Author: Coingecko
Compiled by: Felix, PANews
After a tough start to the year, crypto markets rebounded in the second quarter of 2025. The total crypto market value surged 24.0%, recovering $663.6 billion of lost ground and ending the quarter with a market value of $3.5 trillion, just below the high in January. But behind this recovery, the situation is much more complicated.
Despite Bitcoin’s price once again surpassing the $100,000 mark and Circle’s IPO rekindling investor enthusiasm, spot trading volumes continued to decline for the second consecutive quarter. Money poured into Bitcoin, pushing its market dominance to over 62%, while altcoins struggled to regain momentum. Ethereum was the strongest performer among altcoins, posting significant quarterly gains, but still below where it opened at the start of the year.
At the same time, trading behavior is shifting. DEC's spot and perpetual contract trading volumes both hit record highs, with PancakeSwap and Hyperliquid standing out in their respective fields. As CEX trading volumes decline, traders are increasingly turning to DEXs, indicating that the way cryptocurrencies are traded is undergoing a broader transformation.
The 2025 Q2 Crypto Industry Report covers everything from the cryptocurrency market landscape to analysis of Bitcoin and Ethereum, an in-depth look at the DeFi and NFT ecosystems, and a review of the performance of CEX and DEX. The following are the seven highlights of the report:
- In the second quarter of 2025, the total market value of cryptocurrencies rebounded by 24.0% to $3.5 trillion, close to the high point of the year
- Bitcoin rebounded to over $100,000 this quarter and hit a new all-time high, and its share of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization rose to 62.1%
- Ethereum price rose from $1,805 to $2,488, but is still lower than the opening price of $3,337 at the beginning of 2025
- The first major cryptocurrency IPO in 2025, Circle, was 25 times oversubscribed, with its share price reaching as high as $299, up 864.5% from its offering price
- Despite the market rebound, CEX spot trading volume fell 27.7% month-on-month to $3.9 trillion in the second quarter of 2025
- In contrast, DEX spot trading volume increased by 25.3% month-on-month, setting a new record for DEX:CEX
- In the second quarter of 2025, the perpetual contract trading volume of DEX also hit a record high of US$898 billion
1. In the second quarter of 2025, the total market value of cryptocurrencies rebounded by 24% to $3.5 trillion, close to the high point of the year.
In the second quarter, the total market value of cryptocurrencies rebounded to $663.6 billion, up 24.0%, and closed at $3.5 trillion at the end of the quarter. This rebound marked a complete reversal of the market's decline after a 18.6% drop in the first quarter, and the market returned to near its high point this year.
Despite the market recovery, average daily trading volume continued to decline, falling 26.2% month-on-month to $107.8 billion. This is the second consecutive quarter of contraction in spot trading activity. Trading volume in the first quarter of 2025 was $146 billion.
2. Bitcoin rebounded to over $100,000 this quarter and hit a new all-time high, and its share of the total cryptocurrency market value rose to 62.1%.
Bitcoin’s dominance continued to climb in the second quarter of 2025, up 3 percentage points from the previous quarter and 7.6 percentage points year-to-date. As funds continued to flow into Bitcoin instead of altcoins, Bitcoin’s dominance reached 62.1% at the end of the quarter.
Meanwhile, Ethereum edged up 0.8 percentage points to 8.8%, recovering slightly from its multi-year lows in the first quarter. Among the top seven cryptocurrencies, Ethereum was the only altcoin to see an increase in market share. Stablecoins and other large cryptocurrencies saw a slight decline in market share.
The “Other” category saw its market share fall by 2.0 percentage points to 13.7%, highlighting continued weakness in the altcoin market.
3. ETH price jumped from $1,805 to $2,488 in the second quarter of 2025, but it is still lower than its opening price of $3,337 at the beginning of 2025
ETH closed at $2,488 at the end of the second quarter of 2025, up 36.4% from the beginning of the quarter. It outperformed other mainstream cryptocurrencies such as BTC, SOL, XRP, and BNB. However, it has not yet reached the opening price of $3,337 at the beginning of 2025.
