Author: Daren Matsuoka, partner at the a16z investment team; Translation: Jinse Finance Xiaozou
The development of the cryptocurrency industry is becoming increasingly mature. At the end of last year, we proposed five indicators to closely monitor in 2025 to track the ongoing growth and development of the industry:
Monthly active wallet users, adjusted stablecoin trading volume, ETP net inflows, DEX to CEX spot trading volume ratio, total transaction fees (block space demand)
The following is the data situation and importance analysis for the first half of this year.
1. Monthly active wallet users: +23%
2025: Average monthly active mobile wallet users of 34.4 million;
2024: Average monthly active mobile wallet users of 27.9 million.
Importance explanation:
Wallet infrastructure has significantly improved—we now 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 leading wallet infrastructure provider Privy.
2. Adjusted stablecoin trading volume: +49%
2025: Adjusted average monthly stablecoin trading volume of $702 billion;
2024: Adjusted average monthly stablecoin trading volume of $472 billion.
Importance explanation:
Stablecoins have achieved product-market fit. We can now transfer dollars in under one second at a cost of less than one cent—making stablecoins an ideal choice for payments. Major financial institutions are actively seizing this opportunity.
Related news:
USDC issuer Circle lists on the New York Stock Exchange;
Stripe acquires stablecoin infrastructure provider Bridge and announces multiple new products;
Coinbase releases smart payment standards supporting stablecoin payments;
Visa and Mastercard enhance stablecoin support features;
Reports suggest that Meta is in talks to introduce stablecoins as a payment settlement method.
3. ETP net inflows (Bitcoin and Ethereum): +28%
June 2025: Total net inflows into ETPs of $45 billion (Bitcoin $42 billion, Ethereum $3.4 billion);
End of 2024: Total net inflows into ETPs of $35 billion (Bitcoin $33 billion, Ethereum $2.4 billion).
Importance explanation:
Institutional capital entering the cryptocurrency space marks the overall maturity of the industry. As regulatory policies become clearer and major distribution channels begin to take action, net inflows into ETP products are expected to continue to grow.
Related news:
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently requested that the issuer of the spot Solana exchange-traded fund (ETF) update the S-1 filing, hinting at a possible approval of the product in the near future.
4. Ratio of DEX to CEX spot trading volume: +51%
2025 average: DEX/CEX monthly trading volume share reaches 17%;
2024 average: DEX/CEX monthly trading volume share reaches 11%.
Importance explanation:
As on-chain users continue to grow, we expect the usage rate of decentralized exchanges (DEX) relative to centralized exchanges (CEX) in the cryptocurrency trading sector to continuously rise. This ongoing increase highlights the overall development of the DeFi ecosystem.
Related news:
Coinbase recently announced the launch of native DEX trading functionality in its app, allowing users to trade thousands of new assets directly.
5. Total transaction fees (block space demand): -43%
2025 average: $239 million in monthly transaction fees;
2024 average: $439 million in monthly transaction fees.
Importance explanation:
The total transaction fees in USD reflect the overall demand for on-chain block space—i.e., real economic value.
However, this metric has many subtle differences, as most projects are explicitly trying to reduce user fees. This is why it is also important to consider unit transaction costs—the cost of using a specific amount of blockchain resources. Ideally, total demand (total transaction fees) should grow while gas fees (cost per unit of resource usage) remain low.
Related news:
Recently, we have seen a lot of discussions about the importance of this metric (and related metrics like REV) on the X platform.
Another additional metric I will pay attention to is: the number of tokens with monthly net revenue exceeding $1 million. As of June 2025, there are only 22 (data source: Token Terminal).
With new regulatory environments and upcoming market structure legislation, tokens will ultimately open a pathway to economic circulation. This will encourage more projects to appreciate tokens directly through revenue, thereby building a healthier token economy.
