Source: a16zcrypto
Compiled by: Baihua Blockchain
The cryptocurrency industry is maturing. At the end of last year, we identified 5 metrics to watch closely in 2025 to track the ongoing growth and development of the industry:
Monthly Active Mobile Wallet Users
Adjusted Stablecoin Trading Volume
Net Inflows of Exchange-Traded Products (ETP)
Spot Trading Volume Ratio of Decentralized Exchanges (DEX) to Centralized Exchanges (CEX)
Total Transaction Fees (Demand for Block Space)
Here are the mid-year data performances and their significance.
1 Monthly Active Mobile Wallet Users: +23%
2025 Average: 34.4 million monthly active mobile wallet users
2024 Average: 27.9 million monthly active mobile wallet users
Why It Matters:
Wallet infrastructure has significantly improved — we have low transaction fees, new account abstraction protocols (EIP-7702), embedded wallet products (Privy, Turnkey, Dynamic), etc. Now is the best time to build the next generation of mobile wallets.
Related News:
This month, Stripe acquired the leading wallet infrastructure provider Privy.
Source: a16z crypto (as of May 2025)
2/ Adjusted Stablecoin Trading Volume: +49%
2025 Average: $702 billion in adjusted stablecoin trading volume monthly
2024 Average: $472 billion in adjusted stablecoin trading volume monthly
Why It Matters:
Stablecoins have found product-market fit. We can now send dollars in less than 1 second at a cost of less than 1 cent — making stablecoins an ideal product for payments. Major financial institutions are seizing this opportunity.
Related News:
USDC issuer Circle went public on the New York Stock Exchange.
Stripe acquired the stablecoin infrastructure provider Bridge and announced the launch of several new products.
Coinbase released a proxy payment standard supporting stablecoin payments.
Visa and Mastercard enhanced their support for stablecoins.
Meta is reportedly in discussions to introduce stablecoins as a payment method.
Source: Visa (as of June 2025)
3 ETP Net Inflows (Bitcoin and Ethereum): +28%
June 2025: Total net inflows of ETPs $45 billion (Bitcoin $42 billion, Ethereum $3.4 billion)
End of 2024: Total net inflows of ETPs $35 billion (Bitcoin $33 billion, Ethereum $2.4 billion)
Why It Matters:
Institutional capital entering the cryptocurrency market is a sign of overall industry maturation. With the regulatory environment becoming clearer, key distributors are beginning to be active, and net inflows of ETPs are expected to continue to grow.
Related News:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently requested the issuers of spot Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to update their S-1 filings, suggesting a potential approval soon.
Source: Dune@hildobby (as of June 2025)
4 DEX to CEX Spot Trading Volume Ratio: +51%
2025 Average: DEX accounts for 17% of CEX trading volume monthly
2024 Average: DEX accounts for 11% of CEX trading volume monthly
Why It Matters:
As more people engage in on-chain activities, we expect the usage of decentralized exchanges (DEX) relative to centralized exchanges (CEX) to increase. This rise in ratio highlights the overall development of the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
Related News:
Coinbase has just announced direct native DEX trading through the Coinbase app, making thousands of new assets available for trading.
Source: The Block (as of June 2025)
5 Total Transaction Fees (Demand for Block Space): -43%
2025 Average: $239 million in transaction fees monthly
2024 Average: $439 million in transaction fees monthly
Why It Matters:
The total transaction fees in USD reflect the total demand for a given on-chain block space — i.e., real economic value.
However, this metric has many nuances, as most projects are explicitly trying to lower user fees. Therefore, it is also important to consider unit transaction costs — the cost of given blockchain resources. Ideally, overall demand (total transaction fees) grows while gas fees (the cost per unit of resource use) remain low.
Related News:
Recently, we have seen a lot of discussions on X about the importance of this metric (and related metrics like REV).
Source: Dune (as of June 2025)
Additional Metrics:
I will also be focusing on an additional metric: the number of tokens with a monthly net income exceeding $1 million. As of June 2025, there are only 22 (Source: Token Terminal).
With the new regulatory environment and upcoming market structure legislation, the path for tokens to complete their economic loop is finally opening up. This will lead to more projects directly enhancing token value through revenue, creating a healthier token economy.