Despite ETH’s bullish momentum in Q2, its trading volume dropped to an average of $19.5 billion per day from $24.4 billion per day in Q1 2025. While institutional investors are still accumulating holdings, this phenomenon may indicate that large trades are being conducted through OTC brokers.
The average gas cost continued to decline in the second quarter, falling to 3.5 Gwei per day, down from 6.9 Gwei in the first quarter. However, the average number of transactions per day in the second quarter increased to 1.3 million, up from 1.2 million in the first quarter.
4. Circle, the first major IPO in the cryptocurrency field in 2025, was oversubscribed 25 times, and its stock price reached a high of US$299, an increase of 864.5% from the issue price.
Although Circle is not the first crypto company to go public, its IPO on the New York Stock Exchange has triggered a wave of cryptocurrency companies seeking to go public in the United States.
Circle’s IPO on the New York Stock Exchange on June 5, 2025, created a huge buzz among cryptocurrency companies seeking to list in the U.S. Despite initial concerns about its valuation, which many considered to be too high, the listing was a huge success, being oversubscribed by more than 25 times.
CRCL's stock price fluctuated dramatically after its listing. Although the issue price was $31 per share, the closing price on the first day reached $83.23. In the following days, its stock price more than doubled, reaching a record high of $298.99 on June 23, an increase of 864.5% from the issue price.
The success of Circle’s IPO has raised expectations for other companies rumored to be about to go public, including Kraken, Gemini and Grayscale.
5. Despite the market rebound, CEX spot trading volume fell 27.7% month-on-month to $3.9 trillion in the second quarter of 2025.
In the second quarter of 2025, the spot trading volume of the top CEXs was $3.9 trillion, down 27.7% from $5.4 trillion in the first quarter.
Binance remains the dominant spot CEX, maintaining a 37% to 39% market share throughout the quarter. However, its trading volume was below $500 billion in both April and June. This was the case despite a bullish second quarter, with Bitcoin breaking new all-time highs in May.
MEXC, HTX, and Bitget were the only exchanges to see quarter-over-quarter growth, up 3.7%, 5.4%, and 3.0%, respectively. Notably, MEXC and HTX are now ranked second and third, respectively, replacing Crypto.com and Bybit.
Meanwhile, Crypto.com saw the biggest quarter-over-quarter drop, falling 61.4% from $560.2 billion in Q1 to $216.4 billion in Q2. It is now the eighth-largest exchange after occupying the second position in the first two quarters.
6. In contrast, DEX spot trading volume increased by 25.3% month-on-month, reaching a record high for the ratio of DEX to CEX spot trading volume.
In the second quarter of 2025, the spot trading volume of the top ten DEXs totaled $876.3 billion, up 25.3% from $699.2 billion in the first quarter. With the significant increase in trading volume, the ratio of DEX to CEX spot trading volume increased from 0.13 in the first quarter to 0.23 in the second quarter, setting a record high.
PancakeSwap was the platform with the largest quarter-over-quarter growth, growing 539.2% from $61.4 billion in Q1 2025 to $392.6 billion in Q2. It is now the largest DEX, accounting for 45% of all transactions in Q2. This is mainly due to the launch of Binance Alpha in May, whose transactions are conducted through PancakeSwap. This also makes BSC the most popular chain in DEX transactions, surpassing Ethereum, Base, and Solana, etc.
Solana DEXs such as Orca, Meteora, and Raydium all saw declines, falling 40.5%, 56.8%, and 73.4% quarter-over-quarter, respectively. As market attention shifted away from Solana and meme coins in Q2, trading volume flowed to other chains.
7. In the second quarter of 2025, DEX's perpetual contract trading volume also hit a new high of US$898 billion.
In the second quarter of 2025, Hyperliquid's dominance among the top ten perpetual DEXs continued to increase, with a market share of 72.7%. Its trading volume reached US$653.2 billion, ranking eighth among both centralized and decentralized exchanges.
Among the top 10, only Hyperliquid, Aster (formerly APX Finance), RabbitX, and EdgeX saw an increase in trading volume. Aster, in particular, doubled its trading volume month-on-month after launching its Pro mode.
dYdX, which once led the development of perpetual DEX, has seen its trading volume continue to decline. In the second quarter, its average monthly trading volume was $5.3 billion, only half of that in January 2025.
