In 2025, the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets were shaped by a string of high-impact events that underscored both policy shifts and market volatility. Early in the year, President Trump fulfilled a landmark pledge by granting Ross Ulbricht a full and unconditional pardon, a development that reverberated across crypto policy discussions. Shortly after, Trump outlined a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, signing a March 6 presidential order to create a reserve drawn from an estimated 200,000 BTC seized by federal authorities, with Treasury and Commerce officials tasked with exploring budget-neutral ways to add to the stockpile without imposing costs on taxpayers.
Legislative and regulatory momentum followed. The U.S. House advanced the GENIUS Act and the CLARITY Act, signaling a push for more formal stablecoin and virtual-asset regulation, while the Senate repealed an IRS rule that would have forced DeFi front-end operators to collect user data akin to traditional brokerages. The SEC subsequently relaxed listing standards for crypto ETFs, accelerating the potential launch of spot ETFs for leading tokens such as Solana and XRP and shortening the review timeline for qualified funds.
In August, the regulatory landscape collided with litigation, as the SEC and Ripple reached a settlement that ended years of appeals in the Second Circuit. Market dynamics also reflected a shift in long-term holders, with Satoshi-era whales re-entering the scene and selling into the market. February saw Bybit suffer the largest exchange breach to date, with losses surpassing $1.4 billion in ETH, overshadowing prior hacks and prompting discussions about exchange security standards. October brought a broad market deleveraging event, with liquidations totaling over $20 billion; the year also saw the DAT craze cool as many companies stepped back from broad altcoin bets and refocused on Bitcoin and Ethereum.
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