Charting Crypto is a quarterly publication from Coinbase Institutional and Glassnode that provides an in-depth view of crypto markets, including deep dives into onchain analytics and advanced metrics for bitcoin and ether. Below is a snippet of the report.
Charting Crypto: Q2 2025
Charting Crypto goes beyond the headlines and digs deep into market data and onchain analytics to provide institutional investors with the insights to understand the trends that are shaping the markets today, and how they may impact the dynamic cryptoeconomy going forward.
April 23, 2025
Key takeaways
- What a difference a quarter can make. At the beginning of the year, investors were overwhelmingly optimistic about the prospects for crypto. Just three months later, market players are nervously questioning whether the US is heading toward a recession this year — one that could prolong the current bear market.
- Several signals appear to be pointing to the start of a new “crypto winter” as extreme negative sentiment has set in across financial markets due to the uncertainty around the impact of global tariffs and tightening fiscal policy.
- As a result, the total crypto market cap excluding BTC has fallen 41% to $950B, after hitting a high of $1.6T in December 2024. Meanwhile, venture capital funding in crypto has plummeted to 2017–18 levels, down 50%-60% from the 2021-22 cycle, significantly limiting the onboarding of new capital into the ecosystem, particularly on the altcoin side.
- The interplay of these factors paints a difficult cyclical outlook for the digital asset space, which may continue to warrant caution in the very short term. However, we also believe investors need to take a tactical approach to markets, because when sentiment eventually swings back to positive, it’s likely to happen quickly.
Written by
- David Duong, CFA - Head of Research at Coinbase Institutional & Glassnode
Markets Recalibrate
What a difference a quarter can make. At the beginning of the year, investors were overwhelmingly optimistic about the prospects for crypto. Just three months later, market players are nervously questioning whether the US is heading toward a recession this year — one that could prolong the current bear market.
Several signals appear to be pointing to the start of a new “crypto winter” as extreme negative sentiment has set in across financial markets due to the uncertainty around the impact of global tariffs and tightening fiscal policy. As a result, the total crypto market cap excluding BTC has fallen 41% to $950B, after hitting a high of $1.6T in December 2024.
Meanwhile, venture capital funding in crypto has plummeted to 2017–18 levels, down 50%-60% from the 2021-22 cycle, significantly limiting the onboarding of new capital into the ecosystem, particularly on the altcoin side.
The interplay of these factors paints a difficult cyclical outlook for the digital asset space, which may continue to warrant caution in the very short term. However, we also believe investors need to take a tactical approach to markets, because when sentiment eventually swings back to positive, it’s likely to happen quickly.
To help investors make sense of the rapidly changing landscape, we are introducing several new metrics and insights this quarter, including a section that details our topline market views and the factors that could cause them to change.
We’re also pleased to include views from some of the leading voices in crypto, who have each contributed what they believe to be the most important chart in crypto right now.
Throughout Charting Crypto, we go beyond the headlines and dig deep into market data and onchain analytics to provide institutional investors with the insights to understand the trends that are shaping markets today, and how they may impact the dynamic cryptoeconomy going forward. We hope you find the publication useful as you navigate crypto markets, and we welcome your feedback and questions.
David Duong, Head of Institutional Research, Coinbase
Glassnode Analyst
Sign up for our insights
Get the latest market insights, developments and updates, direct to your inbox.