Bitcoin (BTC) Market Cap Fell 18.6% in Q1 2025

This report identified a few positive trends, but most of them contained at least one significant downside. Despite the market euphoria in January

Crypto prices suffered heavy losses in Q1 2025 as broader macroeconomic factors continued to batter market sentiment, the latest CoinGecko report has shown.

The past two months have seen a dampening impact on investor activity, with token prices and trading volumes retreating from the highs reached at the start of the year.

Indeed, crypto’s total market cap fell by 18.6%, or $633.5 billion, to reach $2.718 billion by the end of March, CoinGecko's report "CoinGecko Quarterly Cryptocurrency Report: Q1 2025" on Wednesday.

Investor activity also fell, with daily trading volumes decreasing by 27.3% quarter-on-quarter to $9.76 billion by the end of 2024. Spot trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 16.3%, which the report partly attributes to the Bybit hack.

The report focused mostly on presenting concrete numbers, but it also highlighted a few events that had a significant impact on the crypto market.

For example, it notes that Trump's inauguration brought a local high for the market, as market euphoria over his potentially friendly policies pushed prices up. His TRUMP meme coin also fueled a brief frenzy in Solana meme coin activity, which saw a huge spike in January before quickly slumping. The LIBRA scandal had a further dampening impact.

Bitcoin increased its dominance in Q1 2025, accounting for 59.1% of crypto’s total market cap. It hasn't maintained that share of the market since 2021, symbolizing how much more stable it’s been compared to altcoins.

However, BTC also fell by 11.8% and was outperformed by both gold and US Treasury bonds.

This data point is especially worrying because Trump's tariffs have wrought havoc on Treasury yields. Even so, the report clearly shows that the rest of crypto suffered even more. For instance, Ethereum's entire 2024 gains vanished in Q1 2025, and multichain DeFi TVL fell by 27.5%. Countless other areas saw similar results, but they’re too numerous to easily summarize.

That is to say, almost every quantifiable positive development came with at least one major caveat. Solana dominated the DEX trade, but its TVL declined by over one-fifth. Bitcoin ETFs saw $1 billion in fresh inflows, but total AUM fell by nearly $9 billion due to price drops. The reports reflect that recession fears are gripping the crypto market.

According to the report by CoinGecko, the crypto market saw a dampening impact in the first quarter of 2025 as broader macroeconomic factors continued to batter market sentiment.

After a strong start to the year, which saw crypto prices hit a 14-month high and Bitcoin rise above the $80,000 mark, the market experienced a downturn in the past two months.

This downturn was attributed to several factors, including the looming threat of a recession, Trump's protectionist trade policies, and the cryptocurrency exchange hack that stole over $540 million in crypto.

The report by the cryptocurrency data aggregator highlighted a few positive developments, but they came with major downsides.

For instance, Bitcoin's share of the crypto market increased to 59 percent, the highest since 2021, reflecting the relatively stable performance of the world's largest cryptocurrency compared to altcoins.

However, Bitcoin's price fell by 11.8 percent during the period, lagging behind gold and US Treasury bonds, which rose by 19.4 percent and 12.1 percent, respectively.

In contrast, Ethereum's price saw all of its 2024 gains evaporate, while multichain DeFi TVL decreased by 27.5 percent.

Moreover, despite Bitcoin ETFs attracting $1 billion in fresh inflows, AUM fell by $8.9 billion due to price drops.

Furthermore, Solana became the most popular chain for decentralized exchanges, but its TVL declined by more than 20 percent.

The report also noted a brief surge in meme coin activity on Solana, fueled by TRUMP coin.

"The HELIUM token faced difficulties in Q1 2025 as the network's Hotspots began to experience maintenance issues, leading to a decline in the token's price and a slight decrease in total value locked (TVL) for the chain," the report stated.

Overall, the crypto market encountered a mixed bag of fortunes in the first quarter of 2025, with some positive developments being offset by major downsides.

As the year progresses, it remains to be seen whether the crypto market can overcome the macroeconomic challenges and continue its long-term bullish trend.output: According to CoinGecko’s quarterly report, the overall crypto