HiRiBi<\/a> blog.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBitcoin\u2019s Peak and Market Ripples<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Bitcoin surged to $106,182 on January 22,\nfueled by post-inauguration optimism, but ended Q1 at $82,514, down 11.8%. Its\ndominance climbed to 59.1%, a level unseen since 2021, as altcoins faltered.\nEthereum\u2019s 45.3% drop to $1,805 dragged its market share to 7.9%, the lowest\nsince 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other majors like XRP and BNB held steady, but\nsmaller altcoins bled heavily. Investor confidence waned, with trading volumes\ndipping as risk appetite faded. Gold, up 18%, outshone Bitcoin, drawing\ncautious capital. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Additionally, stablecoins like Tether gained\ntraction and rose to 5.2% of the market as investors sought protection. When\nthe drop in Bitcoin triggered a broader sell-off, it demonstrated the market’s\nweakness. This unpredictability set the stage for Solana’s turbulent rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Solana\u2019s Meme Coin Frenzy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Solana captured 39.6% of decentralised exchange trades in Q1, peaking at 52% in January, driven by a meme coin boom. The launch of TRUMP and MELANIA tokens sparked a \u201cpolitical memecoin\u201d wave, pushing pump.fun\u2019s daily token deployments to 72,000. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coins like FARTCOIN thrived, with millions\ngraduating to exchanges. But the tide turned with LIBRA\u2019s collapse, rug-pulled\nafter Javier Milei\u2019s endorsement, crashing from $4.6 billion to $221 million.\nPump.fun\u2019s activity dropped 56.3%, and Solana\u2019s dominance slipped to 23.4% by\nMarch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Newcomers Sonic and Berachain edged out\nOptimism and Polygon, reshaping the DEX hierarchy. The frenzy fueled Solana\u2019s\nall-time high of $293.7 billion in trading volume. Yet, the rug-pulls exposed\nspeculative risks, soon compounded by a major security breach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bybit Hack Shakes Confidence<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
On February 21, North Korea\u2019s Lazarus Group\nstole $1.5 billion in Ethereum from Bybit, exploiting vulnerabilities in Safe\nWallet\u2019s software during a routine transfer. Hackers intercepted the\ntransaction, redirecting funds to their wallets via malicious code. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bybit\u2019s trading volume crashed 52.4%\nmonth-on-month, and Bitcoin dropped 20% from its January high. The hack\nresulted from flawed multisig processes, shaking investor confidence in the\nexchange. At least $160 million was laundered within 48 hours, underscoring\nenforcement challenges. The FBI linked the attack to Lazarus Group\u2019s phishing\ntactics, targeting Bybit\u2019s staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Other exchanges tightened protocols, but the\ndamage lingered. This breach fueled calls for tighter regulations, which gained\ntraction as governments responded to the market\u2019s volatility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regulatory Shifts Gain Momentum<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Trump announced a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve on March 6 utilising Treasury-seized assets, marking the U.S.’s shift to embrace cryptocurrency. Following the departure of Gary Gensler, the SEC took a more accommodative stance by ceasing its investigations into companies such as Coinbase and Uniswap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the first-ever Crypto Summit, industry\nleaders, including Coinbase’s Brian Armstrong, convened at the White House to\ndiscuss banking system integration. The GENIUS Act, which seeks to regulate\nstablecoins and promote their usage, was proposed by the Senate on March 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Around the world, the U.K. started blockchain-based bond pilot projects and drafted laws to categorise digital assets as property. China hinted at possible regulatory changes by holding private high-level discussions to discuss Bitcoin’s role in its economy. While Solana CME futures attracted conventional investors, Ethena Labs obtained $100 million from Franklin Templeton to produce institutional stablecoins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Furthermore, BlackRock expanded its Bitcoin\nETF into Europe, driving global adoption. Several U.S. states, including Texas\nand Wyoming, established their own Bitcoin reserves, reflecting local policy\ninnovation. These developments sparked optimism, but Trump\u2019s unpredictable\ninfluence created a mix of promise and uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s Mixed Impact<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s pro-crypto agenda drove early gains, with Bitcoin soaring 50% post-election to $104,000. His administration scrapped the SEC\u2019s SAB 121 rule, easing institutional adoption, and appointed crypto-friendly figures like Paul Atkins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, his TRUMP and MELANIA meme coins, which soared to all-time highs of $73 and $13, respectively, crashed more than 80%, exposing the speculative risks of memes. An executive order promoted a crypto stockpile but stopped short of a federal Bitcoin reserve, disappointing enthusiasts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tariffs and recession fears further dampened\nsentiment, contributing to Bitcoin\u2019s bearish turn. The White House Crypto\nSummit drew industry leaders, yet failed to clarify long-term policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Final Thoughts: A Quarter of Reckoning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Q1 2025 delivered a rollercoaster for the\ncrypto market, with Bitcoin\u2019s record high and subsequent dip reflecting its\nvolatile core. Solana\u2019s meme coin surge and collapse revealed speculative\nexcesses, while Bybit\u2019s $1.5 billion hack underscored security gaps. \n\nTrump’s audacious regulatory actions raised hopes for\nstability, but his erratic tactics created doubt. These incidents\u2014Bitcoin’s\nhegemony, Solana’s craze, Bybit’s hack, changes in international regulations,\nand Trump’s power\u2014defined a pivotal quarter. The market, which closed at $2.8\ntrillion, was at a turning point when it had to strike a balance between innovation\nand the need for resilience and trust.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After reaching a record of $3.8 trillion on January 18, shortly before Donald Trump was sworn in, the cryptocurrency market faltered in the first quarter of 2025, losing 18.6% of its value to conclude at $2.8 trillion. A decline in investor interest was shown by the 27.3% decrease in trading volumes, which averaged $146 billion per day. Bitcoin\u2019s dominance rose toward the 60% level as altcoins recorded severe losses. Ethereum lost 2024 gains as it fell 45.3%. These changes paved the way for a quarter filled with breathtaking peaks, destructive hacks, and daring regulatory actions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1229,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[137,77,144,71,79,104,129],"class_list":["post-1228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-altcoins","tag-bitcoin","tag-bybit","tag-crypto","tag-ethereum","tag-hiribi","tag-solana","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hiribi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hiribi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hiribi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hiribi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hiribi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1228"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hiribi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1230,"href":"https:\/\/hiribi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1228\/revisions\/1230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hiribi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hiribi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hiribi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hiribi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}