Catenaa, Thursday, December 18, 2025- The global digital assets market climbed to a record $4.3 trillion in 2025, driven by policy shifts, institutional adoption and strong onchain trading growth, according to The Block’s 2026 Digital Assets Outlook Report released Monday.
The full report is available here.
The research found that gains across cryptocurrencies were uneven, with capital and activity concentrating in a narrow set of networks, applications and financial products.
Bitcoin mining firms posted mixed results as onchain data reflected higher competition and tighter margins.
At the base layer, Solana, BNB Chain and Hyperliquid attracted speculative activity, while Ethereum reinforced its role as a settlement and data availability network aligned with its rollup-focused roadmap.
Layer 2 networks saw sharper divergence.
Base led the sector by total value locked, users and transaction activity, while many newer networks lost traction once incentive programs ended.
Enterprise adoption expanded as consumer platforms and institutions integrated Layer 2 infrastructure, signaling that distribution and partnerships outweighed technical differences.
Institutional use of tokenized real-world assets accelerated. The market value of tokenized public-market assets tripled to $16.7 billion, with BlackRock’s BUIDL product serving as a reserve asset for onchain cash products.
Digital asset treasury companies raised $29 billion, and more than 100 public firms reported cryptocurrency holdings.
Onchain trading volumes reached highs as perpetual futures platforms and prediction markets expanded.
The report also noted a polarized NFT and gaming sector, where a limited number of projects retained users and revenue. In the United States, regulatory policy shifted toward defined frameworks following leadership changes at the Securities and Exchange Commission and passage of new legislation.
