Crypto moves closer to mainstream – yet market challenges persist
Over the past few years, the crypto industry has advanced significantly, with notable improvements in areas like regulations, institutional adoption, payment infrastructure, and blockchain innovation. The current state of the market is in stark contrast to its early days, when crypto was nothing but an experiment that most people didn’t support or believe in. At the time, blockchain was still an unknown technology, and the first networks were slow, costly, and quite basic. Traders and investors were wary of crypto as they didn’t know what to make of this curious asset class.
Fast forward to today, and things couldn’t be any different. People have not only grown more accustomed to blockchain, digital currencies, and their expanding use cases, but they have also come to embrace them – and so have regulators, companies, and financial institutions. The total value of the crypto market has increased considerably, and analysts are generally optimistic about the sector’s future, as demonstrated by the latest Bitcoin and ETH price prediction data.
But even though the evolution that crypto has experienced since its beginnings is nothing short of spectacular, and digital currencies are now closer to mainstream acceptance than ever before, challenges continue to pose a problem for the development of the industry.
The progress
A closer look at recent market figures and milestones can help us gain a better idea of how far crypto has come. This year, the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies reached a new record high by surpassing the $4 trillion mark. This happened in early October, just a few months after the previous ATH in late July. This isn’t the only record that crypto established this year, as the number of crypto mobile wallet users also reached an unprecedented figure, increasing by 20% from 2024.
The number of active crypto users also continues to increase. Data for 2025 estimates there are between 40-70 million crypto users across the globe, at least 10 million more than last year. As for total crypto holders, most sources cite figures of around 500 million owners, although according to some estimates, the number could be closer to 800 million.
The discrepancy between active crypto users and the total crypto user base reveals notable differences in how people use crypto around the world. Reports show that on-chain crypto activity is growing faster in developing economies, such as India, Nigeria, Colombia, and Argentina. That’s because these nations have been grappling with economic instability and a plethora of related issues, which typically prompt people to seek alternatives, and crypto seems to be a viable option for many. By contrast, in more developed nations, crypto is mostly used for trading and investing.
Institutional adoption
Perhaps one of the biggest wins for crypto so far is the fact that institutions have finally warmed up to it. Both longstanding financial giants, such as Visa, Mastercard, BlackRock, Fidelity, Citigroup, and JPMorgan, and leading fintech firms like PayPal and Robinhood have included crypto products and services in their offerings or are at least considering the possibility.
The growing adoption by large players in the financial sector gives consumers the possibility to gain access to digital currencies through channels they know and trust, and is speeding up crypto integration into the global economic system. The launch of the first spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking the price of different cryptocurrencies, in particular, shows that digital assets are budding into legitimate financial instruments.
Innovation and regulation
When it comes to technical advances, it’s enough to mention the capacities of new-generation blockchains. For example, Solana can process up to 65,000 transactions per second (TPS) in theory, although in reality, the throughput is around 1,000 – 1,050 TPS. Still, this is a huge increase from Bitcoin’s average throughput of 3-7 TPS or Ethereum’s 18 TPS, which means blockchains are getting closer to the processing capabilities of conventional financial services.
Regulation-wise, a lot has happened in recent years. Governments’ attempts at regulating crypto continue, with some countries making more progress than others. In the US, the passage of the GENIUS and CLARITY Act proves that regulators are set on clarifying crypto’s status and developing a more comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets, which could support the further development of the market. In Europe, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) is aimed at creating a unified regulatory system for crypto across all member states of the European Union.
The challenges
Although crypto has matured into a recognized financial asset that inches closer to mainstream acceptance every day, it doesn’t mean everything is smooth sailing now. The market is going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment due to various reasons. First of all, the global geopolitical landscape is tense and has been so for quite a while, which affects every sector of activity and most notably the economy. In times of economic uncertainty, like the ones we’re traversing right now, people tend to shy away from riskier assets, and crypto remains a highly volatile category, despite its progress.
At the same time, during the final months of the year, high leverage and record liquidations of long positions caused prices to plummet across the board. This reminded everyone of just how fickle the crypto market continues to be.
Crypto-based ETFS also seemed to be losing ground, as institutional investors’ interest in these types of products declined, leading to significant capital outflows. With fewer new investors to make up for the exits, the market is more likely to experience short-term fluctuations.
Outlook for the future
It’s difficult to tell how the crypto market might evolve in the future, since digital currencies have always been more of a box full of surprises than an open book. However, judging by the way crypto has performed over the years and the many obstacles it has overcome, many are confident that cryptocurrencies will be able to weather whatever challenges come their way and keep moving forward.
