Expect 2025 to be the cryptocurrency market’s best year ever, with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) both crushing all-time highs, among other potential “remarkable positive developments,” Steno Research said in a research note.
Steno Research predicts that BTC’s and ETH’s spot prices will surpass $150,000 and $8,000, respectively. The analysts are also “increasingly optimistic about an imminent altcoin season,” according to the December research note.
The bullish BTC and ETH price projections reflect “an unprecedentedly favorable regulatory environment for cryptocurrencies, a supportive macroeconomic climate marked by declining interest rates and improved liquidity, and the historically strong post-Bitcoin-halving performance,” the report said.
“On top of this, institutional adoption is expected to reach unparalleled levels, further bolstered by significant inflows into U.S.-based Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.”
Steno expects BTC and ETH exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to see net inflows in 2025 of $48 billion and $28.5 billion, respectively.
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Altcoin season
Ether is poised to perform especially well in 2025, significantly outperforming Bitcoin, Steno said. In 2025, Steno expects the ETH/BTC ratio to hit “at least 0.06”. That is nearly double the current level of around 0.035, according to TradingView.
This will usher in a broader alternative cryptocurrency — or “altcoin” — season in 2025, with Bitcoin dominance dropping from its current levels of nearly 57% to around 45%, according to the report.
Bitcoin dominance measures BTC’s percentage of crypto’s total market capitalization.
Steno’s prediction is “partly based on the argument that Donald Trump’s U.S. presidential victory is more favorable for altcoins than for Bitcoin.”
Trump’s presidency “encourages more robust onchain activity, which benefits altcoins such as Ethereum and Solana significantly,” Steno said.
Expect the total value locked (TVL) in decentralized applications to top $300 billion in 2025, far surpassing 2021’s highs of approximately $180 billion, according to the report.
Trump pump
Others, including asset manager Grayscale, are similarly optimistic. In December, Grayscale added several decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, including two on Solana, to its list of the top 20 tokens to watch in the first quarter of 2025.
Grayscale cited the warming US policy environment as a key factor. Trump has promised to appoint industry-friendly leaders to key regulatory agencies and make the US “the world’s crypto capital.”
“In the US, with Trump’s victory, I am aggressively bullish on the US becoming a global leader in the space by the end of the year,” Raj Brahmbhatt, CEO of Web3 settlement company Zeebu, told Cointelegraph in December.
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