Türkçe
Español
The cryptocurrency market started 2025 with a painful downturn. Following the enthusiastic rises of 2024, a severe wave of declines disappointed traders. According to CoinGecko’s Q1 2025 report, the total market capitalization dropped by 18.6% to $2.8 trillion during this period. Daily trading volume also fell by 27.3%, landing at $146 billion. The report highlights not only the decline in market value but also the increased dominance of Bitcoin 
$101,281, the depreciation of Ethereum 
$2,077, the collapse of the memecoin market, and significant upheaval in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space.
Bitcoin Surges as Altcoins Struggle
In the first quarter of the year, Bitcoin once again proved to be the strongest player in the cryptocurrency market. Its market dominance surged to 59.1%, marking a level not seen since early 2021. Bitcoin reached a new peak of $106,182 in January, but ended the quarter down 11.8% at $82,514.
According to the report, investors gravitated towards stablecoins due to a heightened risk-averse attitude. The market share of USDT increased to 5.2%, while USDC reclaimed its spot in the top 10, surpassing Dogecoin 
$0.190232. In contrast, Ethereum plummeted by 45.3% to $1,805, wiping out all gains made throughout 2024. Ethereum’s market dominance also dropped to 7.9%, reflecting a multi-year low.
Most altcoins experienced similar declines, with only XRP and BNB managing to hold their market shares. The memecoin sector faced a significant collapse, particularly with politically themed coins like “TRUMP” and “MELANIA” experiencing brief rises in January, followed by distrust due to the collapse of LIBRA coin, introduced by Argentine leader Javier Milei. The daily production of new memecoins on the Pump.fun platform decreased by 56.3%.
Trading Volumes Drop as Solana Rises
Trading volumes on centralized exchanges (CEX) also saw declines in Q1. Binance maintained its leadership, but total spot trading volume fell by 16.3% to $5.4 trillion. Following a hack attack, Bybit experienced a monthly trading volume drop of 52.4%, while Upbit recorded the largest drop at 34%.
On the decentralized exchanges (DEX) front, Solana 
$160 made a remarkable rise, with 39.6% of DEX transactions occurring on its platform in Q1. This percentage peaked at 52% in January, while Ethereum’s share fell below 20% for the first time. However, by March, Ethereum regained its position with a 30.1% share, surpassing Solana.
This quarter saw Polygon and Optimism lose ground to newcomers Sonic and Berachain, which successfully reached $5.2 billion in Total Value Locked (TVL) within just two months in the DeFi ecosystem, landing it in sixth place. Berachain’s achievement was bolstered by $2.3 billion in liquidity drawn through pre-funding pools.
DeFi Market Loses $49 Billion
The DeFi market was also affected by the severe winds in the cryptocurrency market. Total locked assets (TVL) in blockchain-based DeFi systems dropped from $177.4 billion to $128.6 billion in Q1, reflecting a 27.5% shrinkage. The largest loss occurred in Ethereum, which saw a 35.4% decrease, bringing its TVL down to $72.7 billion. Ethereum’s TVL dominance fell from 63.5% to 56.6%.
Both Solana and Base networks were affected by the downturn. However, a slight increase in TVL shares indicates that trust in these ecosystems hasn’t completely eroded. While no recovery signals are visible in DeFi, the rapid growth of new projects stands out as a noteworthy development.
