2025 First Quarter Recap by CoinFlip Preferred

Market News

Over the past quarter, the cryptocurrency market has shown resilience amidst shifting economic and regulatory landscapes. Bitcoin (BTC) hovered between $80-90K, driven by the U.S. Federal Reserve's dovish signals, including potential rate cuts that could ease pressure on risk assets. Altcoins rallied early in the quarter alongside BTC, with XRP gaining nearly 6% week-over-week, Ethereum (ETH) climbing 10%, and Solana (SOL) up 13% before a mild end-of-quarter downtown. This momentum coincided with a reversal in Bitcoin ETF outflows, as daily net inflows resumed, signaling renewed investor confidence. BTC ETFs recorded over $39 billion in inflows across all indices.

However, macroeconomic uncertainties, including U.S. trade tariff actions under President Trump, could get in the way of a rebound. Regulatory developments added complexity too, but not all bad: The SEC's crypto task force held its first public roundtable on March 21, exploring how securities laws intersect with digital assets. On the global stage, the IMF updated its balance of payments standards to incorporate crypto provisions for the first time, hinting at growing institutional acceptance that may stabilize markets in the long run.

In other bullish news, 27 states introduced Bitcoin reserve bills and the Japanese stock Metaplanet climbed 3,600% after announcing Bitcoin investment strategy. Microstrategy (now "Strategy") holds over 500,000 BTC, making them the second-largest Bitcoin whale after Satoshi Nakamoto.

Despite these developments, the market's optimism remains cautious. Bitcoin's Fear and Greed Index is still locked in "fear" territory, reflecting lingering investor uncertainty. The question now is whether Bitcoin’s nearly 6-digit price has staying power or if it's just a temporary bounce before the next potential downturn.

The Blockworks Digital Asset Summit in New York 

The seventh installment of the Digital Asset Summit (DAS) took place in New York during the week of March 18th. Dating back to 2019, it is not difficult to spot the immense change in participation, attendee type, and overall market. The inaugural DAS took place at a time when BTC price was sub $10,000 (now in the $80K range), Ethereum was sub $300 (now just below $2K), and the total crypto market cap peaked at $370 billion for the year (now $2.69 trillion). The largest difference, though, was between the attendees, as this year’s conference included a global and diverse mix of institutional clients. 

Key Highlights: 

Presidential Address: In a historic moment, President Donald Trump delivered a pre-recorded address, marking the first time a sitting U.S. president spoke at a Bitcoin and crypto conference. He pledged to position the United States as "the undisputed Bitcoin superpower and the crypto capital of the world," announced plans for clear stablecoin regulations, and further highlighted the critical nature of the Bitcoin and Digital Asset Strategic Reserve. 

Notable Speakers: The summit featured keynotes and discussions with industry leaders, including: 

• Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of MicroStrategy 

• Richard Teng, CEO of Binance 

• Mohamed El-Erian, Chief Economic Advisor at Allianz 

• Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple 

• Anatoly Yakovenko, Co-Founder & CEO of Solana Labs 

• Cathie Wood, Founder & CEO of ARK Invest 

• Mike Novogratz, Founder & CEO of Galaxy Digital 

The CoinFlip team participated in discussions at the event with four distinct areas of focus: 

Institutional adoption, including stablecoins and custody: There is a unanimous understanding of the value introduced by stablecoins - such as USDC - and the role they play in global commerce and transforming settlement layers within our financial institutions, as well as further revolutionizing the payments landscape. 

Bitcoin: It is still the most valuable asset and cornerstone of all discussions around portfolio construction in the institutional space. The debate hinges around an active or passive managed strategy and, more importantly, where else to gain additional upside through cryptocurrencies. 

Non-stablecoin RWAs: This is a topic discussed in the 2025 lookahead. When we hear RWAs (real-world assets), stablecoins typically dominate the discussion, but this landscape includes the tokenization of other tangible assets from gold to even wine. There are a growing number of providers coming to market with solutions ranging from fully managed services aimed at SEC registration all the way to tokenizing and listing. The distribution/marketplace will remain the piece to solve, but this year will see a large number of tangible assets hit the chain. 

Lending: To continue the earlier comment about upside beyond Bitcoin, crypto-collateralized lending is turning mainstream. In addition to a handful of vendors displaying solutions to enable lending, the conference featured a notable product launch from Cryptio that included back-office loan management tools. This aspect of DeFi is ripe for serious investment, so this will be an area to keep an eye on.