The crypto markets became increasingly institutional and regulated in 2025, yet the anticipated “altcoin season” that many traders hoped for did not materialize.
Bitcoin (BTC) reached new highs early in the year, but much of the market lagged. Following a sell-off in early October, Bitcoin was down roughly 7% year-to-date, while altcoins’ total market capitalization dropped over 46%, based on TradingView data.
However, a few tokens managed to excel during a year characterized by selective risk-taking and intense scrutiny. XRP (XRP) gained momentum from regulatory news, Zcash (ZEC) surged as interest in financial privacy reemerged, and Algorand (ALGO) benefited from real-world tokenization initiatives.
XRP gains as regulatory uncertainty fades
XRP emerged as one of the standout performers in the 2025 crypto landscape, surpassing most cryptocurrencies even in the absence of an altcoin season.
XRP soared over 35% in July, reaching a yearly peak of $3.60 on July 23, marking an eight-fold increase from its previous year’s low of $0.43 logged on Aug. 5, 2024, as per TradingView data.
The token was propelled by regulatory clarity, particularly news of the ending of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) long-standing lawsuit against Ripple Labs.
On Aug. 8, Ripple and the SEC resolved their lengthy dispute, as indicated by the company’s court filing, which noted they submitted a joint request to dismiss the SEC’s appeal along with Ripple’s cross-appeal, with each side covering its own costs.
“The market is clearly shifting towards assets that regulators can categorize, institutions can model, and compliance teams can approve. XRP fits that profile better than most altcoins this year,” remarked Alex Davis, Founder and CEO at blockchain ecosystem Mavryk Dynamics, in a statement to Cointelegraph.
He noted that the alleviation of a long-standing regulatory burden helped attract institutional interest.
The SEC filed a lawsuit against Ripple in December 2020, alleging the company raised $1.3 billion through unregistered XRP sales.
The launch of the Canary Capital XRP exchange-traded fund (ETF) on Nov. 13 was another encouraging sign for institutional investors seeking altcoin exposure, according to Isaac Joshua, CEO of crypto startup platform Gems Launchpad.
XRP stood out from other altcoins for three key reasons: “regulatory clarity, new institutional inflows, and a growing acknowledgment of real-world utility,” he said to Cointelegraph, adding:
“Looking ahead to next year, if ETF demand stays robust and payment volumes continue to trend upward, XRP could evolve from a speculative altcoin into an established component of global payment infrastructure.”
XRP ETFs saw net positive inflows of $756 million within their first 11 trading days.
Zcash soars as privacy interest revives
Zcash also made a mark in 2025, propelled by renewed interest in privacy-centric cryptocurrencies as regulators imposed stricter transaction oversight and identity verification.
Zcash transitioned from a lesser-known cryptocurrency to being the most searched asset on Coinbase by mid-November, surpassing both Bitcoin and XRP in investor interest.
The cryptocurrency experienced a remarkable rally, with its price soaring from a yearly low of $48 to a peak of $744 on Nov. 7, a month following the record $19 billion market crash in early October, according to TradingView data.
While Zcash achieved a new yearly high in 2025, it fell short of its all-time high of $5,941 reached nine years earlier on Oct. 29, 2016.
Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies like Zcash outperformed the broader market amid a rising demand for “financial confidentiality” in an increasingly surveilled digital economy, according to Narek Gevorgyan, the founder and CEO of crypto portfolio management platform CoinStats.
“The recent uptrend is largely fueled by structural factors—stricter KYC/AML regulations on exchanges, enhanced government scrutiny of crypto transactions, and renewed interest from institutions and developers in zero-knowledge technologies,” he noted.
Introduced in 2016, Zcash utilizes a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus model combined with zero-knowledge proof technology, allowing users to conduct either transparent or fully shielded transactions where amounts and addresses remain concealed.
In response to increasing demand, the quantity of ZEC tokens stored in shielded addresses surged to nearly 4.5 million coins from 1.7 million in 2025 as of Nov. 25, with 1 million tokens transferred within a three-week timeframe.
Other factors propelling demand included the latest Zcash halving that occurred on Nov. 23, 2024, which halved the block reward to 1.5625 ZEC from 3.125 ZEC, reducing daily new issuance to roughly 1,800 tokens from 3,600.
Related: Hard money vs. privacy? Saifedean Ammous questions crypto’s privacy push
Algorand thrives on tokenization initiatives
Algorand garnered attention early in the year due to indications of expanding real-world application.
ALGO surged around 48% in three weeks, climbing from $0.33 at the end of December 2024 to exceed a $0.49 yearly high on Jan. 17, according to TradingView data.
On Jan. 21, Algorand formed a partnership with Enel Group, one of Europe’s largest electricity providers, allowing Italian residents to buy fractional shares of Enel’s solar and wind installations through tokenized Energy Utility Tokens.
Algorand’s real-world implementations “position the chain favorably for long-term significance,” remarked Lacie Zhang, a market analyst at Bitget Wallet.
“These advancements reinforce Algorand’s technical capabilities and its emphasis on enterprise-grade, environmentally aligned applications,” she added.
“Nonetheless, its disappointing yearly performance reflects a wider structural trend rather than project-specific weaknesses,” Zhang stated, linking the overarching altcoin sector’s struggles to macroeconomic pressures, such as elevated interest rates and Bitcoin’s extended dominance drawing most crypto liquidity.
“In this climate, significant technical advancements have not translated into favorable price movements,” she remarked, asserting that Algorand and similar projects with real-world applications are likely to rebound as investors transition from “speculation to utility-driven adoption.”
Despite the token’s lackluster performance after January, Algorand continued to experience increasing blockchain activity, with staked ALGO amounts rising by 28% quarter-over-quarter, surpassing 1.95 billion ALGO tokens in the second quarter of 2025, based on a Messari research report.
In March, Algorand launched AlgoKit 3.0, an enhanced developer toolkit aimed at providing better resources for building on the network.
The network is actively working on further developer tools, including the anticipated launch of AlgoKit 4.0, set for early 2026. This new toolkit will feature composable smart contract libraries and support for Rust, Swift, and Kotlin.
A selective market looks ahead to 2026
The disparity between Bitcoin and the overall market left 2025 feeling less like previous cycle patterns and more like a discerning, fundamentals-focused market.
While some crypto enthusiasts may still hope for an altcoin season based on historic market cycles, the current market dynamics indicate a maturing crypto ecosystem where projects require fundamental utility to gain traction.
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