Cryptocurrency entered 2025 with a euphoric rally. Clearer regulatory signals from major economies and a more accommodative policy backdrop helped propel Bitcoin to a record $126,000. Institutional capital flowed steadily into the market, with some companies adding digital assets to their balance sheets under strategic allocations. Sentiment reversed sharply toward year-end. Concerns over U.S. trade policy sparked capital outflows, while expected Federal Reserve rate cuts were slower to materialize than markets had anticipated. The selloff intensified after October, when a renewed U.S. tariff pledge on China triggered about $19 billion in forced liquidations. "Sixteen years after the genesis block, crypto's secular growth continues, sometimes painfully and occasionally awkwardly — but growing all the same," Presto Research wrote in its Dec. 18 report. "Welcome to crypto's teenage phase." 2025 proved to be a mixed year, but market watchers largely agree on one point: the industry is moving steadily toward a more polished, mainstream future. "When I look back on 2025, what stands out is