Deng Tong, Golden Finance
In 2025, the cryptocurrency industry will usher in a key year marked by gradually clarified regulatory frameworks, deep penetration of traditional finance, and accelerated technological iterations. Every critical juncture relies on the driving force of core figures, who may lead policy directions, guide institutions into the market, tackle technical challenges, or stir market dynamics. This article focuses on the influential figures in the cryptocurrency industry in 2025.
I. U.S. President Donald Trump
1. Returning to the White House as the First "Crypto President"
On January 20, Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., becoming the first "crypto president" in U.S. history.
On January 23, Trump issued his first executive order on cryptocurrency. The specifics include: protecting and promoting citizens' and the private sector's ability to access and use public blockchains; allowing U.S. citizens to develop and deploy software, participate in mining and validation, conduct transactions, and self-custody digital assets; promoting and protecting the sovereignty of the U.S. dollar, and fostering the development and growth of dollar-backed stablecoins; ensuring fair and open access to banking services for all law-abiding citizens and private sector entities; providing regulatory clarity and certainty; protecting Americans from the risks of CBDCs, prohibiting the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use of CBDCs within U.S. jurisdiction; rescinding Executive Order 14067 "Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets" and the Treasury's "Framework for International Engagement on Digital Assets"; establishing a Presidential Digital Asset Market Working Group; proposing a federal regulatory framework to manage the issuance and operation of digital assets (including stablecoins) in the U.S.; and assessing the feasibility of establishing and maintaining a national digital asset reserve, along with proposing standards for such reserves.
2. Raising Tariffs
On February 1, Trump signed an executive order imposing a 10% tariff on Chinese goods imported to the U.S. under the pretext of issues like fentanyl; simultaneously, a 25% tariff was imposed on goods from Mexico and Canada, with an additional 10% tax on Canadian energy products. On April 3, "Liberation Day," Trump officially signed an executive order on reciprocal tariffs; on April 8, he announced raising the "reciprocal tariff" on Chinese goods from 34% to 84%, resulting in a total tax rate of 104% when combined with previous tariffs; on April 10, he first announced a 90-day tariff suspension period, significantly reducing reciprocal tariffs on related countries to 10%, while raising tariffs on China to 125%, leading to a cumulative tariff of 145% including the fentanyl tax; on May 12, following U.S.-China trade talks in Geneva, a joint statement was released, reducing U.S. tariffs on China to 30%, with the adjustment officially completed on May 14; on August 12, after U.S.-China trade talks in Stockholm, both sides reached a consensus to suspend the implementation of a 24% reciprocal tariff for 90 days, while both retained a 10% tariff on each other's goods, with China also suspending some non-tariff countermeasures against the U.S. On November 5, in conjunction with the previous U.S.-China tariff suspension agreement, China announced it would continue to suspend the implementation of the 24% tariff on U.S. goods for one year starting November 10, retaining the 10% rate, while the U.S. maintained its corresponding tariff policy without introducing new tariff increases.
The cryptocurrency market was significantly affected by the tariff policies. At the end of February, when Trump suddenly announced plans to impose tariffs on Canada and the EU, BTC dropped about 15% in the following days; in early April, as Trump frequently escalated tariffs, the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market fell by about 25.9% from its January peak, evaporating nearly $1 trillion in market value, highlighting the cryptocurrency market's high sensitivity to macroeconomic instability.
3. Launching TRUMP and Promoting WLFI
On January 18, Trump announced the launch of his personal meme coin, TRUMP. Upon its launch, TRUMP entered a skyrocketing mode, recording a peak price of over $44 on January 22, but subsequently fell, trading at $5.09 at the time of writing, down 82.4% from its January high.
The launch of the TRUMP meme coin directly initiated a celebrity meme coin craze at the beginning of the year, with TRUMP's price trajectory reflecting that of all celebrity meme coins. First, after the meme coin's launch, it leveraged the celebrity effect to drive up prices, such as Trump launching TRUMP three days before taking office, creating a short-term frenzy; second, meme coins lack any actual value support, and TRUMP has been controversial since its inception, facing constant criticism over political bribery; finally, most meme coins suffer from internal manipulation issues, leading to price crashes when sold at high points.
