Bitcoin, Solana retain crypto market dominance amid Q1 2025 slowdown

Source Cryptopolitan

Bitcoin and Solana have emerged as dominant players in the crypto market during an especially turbulent first quarter of 2025. 

According to the Q1 Crypto Industry Report recently released by CoinGecko, the broader market experienced a major downturn. However, Bitcoin and Solana still had strong showings relative to the general market.

The crypto market entered 2025 on a high note, building on momentum from late 2024. Bitcoin rose to an all-time high of $106,182 in January, contributing immensely to the rise of the total crypto market capitalization, which hit a $3.8 trillion on January 18. However, by the end of Q1, the total market cap had fallen by 18.6%, losing nearly $1 trillion and closing at $2.8 trillion.

Crypto market cap and trading volume declined in Q1 2025
Crypto market cap and trading volume declined in Q1 2025. Source: Coingecko

By the end of the quarter, Bitcoin’s price had fallen by 11.8%, ending at $82,514. Still, it performed better than most altcoins, further solidifying its dominance, which rose to 59.1% of the total crypto market cap.

Solana rides the memecoin wave for growth

DEX trading volume suffered a steady decline since January
DEX trading volume has suffered a steady decline since January. Source: Coingecko

Solana saw a brief surge in decentralized exchange (DEX) activity in early Q1, accounting for 52% of on-chain spot DEX trades in January, fueled by the TRUMP memecoin frenzy. However, that momentum was reduced by March, as interest in meme coins dropped significantly. Solana’s DEX trade share fell to 23.4%, while Ethereum reclaimed the lead with 30.1%.

Despite the resurgence, Ethereum’s overall performance was underwhelming. After hitting a high of $3,336, Ethereum ended Q1 at $1,805. Its market dominance fell to 7.9%, which is reportedly the lowest it has dropped since 2019.

The memecoin trend saw unprecedented results at the start of the first quarter with the launch of the TRUMP and MELANIA meme coins before Trump’s inauguration. It pushed the launching of tokens on Pump.fun to a record 72,000 per day.

However, its decline was expedited by the LIBRA token incident, which was promoted by Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, and collapsed following a rug pull. The incident caused LIBRA’s market cap to crash from $4.6 billion to $221 million within hours. As a result, Pump.fun’s activity declined sharply, with the launch of tokens falling over 56% on the platform.

Stablecoins gain ground as centralized and DeFi crypto markets took hits

More investors favored stability as stablecoins such as USDT and USDC due to market volatility. USDT’s market share increased to 5.2%, while USDC moved up to reclaim the seventh position in terms of market cap, displacing Dogecoin. Amid all the decline and changing of market share positions, XRP and BNB maintained their positions and market share.

Binance maintains its lead in terms of CEX trading volume
Binance maintains its lead in terms of CEX trading volume. Source: Coingecko

According to the report, the top 10 centralized exchanges (CEXs) saw a 16.3% quarter-on-quarter drop in spot trading volume, totaling $5.4 trillion. Binance maintained its position as market leader with a 40.7% share, although its volume fell to $588.7 billion in March from over $1 trillion in December.

HTX was the only exchange in the top 10 to record growth. Upbit saw a steep 34% drop. Bybit was hit the hardest, plunging 52.4% month-on-month following a major February hack.

On the decentralized finance (DeFi) side, multichain DeFi total value locked (TVL) fell by 27.5% in Q1 2025, dropping from $177.4 billion to $128.6 billion, largely driven by altcoin price declines.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Tired of market swings? Learn how DeFi can help you build steady passive income. Register Now

Disclaimer: For information purposes only. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
placeholder
Bitcoin falls below $75,000 as the CLARITY Act fails in the Senate — what the vote means for cryptoThe US Senate blocked the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act in a 49-50 procedural vote, sending Bitcoin briefly below $75,000 — its biggest one-day drop since June. Ethereum fell more than 8%, Coinbase slid 10% and $75 billion of crypto market value evaporated. Here is what the vote was, why it failed, and the levels that matter now.
Author  Suzie
Sep 16, Wed
The US Senate blocked the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act in a 49-50 procedural vote, sending Bitcoin briefly below $75,000 — its biggest one-day drop since June. Ethereum fell more than 8%, Coinbase slid 10% and $75 billion of crypto market value evaporated. Here is what the vote was, why it failed, and the levels that matter now.
placeholder
US to delay new "overcapacity" tariffs on China — what the pause means for trade, inflation and the dollarWashington is expected to hold off announcing new tariffs over Chinese "overcapacity" until after the 24 September summit, according to Bloomberg. The postponed plan would have added 7.5% to Chinese goods, taking second-term US tariffs to around 20%. Here is what is on the table, and what a deal versus no deal would mean for the yuan, Hong Kong equities and the dollar.
Author  Mitrade
Sep 18, Fri
Washington is expected to hold off announcing new tariffs over Chinese "overcapacity" until after the 24 September summit, according to Bloomberg. The postponed plan would have added 7.5% to Chinese goods, taking second-term US tariffs to around 20%. Here is what is on the table, and what a deal versus no deal would mean for the yuan, Hong Kong equities and the dollar.
placeholder
Gold ends three-week slide at the $4,400 line — eight straight days of ETF inflows vs a 5% 10-year and a 100 dollarSpot gold closed Friday at $4,378.39, up 0.84% on the day and about 0.8% for the week — its first weekly gain in four weeks — with the intraday high of $4,399.67 leaving it 33 cents shy of the $4,400 line. Gold ETFs have now logged eight straight sessions of inflows, but with the 10-year back above 5% and the dollar index near 100, here is what decides whether this is a reversal or a bounce.
Author  Suzie
Sep 20, Sun
Spot gold closed Friday at $4,378.39, up 0.84% on the day and about 0.8% for the week — its first weekly gain in four weeks — with the intraday high of $4,399.67 leaving it 33 cents shy of the $4,400 line. Gold ETFs have now logged eight straight sessions of inflows, but with the 10-year back above 5% and the dollar index near 100, here is what decides whether this is a reversal or a bounce.
placeholder
Bitcoin squeezes back above $80,000 — 110,000 traders liquidated as the hawkish Fed and CLARITY setback fail to hold it down; is $83,000 next?Bitcoin closed above $80,000 on Friday for the first time since September 7, and pushed to $81,299 over the weekend, triggering about $603 million of liquidations — $523 million of them shorts — across more than 110,000 traders. With the Fed's hike already priced and the SEC and CFTC advancing crypto rules after the CLARITY Act failed, here is what stands between BTC and the $83,000 gate.
Author  Suzie
Sep 20, Sun
Bitcoin closed above $80,000 on Friday for the first time since September 7, and pushed to $81,299 over the weekend, triggering about $603 million of liquidations — $523 million of them shorts — across more than 110,000 traders. With the Fed's hike already priced and the SEC and CFTC advancing crypto rules after the CLARITY Act failed, here is what stands between BTC and the $83,000 gate.
placeholder
Gold Price Forecast: Gold Eyes Key $4,400 Resistance as Falling Oil Prices Ease Inflation PressureAs of the Asian session on September 21, gold prices (XAUUSD) maintained high-level consolidation intraday today following a strong rebound last week, with the latest price trading around
Author  TradingKey
17 hours ago
As of the Asian session on September 21, gold prices (XAUUSD) maintained high-level consolidation intraday today following a strong rebound last week, with the latest price trading around
goTop
quote