Research Roundup Newsletter [January 2025]

We present to you our latest issue of Research Roundup, featuring our deep dives into The Significance of Meme Coins and DeFAI.

Welcome to the Crypto.com Monthly Research Roundup Newsletter!

1. Market Index

In January, the price index grew by  +11.09%, while the volume and volatility indices dropped by -24.44% and -14.91%, respectively.

2. Charts of the Month

The US to non-US bitcoin reserve ratio saw a surge since September 2024, from 1.25 to its peak of 1.65 by the end of January 2025. The ratio measures bitcoin holdings of known US entities — including Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), ETFs, exchanges, miners, and the US government — and compares them to those of known non-US entities. It means that the share of bitcoin reserves held by US-based entities is 65% more than non-US entities as of 27 January.

The surge coincided with the recent heightened institutional interest in bitcoin and the positive sentiment associated with Donald Trump’s inauguration as US president.

The total value of real-world assets (RWAs) surpassed US$17 billion on 31 January, marking an over 11% increase for the month, according to rwa.xyz. This uptrend is led by tokenised private credit, which is up 20.8% in January, contributing to the largest share at 69.3% of the total RWA value. The increase came amid key financial leaders, including BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, touting the potential of tokenised RWAs and urging clear regulatory guidelines around them in the US.

3. Monthly Feature Articles

From Trading to Broader Adoption: The Significance of Meme Coins

Meme coins’ rising mindshare in the cryptocurrency space, which began in 2024, has continued into 2025. The launch of US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania’s meme coins, TRUMP and MELANIA, drove the hype to a new level and invoked a heated discussion about the role of meme coins in the community.

As meme coins become increasingly important to the cryptocurrency industry, they are going far beyond acting as an investment vehicle and becoming tools for community engagement, fundraising, and user acquisition. While the community still needs to navigate through issues like volatility and the longevity of these tokens, it can’t be denied that meme coins have put cryptocurrency on the global stage again and are expected to encourage more on-chain participation.

Key Takeaways:

• Meme coins have become an important part of the cryptocurrency space. We could conclude their significance as tools in community engagement, capital raising, and user acquisition goes beyond purely acting as an investment vehicle.
• Community Engagement: Key opinion leaders or publicly known figures can use meme coins to draw support to themselves and allow the community to unite through owning the token. However, the longevity of these recent tokens remains to be seen, and may depend on the continuous support from the celebrity.
• Capital Raising: Common sources of income for meme coin creators include coin offerings, capital gains in trading, and trading fees. For example, TRUMP was reported to have generated nearly $100 million total in trading fees for the entities linked to the launch. However, meme coins have also received negative attention, mainly related to the ‘pump-and-dump’ schemes that investors need to be cautious about.
• On-Chain Adoption: Meme coins allow decentralised apps (dapps) to onboard new users by catching the trend of meme coin launches. 
• The launch of TRUMP and MELANIA revived the hype around meme coins — to a new level. While the community still needs to navigate through issues like volatility and the longevity of these tokens, the recent meme coin hype has surely put crypto on the global stage again and is expected to encourage more on-chain participation. 

DeFAI: DeFi x AI

DeFi is witnessing a fresh wave of innovation, with one of the most exciting developments being the fusion of DeFi and AI — often referred to as DeFAI. 

In this report, we look into the DeFAI landscape, and delve into Griffain and HeyAnon as case studies, both of which are notable examples in the abstraction protocol category.

Key Takeaways:

• Decentralised finance (DeFi) is witnessing a fresh wave of innovation in 2025, with one of the most exciting developments being the fusion of DeFi and artificial intelligence (AI) — often referred to as DeFAI. 
• The DeFAI landscape can be broadly categorised into:
  • Infrastructure Platforms: Model training and inference, data and security, as well as mechanisms for coordination and collaboration.
  • Abstraction protocols: Simplify various DeFi activities using natural language commands.
  • Vertical Applications: Specialised DeFi applications, including yield optimisation and market analysis. 
• Abstraction protocols currently lead in market cap among DeFAI sub-categories, with five of the top 10 DeFAI players being in the category, holding a combined 46.6% market dominance.
• Griffain and HeyAnon are notable abstraction AI platforms due to their leading market cap.
  • Griffain’s Agent Engine enables personal AI agents to carry out custom instructions tailored to individual needs, as well as special agents designed for specific tasks.
  • HeyAnon’s AI agent Gemma can analyse a user’s past trading patterns and goals, curating relevant tokens or yield opportunities. Its execution system enables conditional, continuous operations without the user’s active presence.
• Crypto.com’s AI Agent SDK is another example of abstraction AI platforms, processing natural language and executing instructions directly, such as calling chain data, wallet management, and basic smart contract interactions.
• DeFAI is still in its early development phase, with numerous use cases and emerging projects lacking clear differentiation, and many functions yet to be launched. As AI tools advance, DeFi is set to become more intuitive, efficient, and meaningful with real-world applications versus simply simplifying user experiences.

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4. Alpha Navigator

This institutional-focused report dives into macro trends, market-neutral pairs, style-factor screens, and events. Read the full Alpha Navigator report here.

• Most assets saw an increase in January, except for ETH. BTC and gold led the rise.
• BTC’s 1-month performance correlation with equities increased in January and turned positive with gold.

5. Crypto Conference & Economic Calendar

Crypto Conferences Calendar

Economic Calendar

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Research & Insights Team