Crypto Market Q2 2025 Review: Total Market Capitalization Rebound of 24%, DEX Volume Hits New High

In the second quarter of 2025, the crypto market experienced a rebound, with market capitalization growing by 24.0% to reach $3.5 trillion, almost recovering to the high point at the beginning of the year. However, the situation behind this recovery is quite complex.

Despite Bitcoin breaking the $100,000 mark again, the spot volume has declined for the second consecutive quarter. A large amount of funds has poured into Bitcoin, giving it a market capitalization dominance of over 62%, while other cryptocurrencies struggle to regain momentum. Ethereum has performed relatively strong, with a significant quarterly increase, 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 volume of the decentralized exchange (DEX) has reached an all-time high, while the volume of the centralized exchange (CEX) has decreased, indicating that the way cryptocurrencies are traded is experiencing a broader change.

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

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

2. Bitcoin rebounded to over $100,000 this quarter, setting a new historical high, with its share of the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies 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 in the cryptocurrency space in 2025 triggered a surge, with the stock of a stablecoin issuance company reaching a maximum increase of 864.5%.

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

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

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

Detailed Analysis

1. Rebound of total market capitalization in encryption currencies

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

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

2. The dominance of Bitcoin is rising

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

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 whose market share has increased. The market share of stablecoins and other major cryptocurrencies has slightly declined.

The market share of the "Other" category has decreased by 2.0 percentage points to 13.7%, highlighting the continued weakness in the non-mainstream crypto market.

3. Ethereum price trend

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 mainstream 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 volume dropped from an average daily of $24.4 billion in the first quarter of 2025 to an average daily of $19.5 billion. Although institutional investors are still increasing their holdings, this phenomenon may suggest that large trades are being conducted through over-the-counter brokers.

The average Gas cost in the second quarter continued to decline, dropping to an average of 3.5 Gwei per day, down from 6.9 Gwei in the first quarter. However, the daily number of transactions in the second quarter increased to 1.3 million, higher than the 1.2 million in the first quarter.

4. The IPO Boom of Cryptocurrency Companies

In June 2025, a well-known stablecoin issuance company went public on the New York Stock Exchange, sparking a wave of U.S. crypto companies seeking to go public. The company's IPO was oversubscribed by 25 times, with the stock price reaching a high of $299, an increase of 864.5% from the issue price.

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

5. CEX spot trading volume declines

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

A well-known exchange remains the leader in spot CEX, maintaining a market share of 37% to 39% throughout the quarter. However, its volume was below $500 billion in both April and June. Despite a bullish market in the second quarter, with Bitcoin reaching a historic high in May, the situation remained the same.

Only a few exchanges achieved quarter-on-quarter growth, while some previously top-ranking exchanges experienced significant declines.

6. DEX spot交易量激增

In the second quarter of 2025, the total spot trading volume of the top ten DEXs reached 876.3 billion USD, an increase of 25.3% compared to 699.2 billion USD in the first quarter. With the substantial 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 quarter-on-quarter 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.

However, some Solana-based DEX platforms have seen a decline as market attention shifted from Solana and meme coins in the second quarter, with volume flowing to other blockchains.

7. DEX perpetual contract volume hits a new high

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

Only a few DEX platforms have seen an increase in perpetual contract trading volume, while dYdX, which once led the development of perpetual DEX, has seen its trading volume continue to decline. In the second quarter, its average monthly trading volume was $5.3 billion, which is only half of what it was in January 2025.