In 2025, the most influential story in the crypto industry shifted from a hype trend to real-world applications and systems that can create tangible impacts in the real world. This year marks a transition to a ready-to-use system to enhance the movement and settlement of value globally more effectively.
Experts from SynFutures, Brickken, and Cake Wallet stated that stablecoins, privacy, tokenized digital assets, and AI being put to practical use are all impacting acceptance through genuine demand, not just speculation.
The year that crypto became infrastructure.
In many respects, 2025 stands out as it marks the first time crypto has achieved full institutional integration, with many users often engaging with crypto infrastructure without feeling like they are using 'crypto' products at all.
Although this sector remains volatile as a key factor, only a few stories stand out in terms of utility, while stories driven solely by hype and excitement have quickly faded.
From discussions with BeInCrypto, industry representatives consistently assess that stories tied to integration and operations continue to endure, while new stories lacking a foundation gradually lose significance.
Despite the variety of narratives, stablecoins are frequently mentioned and have become a main topic that is constantly referenced.
Stablecoins have become a primary use case for crypto.
Stablecoins play a role in bridging the gap between risk-taking crypto participants and cautious users who want access to this previously volatile industry in a limited manner.
By pegging values to assets like USD or gold, stablecoins have come to play a more reliable alternative compared to other digital assets, and they outperform traditional currencies due to their borderless nature.
Key regulatory turning points, such as the passing of the GENIUS Act, have also bolstered confidence in stablecoins, making the utility and effectiveness of stablecoin infrastructure self-evident.
Stablecoins have addressed everyday problems concretely, namely the ability to transfer and make payments across borders quickly without relying on slow, complicated, and costly banking systems. Edwin Mata, CEO of Brickken, added that for stablecoin users, it helps to access USD and euros digitally in countries where banking services are limited, costly, or lack reliability.
The resulting outcomes are tangible, not just concepts, as Stripe and Visa have integrated the use of stablecoins into payment and capital management processes, while Circle has allowed businesses to use USDC as actual circulating money, not just speculative assets.
As stablecoins become a trusted payment tool, they continuously help expand the scope of real-world assets (RWA) that are tokenized.
Tokenization has advanced beyond pilot projects.
According to Rachel Lin, CEO of SynFutures, RWA can successfully bridge traditional finance with crypto. However, the methods used are not yet comprehensive.
In reality, the success of RWA has proven to be much more specific than previously expected.
Tokenized treasury, funds, and yield-generating products have gained genuine interest because they provide tangible benefits such as better settlement, combinability, and wider access, Lin told BeInCrypto, adding that 2025 clearly demonstrates that RWA will work only with legal clarity, liquidity, and trustworthy issuers. The discussion has shifted from experimentation to actual implementation, but everything is still in the early stages.
Evidence is clear as major banks and asset managers rely on tokenization to enhance efficiency. Earlier this week, JPMorgan launched a tokenized money market fund on Ethereum, marking a significant step beyond internal testing or pilot projects.
Meanwhile, asset managers like BlackRock continue to expand tokenized funds, and banks have integrated stablecoins into treasury and settlement processes.
Another trend attracting attention in various industries, especially in crypto, is artificial intelligence (AI).
Areas where AI creates measurable value.
In the early stages, the AI wave focused on fears that automated agents would replace human decision-making, but this concern quickly lost momentum.
What persists is a focus on practicality, such as AI enhancing user experience by helping individuals understand and manage risks better.
AI adds real value by simplifying thought processes and actions, especially in trading interfaces, risk management, and decision-making. AI-powered products help users understand risk exposure, automate operations under constraints, or prevent costly mistakes, Lin explained.
The emergence of AI agents has also garnered significant attention, even as expectations have been adjusted to a reasonable level throughout the year.
The success of these does not depend much on independence but rather on trust, verifiability, and limitations set by the users themselves. For example, liquidity management, automated strategies, and portfolio customization demonstrate potential when there is a clear approach.
However, as AI becomes an essential part of crypto products, it has made existing concerns about data exposure even clearer.
The convergence of these two issues has made privacy concerns from niche topics into a major issue in 2025.
Why privacy can no longer wait.
Privacy concerns have emerged as one of the most important themes in crypto over the past year, stemming from the realization that the financial system makes users' data and behaviors more apparent.
As a result, long-standing concerns about data exposure have resurfaced as a significant issue. At the same time, privacy, once seen as a niche demand, is gradually becoming a more structural requirement.
One of the key turning points in the industry this year is that people have started to awaken to the necessity (and market demand) for simple and accessible privacy for their own money, Seth for Privacy, Vice President of Cake Wallet, told BeInCrypto.
The increased usage of Monero, along with global media interest in Zcash and a widespread shift toward privacy features in stablecoin networks with Layer 2, further underscores this turning point.
All of this addresses a key pain point for crypto users: how to maintain the privacy that exists in the current financial system or with cash under decentralization and the power of crypto, Seth added.
The growth of privacy solutions, along with other successful trends throughout the past year, has emphasized that the adoption of crypto increasingly depends solely on genuine utility.
As crypto development continues, success may not be measured by presentation popularity but rather by trustworthiness and operational efficiency.
