In the second quarter of 2025, the crypto market rebounded, with a total market capitalization of $3.5 trillion

In the second quarter of 2025, the crypto market experienced a rebound. After a difficult start, the total market capitalization surged by 24%, regaining $663.6 billion, closing at $3.5 trillion, just slightly below January's peak. However, the situation behind this recovery is quite complex.

Despite Bitcoin once again breaking the $100,000 barrier, the listing of a stablecoin issuing company has reignited investment enthusiasm, but spot trading volume has declined for the second consecutive quarter. A large amount of funds has flowed into Bitcoin, causing its market dominance to exceed 62%, while other encryption currencies struggle to regain momentum. Ethereum has shown relatively strong performance with significant quarterly gains, but it is still below the opening price at the beginning of the year.

At the same time, trading behavior is undergoing a transformation. The spot and perpetual contract trading volume on decentralized exchange (DEX) has reached an all-time high, with certain platforms standing out in their respective fields. As the trading volume on centralized exchange (CEX) declines, traders are increasingly turning to DEX, indicating that the way cryptocurrency is traded is experiencing a broader change.

Here are the seven highlights of the crypto industry in the second quarter of 2025:

1. The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies rebounded 24.0%, reaching $3.5 trillion, close to the year's high.

2. Bitcoin rebounded to over $100,000 this quarter and set a new historical high, with its market capitalization share rising to 62.1%.

3. The price of Ethereum rose from $1805 to $2488, but is still below the opening price of $3337 at the beginning of 2025.

4. The first major IPO of cryptocurrency in 2025 received 25 times oversubscription, with its stock price reaching a maximum of $299, an increase of 864.5% compared to the offering price.

5. Despite the market rebound, the spot trading volume of CEX in the second quarter of 2025 decreased by 27.7% quarter-on-quarter, to $3.9 trillion.

6. In contrast, the spot trading volume of DEX increased by 25.3% month-on-month, setting a historical record for DEX:CEX.

7. In the second quarter of 2025, the trading volume of perpetual contracts on DEX also reached a historic high of $898 billion.

market capitalization Rebound, trading volume differentiation

In the second quarter, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies rebounded to $663.6 billion, an increase of 24.0%, closing at $3.5 trillion at the end of the quarter. This followed an 18.6% decline in the first quarter, and this rebound marks a complete turnaround for the market, returning to near the high points of the year.

Despite the rebound in the market, the average daily trading volume continues to decline, dropping 26.2% month-on-month to $107.8 billion. This marks the second consecutive quarter of shrinking spot trading activity. The trading volume for the first quarter of 2025 was $146 billion.

The Dominance of Bitcoin Rises

In the second quarter of 2025, Bitcoin's dominance continued to rise, increasing by 3 percentage points from the previous quarter and by 7.6 percentage points year-to-date. As funds continued to flow into Bitcoin rather than other encryption currencies, Bitcoin's dominance reached 62.1% at the end of this quarter.

At the same time, Ethereum rose slightly by 0.8 percentage points to 8.8%, recovering slightly from a multi-year low in the first quarter. Among the top seven cryptocurrencies, Ethereum is the only non-Bitcoin cryptocurrency that saw an increase in market share. The market share of stablecoins and other large cryptocurrencies has slightly declined.

The market share of other categories has decreased by 2.0 percentage points to 13.7%, highlighting the ongoing weakness in the non-mainstream crypto market.

Ethereum price Rebound but not reached the beginning of the year

ETH closed at $2488 at the end of Q2 2025, up 36.4% from the beginning of the quarter. Its performance surpassed that of other major cryptocurrencies such as BTC, SOL, XRP, and BNB. However, it has not yet reached the opening price of $3337 at the beginning of 2025.

Despite ETH showing bullish momentum in the second quarter, its trading volume fell from an average of $24.4 billion per day in the first quarter of 2025 to an average of $19.5 billion per day. Although institutional investors continue to increase their holdings, this phenomenon may indicate that large transactions are being conducted through over-the-counter brokers.

The average Gas cost in the second quarter continued to decline, averaging 3.5 Gwei per day, down from 6.9 Gwei in the first quarter. However, the daily transaction volume in the second quarter increased to 1.3 million transactions, up from 1.2 million in the first quarter.

The listing of a stablecoin issuance company sparks a frenzy

On June 5, 2025, a stablecoin issuing company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, which caused a huge sensation among cryptocurrency companies seeking to go public in the United States. Although there were initial concerns about its valuation, the listing was a great success, with oversubscription exceeding 25 times.

The company's stock experienced severe fluctuations after its listing. Although the issue price was $31 per share, the closing price on the first day reached $83.23. In the following days, the stock price more than doubled, reaching a historical high of $298.99 on June 23, an increase of 864.5% from the issue price.

The success of this IPO has raised people's expectations for other rumored crypto companies that are about to go public.

CEX trading volume declines, DEX rises prominently

In the second quarter of 2025, the spot trading volume of leading CEXs was $3.9 trillion, down 27.7% from $5.4 trillion in the first quarter.

A large exchange remains the leader in the spot CEX market, maintaining a market share of 37% to 39% throughout the quarter. However, its trading volume was below $500 billion in both April and June. Despite the bullish market in the second quarter and Bitcoin breaking its all-time high in May, the situation remains the same.

In comparison, the total spot trading volume of the top ten DEXs reached $876.3 billion, an increase of 25.3% from $699.2 billion in the first quarter. With the significant growth in trading volume, the ratio of DEX to CEX spot trading volume rose from 0.13 in the first quarter to 0.23 in the second quarter, setting a new historical high.

A certain DEX platform is the one with the largest quarterly growth, increasing from $61.4 billion in the first quarter of 2025 to $392.6 billion in the second quarter, a growth rate of 539.2%. It has now become the largest DEX, accounting for 45% of all transactions in the second quarter. This is mainly due to a new feature launched in May, which facilitated transactions through this platform. This has also made a certain public chain the most popular chain for DEX transactions, surpassing Ethereum, Base, and Solana.

DEX perpetual contract trading volume hits a new high

In the second quarter of 2025, the perpetual contract trading volume of DEX also reached a new high of $898 billion. A certain perpetual contract trading platform's dominance among the top ten perpetual DEXs continued to strengthen, with a market share of 72.7%. Its trading volume reached $653.2 billion, ranking eighth among both centralized and decentralized exchanges.

Among the top ten, only a few platforms saw an increase in trading volume. Especially for a certain platform, after launching new features, its trading volume doubled month-on-month.

A well-known platform that once led the development of perpetual DEX has seen a continuous decline in trading volume. In the second quarter, its average monthly trading volume was 5.3 billion USD, just half of what it was in January 2025.