On September 16, 2024, the Trump family's decentralized finance project, World Liberty Financial, was established. On September 1 of this year, several cryptocurrency exchanges listed WLFI for trading. However, it is evident that WLFI is merely a temporary trend, having peaked at $0.24 in the month of its launch, and has since fallen by 45.1%, trading at $0.1284 at the time of writing.
WLFI's product architecture is based on the governance token WLFI and the stablecoin USD1, aimed at connecting traditional finance with DeFi. Its core consists of the institutional-grade stablecoin USD1 and the community-driven governance token WLFI. The product architecture features multi-chain deployment, compliance management (including KYC and third-party audits), and community governance mechanisms, providing transparent and secure digital asset services supported by the USD1 stablecoin.
However, since WLFI's debut in September last year, it has not achieved remarkable results. WLFI co-founder Zach Witkoff recently announced plans to launch its real-world asset product in January next year, but the final outcome remains uncertain.
II. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins
In April 2025, after taking office as SEC Chairman, Atkins proposed Project Crypto, which is considered the clearest cryptocurrency strategy from U.S. regulatory agencies to date. Its main points include: clarifying that most digital assets are not securities, reducing legal uncertainty; eliminating complex regulations by clearly defining the financial and legal attributes of crypto tokens as commodities, avoiding cumbersome case-by-case reviews; supporting on-chain capital raising, making compliant tokenization markets possible; establishing a stablecoin and on-chain settlement system to promote the U.S. dollar's dominance in the cryptocurrency market; fostering inter-agency cooperation (with the CFTC, Treasury, and White House working groups); supporting crypto innovation, even endorsing integrated platforms for trading, staking, and lending to enhance financial efficiency. He believes that if the U.S. wants to maintain financial leadership, it must establish compliance and market advantages in the digital asset space.
Under his leadership, the SEC shifted to a pro-crypto policy. In 2025, the SEC ended its illegal enforcement case against Coinbase and concluded investigations into crypto industry projects such as Ondo, Aave, and Yuga Labs.
III. Ethereum Co-founder Vitalik
1. Ethereum Upgrades
On May 7, the Ethereum Pectra upgrade was triggered and completed on the mainnet around UTC 10:05. This is the most significant upgrade since the merge in 2022. The update aims to simplify the staking process, enhance wallet functionality, and improve overall efficiency. One of the key elements of this upgrade is increasing the amount of ETH that users can stake from 32 to 2048. This change is intended to help staking institutions and infrastructure providers by meeting the needs of validators who stake ETH to maintain the blockchain's operation.
On December 3, the Ethereum Fusaka upgrade was officially activated at mainnet block slot 13,164,544.
Fusaka marks an important step in Ethereum's scalability roadmap, enhancing layer one performance, expanding Blob capacity, improving Rollup cost-effectiveness, and bringing user experience upgrades. It also introduces a "Blob-only parameter" fork mechanism to safely increase Blob capacity as Rollup demand grows.
2. Focusing on Privacy
At the Ethereum Developer Conference from November 17 to 22, Vitalik released the Ethereum privacy protection encryption tool Kohaku.
For developers, the Ethereum Foundation provides an open-source framework that includes a modular software development kit (SDK) and a reference wallet. The SDK offers reusable components for private sending, more secure key management and recovery, and risk-based transaction control, allowing teams to avoid building the entire privacy protocol stack from scratch. For users, the first version is a browser extension wallet aimed at advanced users, developed based on Ambire. It supports private and public transactions, independent accounts for each decentralized application, peer-to-peer broadcasting (instead of centralized relays), and tools to hide internet protocol (IP) addresses and other metadata as much as possible.
On November 27, Vitalik again focused on the privacy sector, supporting two decentralized messaging applications, Session and SimpleX Chat, donating 128 ETH to each. Vitalik pointed out that digital privacy protection in encrypted messaging is crucial. The next two important development directions in this field are: (i) creating accounts without permission; (ii) protecting metadata privacy.
