Jeff Park, head of Alpha Strategies at Bitwise Asset Management, shared his personal top three predictions for the cryptocurrency industry in 2025 in a post on X on December 17, 2024. His insights come at a time when the cryptocurrency market is experiencing significant growth and after Bitwise released its top ten annual predictions for the cryptocurrency industry in the next year.
1. Bitcoin structured products surge
Park predicts that asset inflows into Bitcoin structured products will reach at least $5 billion by 2025. “The harsh truth is that most private wealth managers and institutions are still hesitant to take on directional Bitcoin investments,” he said.
He explained that products like cushioned notes and principal-protected ETFs will be key to bridging this gap, providing exposure to Bitcoin volatility tailored to meet institutional preferences. “I predict that cushioned notes, principal-protected ETFs, and similar vehicles will open the floodgates of new demand, allowing institutions to gain access to Bitcoin volatility at the price they deserve, customized to their own preferences,” Park commented.
2. Maple Finance surpasses BlackRock’s BUIDL
As of this writing, Maple Finance has a total locked value (TVL) of approximately $535 million, and Park believes that Maple Finance will surpass BlackRock’s BUIDL project. He argues: “I firmly believe that decentralized markets that enable novel financial primitives will be adopted faster than ‘security tokenization’ projects that transform traditional infrastructure.”
Park believes that decentralized lending platforms like Maple Finance that offer institutional-grade services will be the winners of the near-term category, and that the upcoming favorable regulatory changes from the Trump administration could help boost this trend. “Decentralized lending platforms like Maple Finance that offer institutional-grade, crypto-asset-backed lending will remain the most promising winners in the near-term category, thanks to potential regulatory tailwinds,” Park predicted.
#3 The emergence of new decentralized crypto stablecoins
Despite past failures like LUNA, Park foresees the rise of a new type of decentralized stablecoin backed by a decentralized strategic reserve. He asserted that “Bitcoin’s role as a reserve asset is now undeniable, from corporate balance sheets to nation states,” but stressed that the crypto community wants reserves to be “decentralized and not subject to sovereign will at all costs.”
He predicts that new stablecoins will leverage greater transparency and cryptographic proofs, aiming to restore trust and utility to decentralized finance. “Despite the scars left by LUNA, I anticipate stronger efforts, built on greater transparency and leveraging long-awaited cryptographic proofs. I have in mind a few archetypal candidates who could lead the way,” he said.
Park's predictions follow Bitwise's forecast for 2025, which predicts Bitcoin will surpass $200,000, driven by institutional investment and ETF inflows. Ethereum and Solana are also expected to hit new all-time highs, further solidifying the crypto space's growth momentum. In addition, Bitwise believes that 2025 has the potential to become the "Year of the Crypto IPO," with several crypto unicorns expected to go public in the United States.
At press time, Bitcoin is trading at $106,794.
