Crypto Didn’t Die in 2021—It Evolved. Here’s Why 2025 Proves the Naysayers Wrong

Remember when the obituaries for crypto were being written in 2021? Fast-forward to 2025, and the narrative has flipped—hard.

The Phoenix Effect: How Crypto Outlived Its Own Eulogy

Bitcoin’s 2021 'death' was greatly exaggerated. Instead of collapsing, the sector rebuilt—shedding hype, doubling down on utility, and quietly onboarding institutional giants. The result? A $2.5T market cap that laughs at 2021’s 'peak.'

Regulation: From Wild West to Wall Street 2.0

Post-2021 crackdowns didn’t kill crypto; they forced it to grow up. Clearer rules (yes, even the SEC’s) gave TradFi players the green light. BlackRock’s BTC ETF now holds more coins than MicroStrategy—ironic for an asset class once called 'rat poison.'

The Cynic’s Corner

Sure, some 2021 tokens belong in the graveyard. But the real joke? Banks now charge 2% fees to custody the 'worthless' Bitcoin they mocked. Evolution wins—again.

In brief

• Crypto projects have been coming and going for years, without success. Bitcoin is about to take the whole pot.
• Bitcoin dominates thanks to BlackRock ETFs and institutional interest that shuns the rest of the cryptos like Ethereum and XRP.

The end of an era

These past years have seen the rise and fall of countless “crypto projects.” Here’s a roundup of the various trends that have followed one another since 2017 and the famous wave of ICOs:

2017: ICOs (Tezos, EOS, Bancor, etc)
2018: Blockchain everything (notaries panicked)
2019: Libra/Facebook
2020: DeFi / Yield Farming (Uniswap, Curve Finance, etc)
2021: NFT
2022: DAOs (Aave, ApeCoin, Defi Coin)
2023: Ordinals (NFTs on Bitcoin, Quantum Cat, Taproot Wizards, etc)
2024: Memecoins (Fartcoin, popcat, etc)

The first scams were altcoins boasting transaction speeds superior to Bitcoin. For example, Bitcoin Cash (BCH). The consensus eventually ruled in favor of the Lightning Network, which has the supreme advantage of not sacrificing decentralization.

The only cryptos standing out are stablecoins, which allow traders to close their positions without triggering a taxable event.

They are also an escape for citizens of countries facing hyperinflation, for whom Bitcoin is too volatile. Another advantage: international payments that are much cheaper than bank transfers.

For the rest, let’s be frank, they are more or less ridiculous scams. NFTs, Yield Farming, Ordinals. So many slot machines enriching a few VCs (Venture Capitalists) and their influencers.

See below the CEO of bitcoin Magazine (in discussion with the founder of Taproot Wizard) bragging about having turned 30 million dollars into half a billion dollars in just one year:

The modus operandi is always the same. Insiders sell their pre-mined cryptos as the hype builds. Today, 99.9% of cryptos bite the dust. Even ethereum has dropped 70% against Bitcoin. The same for Solana.

“Crypto died in 2021”

No one is fooled anymore. This is essentially the message of user @ChillOutSOL who believes we have killed the golden goose:

“Crypto died in 2021. Since then, we’ve been trading corpses. There are no more sheep to shear. Everyone has realized that crypto is a scam. The belief system that kept the business going has completely collapsed.

At least in 2017, people really believed in those ICOs. There was genuine excitement, a real conviction behind each project. Today, the reaction is: ‘Oh, a new crypto? Wow, another VC scam.’ The tide has turned, it’s over.”

The heart is no longer in it for this trader who deserves credit for being honest. “We all know BTC maxis are right, but we bet that we could outperform Bitcoin by speculating on cryptos. We were wrong.”

Bitcoin is the only exception. We now have a permanent bear market on alts/BTC and this trend will not reverse anytime soon. Even Vitalik knows Ethereum is done for.

Indeed, the ETH/USD pair has dropped 50% since its all-time high in 2021 at 4,891 dollars. Cardano has lost 90% against Bitcoin. And let’s not even talk about meme coins and other NFTs…

It is however astonishing to see the worst crypto (XRP) still putting up resistance. Recall that XRP is 100% pre-mined (compared to 70% for ETH) and is not decentralized. Many say it is going to end very badly…

And in the end, Bitcoin wins

On the other hand, it is not surprising that Bitcoin leads the race. This has been the case since the launch of ETFs by BlackRock. The nature of investors has changed. They will not set foot in the crypto casino.

This is very clear at the ETF volume level. Those backed by Bitcoin have attracted nearly 50 billion dollars, ten times more than Ethereum. By the way, note that BlackRock will not launch any other crypto ETFs besides Bitcoin and ETH ETFs.

For Samara Cohen, no other crypto, including Solana, meets BlackRock’s strict criteria. “Institutional investors are largely focused on Bitcoin. Ethereum comes far behind,” she said.

Just look at the stock market flop of the first company to add Ethereum to its treasury to be convinced:

We are very far from the successes of companies that bet on Bitcoin. Several hundred companies hold more than 1.1 million bitcoins and “this is just the beginning,” says Michael Saylor.

FOMO is setting in now that Bitcoin’s triumph is secured. Billionaire Philippe Laffont declared yesterday on CNBC that he wakes up at 3 a.m. feeling “stupid” for missing Bitcoin’s rise… Except it is not really too late. His fund Coatue Management expects Bitcoin to reach 260,000 dollars within 5 years.

So, in sum, this is why we observe a glaring decoupling between Bitcoin and the rest of the altcoins. Bitcoin’s dominance is now close to 80% (excluding stablecoins) while the United States have not even started buying yet.

Don’t miss our article: BTC/USD: The Bull Run Regains Its Rights.

Maximize your Cointribune experience with our "Read to Earn" program! For every article you read, earn points and access exclusive rewards. Sign up now and start earning benefits.