From fully staked ETFs to customizable institutional vaults, staking is evolving from a secondary consideration into a foundational pillar of Ethereum’s market structure.
Megawatts are still trading hands, and the AI trade is very much alive, according to investment banker Joe Nardini, as miners pivot to HPC and buyers chase scarce power.
The Maple Finance CEO says institutions will stop distinguishing between DeFi and TradFi as private credit moves onchain, and stablecoins process $50 trillion in payments.
Quantum computing is not currently an existential threat to Bitcoin, but as capital becomes more institutional and long-term, even distant risks require clearer answers.
A long-awaited crypto regime in the U.K. is moving from theory to execution, even if firms must wait until 2027 for full clarity.
The crypto industry is ever-growing and ever-changing. It would be difficult to summarize it in 50 names. Here are a few final individuals and entities we wanted to make note of this year.
Jeff Yan, founder of Hyperliquid, has quietly built a $308 billion volume DEX with over half a million users, influencing DeFi while avoiding public attention.
Solana’s 2025 has proven that its builders and its culture continue to keep its ecosystem in crypto’s cultural zeitgeist.
The Aave founder is bringing DeFi to the masses.
The Ethereum Foundation’s new leaders hope to bring in a new era for the second-largest cryptocurrency.
The veteran Bitcoin developer is at the forefront of one of the most hotly-discussed debates in crypto — what the original blockchain network should be used for.
Pérez-Tasso brought Swift into the blockchain age.
The co-founders and co-CEOs of IREN Limited have transformed the bitcoin mining firm into an AI infrastructure powerhouse.
When it seemed like many of the states came up with the same bitcoin reserve idea at the same time, a campaign driven by Porter deserves some credit for that tide.
Led by Finance Minister Gilles Roth, Luxembourg in the second half of 2025 became the first of the 20-member eurozone to invest in bitcoin.
OpenAI founder Sam Altman brought artificial intelligence into every corner of people’s lives this year, from the way they work to the way they play. AI has already radically transformed the crypto ecosystem in both good ways and bad, guiding trading decisions, aiding developers, and making hackers more efficient.
Allaire spent 2025 pushing regulated digital dollars into the mainstream, shaping U.S. policy and unveiling Arc as the foundation for institutional blockchain finance.
The Securitize CEO ground through the uncool years of tokenization while NFTs, FTX and memecoins soaked up the hype. With billions in tokenized assets, a SPAC listing in the works and BlackRock as a flagship client and backer, Carlos Domingo’s early bet is finally paying off.
As an acting chairman at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Caroline Pham pulled no punches in pursuing crypto-friendly policy aims.
Robinhood has acquired Bitstamp, launched staking services for ether and solana, and added new tokens for US users, including XRP, SOL, and BNB.
Under Atkins’ leadership, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has undergone a near-complete reversal of the way it regulates crypto.
Powell’s decisions as Fed chair have continued to have a massive impact on bitcoin and the wider cryptocurrency markets.
Peter Schiff, the outspoken gold advocate and notorious bitcoin critic, has been vindicated by the market’s performance, cementing his stance after years of skepticism towards digital assets.
Sanctions, capital controls and Russia’s improvised financial plumbing helped create A7A5, a ruble stablecoin built on a currency rarely used in global commerce, allowing it to appear legally at major events even as its presence leaves compliance teams panicked.
Young sparked a new category of digital assets, yieldcoins, that sits at the intersection of DeFi rails and TradFi basis trades.
Williams has helped cement crypto gains in Congress alongside White House allies.
The Telegram CEO may stand as the most pivotal figure in the bona fide mass adoption of cryptocurrency.
Chainlink’s co-founder spent 2025 turning oracles, cross-chain messaging and CRE into building blocks for tokenized funds and on-chain finance.
The crypto industry praised a memo signed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche directing the Department of Justice to end “regulation by prosecution.”
The Tornado Cash developer’s trial this summer is evidence that the crypto industry is still severely lacking regulatory clarity.