Bitcoin (BTC) market cap falls -18.6% in Q1 2025, underperforming gold and U.S. Treasuries

Cryptocurrency markets have suffered a setback at the start of 2025, in stark contrast to the frenetic highs of late 2024. The total cryptocurrency market cap fell

Cryptocurrency markets suffered a setback at the start of 2025, in stark contrast to the frenetic highs of late 2024. The total cryptocurrency market cap fell -18.6% in Q1 to close at $2.8 trillion, after briefly hitting $3.8 trillion on January 18th – just before Donald Trump’s inauguration. The decline was accompanied by a drop in investor activity, with average daily trading volume plunging -27.3% quarter-over-quarter to $146 billion.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) strengthened its dominance, reaching 59.1% at the end of the first quarter — its highest level since early 2021 — as altcoins bore the brunt of the decline. Although Bitcoin hit an all-time high of $106,182 in January, it had fallen back to $82,514 by the end of the quarter, a drop of -11.8%.

Our comprehensive Q1 2025 Crypto Industry Report covers everything from an overview of the cryptocurrency market to analyzing Bitcoin and Ethereum, taking a deep dive into the decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystems, and reviewing the performance of centralized exchanges (CEX) and decentralized exchanges (DEX).

8 highlights from CoinGecko’s Q1 2025 Cryptocurrency Industry Report

1. Total cryptocurrency market cap fell -18.6% in Q1 2025, having previously hit a year-to-date high of $3.8 trillion

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization fell by -18.6% (-$633.5 billion) to close at $2.8 trillion at the end of Q1 2025. The market hit a local high of $3.8 trillion on January 18, two days before Donald Trump’s inauguration. However, thereafter the market trended downwards for the rest of the quarter.