an unexpected shift, the federal government introduced the concept of a strategic bitcoin reserve. This move, along with the passage of the GENIUS Act, signaled a growing alignment between digital assets and national-level financial planning.

Regulatory approaches in Europe and Asia have also become more structured. This has had a tangible impact on institutional behavior. So far in 2025, U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have brought in over $14 billion in net inflows. These aren’t driven by meme traders or social media hype. Instead, the flows suggest methodical allocations from wealth managers, pension-linked accounts, and long-term fund strategies.

Ethereum’s Position Remains Under Evaluation

Ethereum continues to be one of the most used platforms in the crypto world. Its ecosystem remains active, especially in the realms of DeFi, stablecoin infrastructure, and NFT hosting. However, Ether, the native asset, hasn’t mirrored that activity in market performance.

Compared to Bitcoin, ETH has seen notable underperformance over the past two years. Competing platforms like Solana and Binance Smart Chain have taken market share, particularly among developers looking for speed and cost efficiency.

That said, Ethereum still retains advantages. It has more formal links to traditional finance through CME futures contracts and, more recently, spot ETFs. Institutional familiarity with Ethereum’s structure, combined with upcoming staking integration in ETFs, may help reverse the asset’s lag. 

IPO Activity and ETF Expansion

Another major theme for the remainder of 2025 will be the continued intersection of crypto and traditional capital markets. Several crypto-native firms, including stablecoin issuer Circle and digital asset platform eToro, completed public listings earlier this year. Additional IPOs from exchanges, infrastructure providers, and blockchain development firms remain in the pipeline.

Alongside this shift, the ETF space continues to evolve. Several asset managers have submitted proposals to expand the range of available crypto products. These include plans for multi-asset offerings, ETFs with in-kind redemption features, and funds designed to incorporate staking mechanisms. Regulatory decisions on these filings are likely to shape access to digital assets for a broad class of institutional and retail investors.