IV. Strategy Co-founder Michael Saylor
1. Aggressive BTC Purchases
As of December 30, 2024, Strategy's total BTC holdings amounted to 446,400 coins; by December 15, 2025, this total had increased to 671,268 coins. Over nearly a year, Strategy purchased 224,868 BTC, accounting for 3.197% of the total BTC supply.
2. Responding to MSCI Index Exclusion Risks
In October, MSCI announced it was seeking feedback from the investment community on whether to exclude digital asset reserve companies with over 50% of their balance sheets in crypto assets from its index. MSCI noted that some feedback indicated such companies "exhibit characteristics similar to investment funds, which currently do not meet index inclusion criteria." The consultation period will last until December 31, with a final decision to be announced on January 15 of the following year, and any resulting changes will take effect in February. The preliminary list of affected companies under consideration by MSCI includes Michael Saylor's Strategy Inc., Sharplink Gaming, and cryptocurrency mining companies Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital Holdings, among 38 others.
Michael Saylor responded to the MSCI index exclusion risk issue in a social media post, stating that Strategy, as a publicly traded operating company, is fundamentally different from funds, trusts, and holding companies. Strategy not only possesses a software business valued at $500 million but uniquely utilizes Bitcoin as productive capital in its fund management. Index classifications cannot define Strategy. The company's long-term strategy is clear, with a firm belief in Bitcoin, and its mission remains to become the world's first digital currency institution based on sound money and financial innovation.
3. Promoting Government Development of a Bitcoin-Backed Digital Banking System
In early December, Michael Saylor advocated for governments to develop a Bitcoin-backed digital banking system that offers high-yield, low-volatility accounts capable of attracting trillions of dollars in deposits. Saylor stated that countries could utilize over-collateralized Bitcoin reserves and tokenized credit tools to create regulated digital bank accounts, which would yield higher returns than traditional deposits. Bank deposits in Japan, Europe, and Switzerland yield almost nothing, while euro money market funds yield about 150 basis points, and U.S. money market rates are close to 400 basis points, explaining why investors are turning to the corporate bond market.
V. Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino
1. Intent to Acquire Juventus
On December 12, Tether announced plans for a full acquisition of the Italian football club Juventus FC. Tether submitted a cash offer to the controlling shareholder Exor for its 65.4% stake and prepared to launch a public offer for the remaining shares after the transaction's completion, aiming to increase its stake to 100%. However, the EXOR Group rejected Tether's proposal to acquire Juventus shares, reiterating its intention not to sell its stake in Juventus.
2. Creating Fiat-Backed Tokens
On December 9, Tether's stablecoin USDT was officially recognized as a "fiat-backed token" in the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM), allowing licensed institutions to provide regulated custody and trading services, marking an important step in the UAE's stablecoin regulation. The issued USDT has been officially recognized as a fiat reference token for several blockchains, including Aptos, Cosmos, and Near. This move helps Tether break into the Middle Eastern compliant digital asset market, leveraging Abu Dhabi's status as a regional financial center to further expand its stablecoin's influence and circulation in the global compliant market.
3. Mobile Payments
On December 9, the Tether-supported mobile payment application Oobit announced a partnership with Bakkt to officially launch in the U.S. This "tap-to-pay" solution integrates non-custodial wallets such as Base, Binance, MetaMusk, Phantom, and Trust Wallet, allowing users to spend cryptocurrency directly via iOS and Android devices. Merchants receive fiat settlements in real-time through the existing Visa payment network. The collaboration between Tether and Oobit began last year. In 2024, Oobit completed a $25 million Series A funding round, led by Tether, with participation from investors including Solana's co-founder, providing crucial support for Oobit's subsequent technological iterations and global market expansion.
4. Digital Asset Lending
On November 18, Tether announced a strategic investment in the digital asset lending platform Ledn. This move aims to expand access to credit, supporting individuals and businesses in obtaining loans without selling their digital assets. Ledn focuses on Bitcoin-backed loans and has issued over $2.8 billion in loans since its inception, with more than $1 billion lent in 2025, marking the company's strongest annual performance. Its annual recurring revenue (ARR) has exceeded $100 million.
