Welcome to the Crypto.com Monthly Research Roundup Newsletter!
1. Market Index
In February, the price, volume, and volatility indices dropped by -24.77%, -22.46%, and -15.65%, respectively.
2. Charts of the Month
Bitcoin dominance reached 62% on 25 February, the highest level since February 2021, which coincided with the broader crypto market seeing a drastic drop in prices during the day.
Bitcoin fell below $90,000 while some altcoins saw larger percentage declines. During times of volatility and a risk-off environment, investors may prioritise bitcoin for relatively higher stability, contributing to a higher bitcoin dominance.
Solana meme coin launchpad Pump.fun is reportedly testing its own automated market maker (AMM), which would enable users to trade tokens directly on the platform. The move would allow Pump.fun to collect additional trading fees and offer more incentives, but it risks disrupting Pump.fun’s partnership with Raydium since meme coins from the former account for around 20% of Raydium’s total trading volume. Raydium’s RAY token dipped around 40% in response to the news.
3. Monthly Feature Articles
Wall Street On-Chain: Will Bitcoin Be Another Asset?
Bitcoin has made a solid run in the past year to widen the gap between its performance against altcoins. Its dominance has sparked the idea that BTC could become another new asset beyond crypto.
Bitcoin is often described as ‘digital gold’ for being seen as a store of value and potential hedge against inflation. Based on its recent developments and adoption in institutions, this report explores if BTC could become another new asset and examines potential contenders to bitcoin.
Key Takeaways:
Compared to traditional assets like gold, Bitcoin’s stock-to-flow ratio (measures scarcity of an asset by taking existing reserves (stock) and dividing it by yearly production of the asset (flow)) has seen an exponential increase over the years due to halvings. This potentially suggests that Bitcoin may rival gold in terms of scarcity, supporting its status as ‘digital gold’. Recently, the correlation between Bitcoin and gold performance in the short term reached its highest level (0.52) since 2020, enhancing Bitcoin’s safe-haven character.
The performances of BTC and equity indices in 2024 don’t show stronger correlation than the performance between BTC and gold. This also suggests that Bitcoin’s performance doesn’t align with the stock market.
Large-cap altcoins like Ethereum, Solana, and XRP have also sparked the debate on whether they could follow Bitcoin’s footsteps in the near future.
Gap in Market Cap and Trading Volume: The combined market capitalisation of ETH, XRP, and SOL as a percentage of Bitcoin’s market cap has been trending down in the past three years, and was at 28% by the end of February 2025. Bitcoin also generally has a higher trading volume than altcoins, reflecting the gap in size and liquidity.
Institutional and Retail Adoption: Institutional investors favour Bitcoin more than ETH, and BTC’s global adoption trend was stronger than that of ETH, based on the growth of their user bases.
RWAs and Stablecoins: Smart contract platforms, including Ethereum and Solana, are widely used in DeFi, stablecoin issuance, as well as real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation. RWA tokenisation can be a driver for the mass adoption of altcoins.
Bitcoin has had a Lindy Effect (a concept that suggests the longer something has survived or been in use, the longer it is likely to continue existing in the future) that can be difficult to replace. It has survived through macroeconomic uncertainties and other challenges since its inception and still managed to retain its leading position, which reflects that Bitcoin has a higher chance to remain important and relevant.
The Evolution of the Institutional Crypto Market: From Liquidity to Global Adoption
The cryptocurrency ecosystem has evolved significantly through 2024 and into early 2025, with substantial institutional participation. The launch of spot bitcoin and ether ETFs in the US has provided traditional investors with familiar vehicles to gain exposure to digital assets, resulting in billions of dollars of inflows.
Market liquidity has improved considerably, providing the depth necessary for larger institutional transactions, while both centralised and decentralised exchanges have witnessed rising trading activity. In addition, real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation is projected to grow significantly, addressing market inefficiencies and enabling fractional ownership.
This report discusses the growth of the institutional crypto market, highlighting trends, performance metrics, and projections for future adoption and liquidity.
Key Takeaways:
BTC or ETH led the performance of major asset classes eight out of the last ten years. BTC overtook the Australian Dollar (AUD) to become the world’s 10th largest currency after its price hit US$100,000, reaching a $2 trillion market capitalisation on December 2024.
Traditional financial institutions are increasingly adopting cryptocurrencies and offering services in crypto trading, custody, private funds, ETPs, payments, and tokenisation.
Hedge funds and investment advisors were the leading investor types for spot BTC ETFs, while trusts and private equity firms were the largest holders of ETH ETFs. Looking ahead to 2025, the potential approval of ETFs for SOL and XRP is likely to further drive institutional interest and adoption.
The combined value of buy and sell orders within a 2% price range for BTC and ETH reached $449 million and $328 million on average, respectively, in the last 365 days. BTC’s 2% market depth increased toward Q4 2024, coinciding with Trump’s re-election and BTC hitting new all-time highs. ETH showed a similar upward trend in Q4 2024, although it tapered down in 2025 year-to-date, which coincided with ETH’s price weakness against BTC.
Spot trading has been strong since Q4 2024, driven by the US presidential election and hype around meme coins. Crypto.com Exchange took the top spot in Kaiko’s exchange ranking for Q4 2024, measured against various aspects, including governance, business, liquidity, security, technology, and data quality.
Stablecoin supply surged by 57% in 2024 amid growing institutional adoption. Leading financial institutions are adopting stablecoins for cross-border payments and improved treasury operations. A notable example is PayPal’s PYUSD, which increased 139% in circulating supply over 2024 to reach $560 million in December 2024.
RWA value surpassed $17 billion as of January 2025. This uptrend was led by tokenised private credit, which was up 20.8% at the time of writing, dominating the share at 69.3% of the total RWA value. In 2024, RWA value increased 79% to end the year at $15 billion. Private credit (64% of the total RWA value as of December 2024) was up 48% for the year, while US Treasury debt (26% of the total) was up 415% in 2024.
This institutional-focused report dives into macro trends, market-neutral pairs, style-factor screens, and events. Read the full Alpha Navigator report here.
Asset performance was mixed. Crypto and Equities led the drop, while Real Assets and Fixed Income increased.
BTC’s 1-month performance correlation with Equities and Gold increased.
We present to you our latest issue of Research Roundup, featuring our deep dives into ‘Will Be Another Asset’ and ‘Institutional Crypto Market: From Liquidity to Global Adoption’.
