Gate Research Institute: 2025 Cryptocurrency Market Review and 2026 Outlook

Key Highlights:

• Cryptocurrency Market Performance: In 2025, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies showed a clear “initial decline—rebound—subsequent retreat” pattern throughout the year. After oscillating at low levels in the first half, it gradually recovered and reached a stage high near Q3. Entering Q4, as market risk appetite cooled, the total market cap experienced a more noticeable pullback and returned to the mid-range within the year.

• Main Public Chain Data Analysis: On-chain perpetual contract trading volume continued to expand, with liquidity and trading experience significantly improved. Driven by incentive mechanisms, capital and users accelerated inflows, and the market gradually formed a consensus on the replicability and scalability potential of this sector.
• Hot Project Trends: The market and crypto payments are predicted to expand simultaneously: trading volume in prediction markets is expected to surpass one hundred billion dollars, with functionalities upgraded from event-based trading to macro, policy, and sports outcome pricing signals, also driven by the 2026 World Cup expectations; crypto payments continue to grow supported by stablecoin settlements and cross-border consumption demands, accelerating stablecoin adoption into real-world payment scenarios.

• Funding and Security Incidents: On the capital side, the Web3 industry completed nearly 1,000 funding rounds in the year, totaling approximately $34.9 billion. Funds are more selectively concentrated in CeFi, blockchain services, and DeFi sectors with clear business models and cash flow expectations. Meanwhile, although the number of Web3 security incidents decreased, the losses per incident significantly increased. Contract vulnerabilities and permission risks compounded, highlighting systemic shortcomings in contract design and risk control governance. The importance of audits and permission management has further risen.

Disclaimer Investing in the cryptocurrency market involves high risks. Users are advised to conduct independent research and fully understand the nature of the assets and products before making any investment decisions. Gate is not responsible for any losses or damages resulting from such investment decisions.