5. Robotics
On December 8, reports indicated that Tether is supporting the development of a new type of industrial humanoid robot designed to undertake dangerous and physically demanding tasks in factories and logistics centers. Tether, along with AMD Ventures, the Italian government-supported AI fund, and other investors, provided €70 million in funding for Generative Bionics, a spin-off from the Polytechnic University of Turin.
6. Large Language Models
On December 2, Tether Data announced the launch of a large language model framework, QVAC Fabric, enabling users to execute, train, and personalize large language models directly on everyday hardware, including consumer-grade GPUs, laptops, and even smartphones. Tasks that previously required high-end cloud servers or dedicated NVIDIA systems can now be accomplished on users' existing devices. The model reportedly supports training on various GPUs, including AMD, Intel, NVIDIA, Apple Silicon, and mobile chips.
VI. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink
BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) continues to lead, maintaining its position at the top of the global Bitcoin spot ETF market throughout the year, peaking at 23rd among all ETFs globally. The latest total assets under management (AUM) are approximately $70.84 billion.
In 2025, IBIT successfully established its dominant position in the integration of crypto assets and traditional finance, closely tied to the volatility of the Bitcoin market and institutional investor sentiment, exhibiting characteristics of both "long-term capital attraction" and "short-term volatility."
VII. BitMine Chairman Tom Lee
In June 2025, BitMine officially appointed Tom Lee as chairman of the board and simultaneously launched an ETH reserve strategy, making him the core decision-maker in the company's transformation. He proposed positioning the company as "the MicroStrategy of Ethereum," promoting a vision of "5% alchemy," aiming to hold 5% of the global ETH circulation, with "per share ETH" as the core performance metric to reshape the company's valuation logic.
Currently, BitMine holds 3,967,210 ETH, valued at $11.73 billion.
Even amid a recent downturn in the cryptocurrency market, Tom Lee expressed his determination not to sell ETH: BitMine is close to holding 4% of the total Ethereum supply, and if we stake these ETH now, it would generate over $1 million in net income daily.
VIII. Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao
On October 22, Trump signed a pardon for CZ, which was disclosed to the public the following day.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt released a statement saying, "The President exercised his constitutional power to pardon Mr. CZ, who was prosecuted in the Biden administration's war against cryptocurrency. The Biden administration's war on cryptocurrency is over." After his release, Changpeng Zhao quickly expressed his gratitude to Trump, stating, "I will do my utmost to help the U.S. become the cryptocurrency capital and promote the development of Web3 globally."
IX. Circle Co-founder and CEO Jeremy Allaire
On June 5, Circle officially listed on the New York Stock Exchange, triggering multiple trading halts during the session. On its first day of trading, it closed with a 168.48% increase at $83.23, with a market capitalization exceeding $18.5 billion at the close, and continued to rise nearly 30% the following day. Circle's listing brought stablecoins, previously recognized only by a select group, into the mainstream spotlight, garnering interest from some old money investors, making it one of the most successful IPOs in recent years.
After Circle's listing, Jeremy Allaire stated in a post that stablecoins might be the most practical form of currency ever, but the entire industry has yet to reach a critical juncture akin to the "iPhone moment." He pointed out that once the stablecoin industry enters this phase, developers will be able to unlock programmable digital dollars like unlocking a programmable phone, unleashing tremendous potential and broad opportunities for digital dollars on the internet. He believes this era may not be far off.
X. HashKey Director and Chairman Xiao Feng
On December 1, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange disclosed that HashKey Holdings Limited had passed the hearing and is set to IPO, with JPMorgan, Cathay Securities, and Guotai Junan International as joint sponsors. On December 17, HashKey Holdings Limited officially listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Under Xiao Feng's leadership, HashKey successfully completed its IPO, marking an important milestone in the compliant development of the cryptocurrency industry in Hong Kong and reflecting the global crypto enterprises' embrace of mainstream capital markets.
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