It is time for the crypto industry to bid farewell to 2025. The industry traveled thousands of miles bearing stories of innovation, success, bearish moments, and even failures. Before we welcome 2026, here are AltCoinDesk’s top crypto news stories of 2025 that you should not miss.
US launches Strategic Bitcoin Reserve
The Donald Trump administration officially took power in January 2025 and ignited crypto innovation in the US. The President introduced the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve that allows holding Bitcoin as a national reserve asset as a hedge against monetary risk.
The GENIUS Act comes to existence in July
U.S. Senator Bill Hagerty introduced the GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoin Act) in May 2025 and signed it into law on July 18. The Act is specifically for payment stablecoins, setting a federal framework for how these coins are issued, redeemed, and backed by issuers/firms.
SEC vs. Ripple legal battle ends
The great crypto legal battle between Ripple and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officially ended after both parties agreed to close their appeals and filed a joint dismissal. The legal case was filed in December 2020 as the commission alleged that Ripple sold its XRP as unregistered securities and raised around $1.3 billion.
Ethereum rolls out Fusaka upgrade
Ethereum launched Fusaka upgrade on December 3, improving its consensus layer Fulu and execution layer Osaka. The upgrade boosts the network scaling and makes Layer 2 transactions faster and cheaper.
Crypto sees the first memecoin ETF
REX-Osprey launched the Dogecoin ETF, the first-ever memecoin ETF under the ticker DOJE, in September. Amid several other crypto ETF surges, this memecoin ETF carved out its unique space in the industry, likely attracting memecoin lovers.
Bybit and Upbit hit by major hacks
Major exchanges like Bybit, Upbit, and DeFi protocol Balancer were hacked, losing billions to millions worth of assets. In February, hackers exploited the leading crypto exchange Bybit for around $1.4 billion worth of Ether.
In November, South Korean crypto exchange Upbit experienced a breach after hackers stole over $37 million in Solana assets and sent them to unknown wallets. In the same month, the Balancer DeFi protocol suffered a major exploit in which hackers exploited over $128 million in assets.
Bitcoin reaches an all-time high of $125,296
Bitcoin experienced a significant surge in its price during the September-October trading weeks, along with major coins experiencing a similar bullish moment. The master coin reached its all-time high of nearly $125,296.
Stablecoin race spikes with RLUSD, SoFiUSD, AE Coin
The year 2025 saw the stablecoin industry running for bullish momentum with major coins such as Ripple’s RLUSD, SOFi Banks’ first-ever SoFi USD stablecoin, and the UAE’s own homegrown AE Coin.
Circle becomes first major stablecoin issuer to go public on NYSE
Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group earned a name by going live for public trading on the New York Stock Exchange. The USDC stablecoin issuer trades under the ticker CRCL, and its Initial Public Offering (IPO) was priced at $31 per share.
Singapore expands stablecoin regulation
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced at a FinTech festival that it would roll out new stablecoin regulations to ensure proper supervision and strong reserve backing of stablecoins.
SEC unveils “Project Crypto” to modernize securities regulations
Paul S. Atkins, the US SEC Chairman, announced the launch of a pro-crypto initiative aimed at modernizing US securities rules for the digital asset industry and allowing US financial markets to easily move on-chain.
UK moves to regulate crypto industry
The UK government is expanding its crypto rules that would put crypto activities under the country’s financial rules or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This move was originally initiated by HM Treasury, the finance ministry of the UK government.
Meanwhile, the FCA also released consultations on stringent rules for issuing stablecoins, capital requirements for crypto firms, and crypto custody services.
New crypto regulations, tighter rules, stablecoin growth, Bitcoin’s all-time high, real-world asset (RWA) tokenization, and major crypto hacks —these stories engraved momentous events in the crypto industry of 2025. As the year draws closer and 2026 is preparing to open its doors, more crypto-friendly initiatives, partnerships, increased stablecoin growth, and on-chain moves are expected to happen, along with more countries accepting cryptocurrencies.
