a16z 2025 report shows crypto tops $4T as U.S. regulation and ETFs fuel adoption

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) has released the 2025 State of Crypto report, which has painted a clear picture of the industry.  The report notes that the crypto industry has moved beyond speculation into a regulated financial ecosystem. 

For the first time, total crypto market capitalization surpassed $4 trillion in 2025, supported by increased stablecoin activities, institutional adoption, and blockchain technological innovations. The 2025 State of Crypto report by a16z briefly noted that the strong regulatory landscape in the U.S., supported by President Donald Trump, has helped drive the sector’s evolution. 

a16z  believes stablecoin activities will strengthen the dollar’s position 

Stablecoins processed over $46 trillion in transactions over the past twelve months, with an adjusted transaction volume of $9 trillion. The total market capitalization of stablecoins now hovers around $308 billion, with a total transaction volume since 2019 at 283.73 trillion. Collectively, the asset holds over $150 billion in U.S. Treasuries.

The a16z report highlighted that major financial institutions, such as Visa and PayPal, are already facilitating cross-border transfers using the stablecoin ecosystem, while JPMorgan and Citi are integrating blockchain settlement systems. The report noted that, with advances in legislation on market structure, stablecoins could further strengthen the dollar’s position in global finance.  

Institutional adoption via exchange-traded funds for BTC and ETH has also fueled the growth of the overall crypto ecosystem. The a16z report highlighted that U.S. ETFs for ETH and BTC now hold over $175 billion in combined assets. Based on SoSoValue data, the U.S. BTC Spot ETF holds $146.26 billion combined net assets, representing 6.81% of the total BTC supply. BlackRock’s IBIT (iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF) holds a larger share of the value, with over $86 billion in net assets. 

The U.S. ETH Spot ETF, on the other hand, has a combined net asset value of $25.81 billion, representing 5.66% of the total ETH supply. Its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA) tops the list with cumulative net assets of approximately $15.35 billion.  

Major Wall Street firms are also increasing their crypto offerings, including the Morgan Stanley planned E*Trade platform, which was revealed early this year. The firm partnered with Zerohash last month to launch on the E*Trade platform, as reported by Cryptopolitan. The platform is expected to go live early next year, allowing E*Trade clients to trade crypto assets, with Zerohash providing liquidity, custody, and settlement services.

BTC and ETH ETFs shift the crypto space from a speculative to a regulated environment

The a16z report noted that these developments, coupled with the approval of BTC and ETH ETFs in 2025, reflected a decisive shift from the purely speculative nature of the crypto ecosystem to a regulated environment, giving the space new credibility and structure. It added that institutional investors are likely to drive the next wave of crypto adoption.

On-chain activities have also grown, especially in developing countries such as Nigeria, with a 12.33% increase in web traffic per billion people.  The report estimated that 716 million people now own digital assets, representing a 16% increase from the previous year. Usage has also shifted from emerging markets to notable developing nations such as Nigeria, India, Argentina, and Colombia.

The a16z report discussed the growing overlap between AI and blockchain, citing an example of decentralized identity systems such as Worldcoin, which verified over 17 million users. The system now provides proof of human solution, differentiating humans from AI agents transacting across the blockchain network.

It highlighted new blockchain-based standards such as the x402, which is being developed to enable autonomous systems to transact and settle payments without intermediaries. The report cited that these technologies may support a $30 trillion autonomous agent economy by 2030. 

Despite talent migration from cryptocurrency to AI startups, the report finds renewed developer interest in multichain ecosystems, such as Ethereum, Solana, and Bitcoin. Ethereum and its L2S remain the top destination for new builders, while Solana saw a 78% increase in developer activity over the past two years.

The a16z report highlighted major improvements in blockchain performance and scalability; now the networks can process 3,400 transactions per second. The growth represents roughly a hundredfold increase over the past five years, with Ethereum and Solana blockchains leading, supported by Layer 2 (L2) scaling solutions.

The system can now be compared with traditional payment systems, such as those used by Nasdaq and Stripe, in terms of performance during peak activity periods. The report noted that such progress is crucial for bringing day-to-day consumer applications onto the blockchain. 

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