In this special edition of Coin Metrics’ State of the Network, we take a data-driven dive into the major developments, market performance, and network activity that impacted the digital assets industry in Q1 2025.
Key Takeaways:
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Macroeconomic pressures drove the crypto market cap down 19% to $2.65T in Q1 2025, with Bitcoin (BTC) declining 7%, while Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) posted steeper losses amid risk-off sentiment.
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Total stablecoin supply surpassed $230B, with USDC and Ethereum as major beneficiaries, while new entrants race to launch products amid advancing stablecoin legislation.
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Ethereum’s Layer-2 scaling strategy has created a temporary value disconnect, contributing to ETH’s underperformance. Scaling blob capacity and L2 demand, and attracting high-value use cases like tokenization and stablecoins to L1 may offer a viable path to restore value accrual.
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Solana implemented key SIMD upgrades reshaping validator incentives and burn policy, while a cooldown in memecoin activity highlighted the need for more sustainable forms of network usage.
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