From Wall Street to the White House, from Silicon Valley to Shenzhen, a new power network is forming.

Written by: Ada, Deep Tide TechFlow

If one word must summarize the cryptocurrency industry in 2025, it is not "bull market" or "compliance," but "institutionalization."

This year, cryptocurrency no longer stands in opposition to the global financial system but is formally absorbed into its institutions, capital, and power structures.

Traditional financial giants such as Wall Street capital, sovereign funds, and pension funds began to systematically enter the crypto market. Public companies led by Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) incorporated Bitcoin into their corporate balance sheets, and with the influx of large-scale funds from ETFs, Bitcoin broke its historical high in 2025, reaching $126,000.

Meanwhile, the market capitalization of USDT exceeded $183.4 billion, with Tether becoming an important component of the global "dollar alternative payment system." Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal fully expanded their on-chain payment capabilities, USDC was widely used for e-commerce settlements, overseas remittances, and cross-border payments for small and medium-sized enterprises, marking the first real penetration of stablecoins into the structure of the real economy.

The passage of the GENIUS Act, the changes in the power center of U.S. regulatory agencies, and the systematic influx of ETF funds… together constitute a deep structural shift:

The crypto world has transitioned from a grassroots phase to an institutional era.

Behind these significant advancements is the support of industry leaders. It is their guidance that has brought cryptocurrency into a new era of "institutionalization, globalization, and institutionalization."

As we approach the end of the year, we have reviewed and summarized 2025, identifying the top ten figures and reflecting on their impact on the crypto industry.

1. Donald Trump: The Crypto Monetization of Political Capital

On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States, marking a fundamental shift in Washington's attitude towards cryptocurrency.

During his campaign, Trump promised to make the U.S. the "crypto capital," a statement that garnered him widespread support from crypto businesses and capital. However, what is more noteworthy is how he directly transformed political influence into economic gains.

Three days before his official inauguration, Trump launched a token named "Trump" on the Solana chain. With the implicit endorsement of his presidential status and the market positioning as an "official meme coin," the token quickly attracted a large amount of speculative capital, with its price soaring to around $75. According to a Financial Times analysis in March 2025, the project achieved a net profit of $350 million through token sales and transaction fees, and Trump's personal assets once surged to $20 billion.

The policy framework of the Trump administration also reflected institutional thinking. On January 23, he signed Executive Order 14178, establishing the "Presidential Digital Asset Market Working Group," which explicitly prohibited the federal government from establishing, issuing, or promoting central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and committed to advancing the development of "dollar-pegged stablecoins."

The executive order on March 6 was even more strategic: it established the "U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Inventory," designating Bitcoin seized by the Department of Justice and the Treasury as a national "strategic reserve asset." This move effectively established Bitcoin's formal status within the national financial system.

The signing of the GENIUS Act on July 18 became a milestone for the institutionalization of cryptocurrency. This federal law provided the first systematic regulatory response to stablecoins, offering a legal framework for the integration of crypto assets with the mainstream financial system.

However, Trump's tariff policies also became an important variable for market volatility. After the release of the "Liberation Day Tariff" in April, the market fell into panic, and Bitcoin briefly dropped to around $85,000. The market humorously dubbed this policy-driven price fluctuation as "TACO trading" (Trump-driven Cryptocurrency Operations).

In addition to his personal token project, the Trump family also gained substantial profits through the family-founded World Liberty Financial. The company operates the governance token WLFI and the dollar stablecoin USD1. According to the Financial Times, the company generated $550 million in revenue from WLFI token sales and $2.71 billion from USD1 stablecoin operations, with the Trump family holding a 38% stake in the company.

The Trump phenomenon can be summarized as: Political authority is becoming an important anchor for crypto value, and traditional decentralized ideals are converging towards an orderly reality.

2. Michael Saylor: Pioneer of the Crypto Reserve Revolution

If Trump represents the monetization of political capital, then Strategy founder Michael Saylor symbolizes the paradigm shift in corporate financial management.

In August 2020, Strategy announced the purchase of approximately 21,454 Bitcoins for about $250 million in cash, clearly stating a strategy of "using Bitcoin as a treasury reserve instead of cash." The significance of this move goes far beyond a simple investment decision; it redefined the concept of value storage for the corporate world.

Saylor systematically constructed a theoretical framework for Bitcoin corporate reserves. He articulated in various settings that companies are not speculating on new technologies but are making thoughtful long-term asset allocation decisions to protect shareholder value. This narrative effectively repositioned Bitcoin from a "speculative tool" to "financial infrastructure."

In 2025, the purchase of Bitcoin by public companies saw explosive growth, with Strategy continuing to expand its Bitcoin holdings. As of now, the company holds a total of 671,268 Bitcoins, with the most recent purchase occurring on December 15, spending approximately $980 million to acquire 10,645 Bitcoins.

Due to the skyrocketing price of Bitcoin, Strategy's stock price reached a high of about $414 during the year. More importantly, a number of public companies began to emulate this model, further driving up the price of Bitcoin. According to BitcoinTreasuries data, there are currently 192 public companies holding approximately 1,087,857 Bitcoins, accounting for about 5.45% of the total circulating Bitcoin supply.

ARK Invest's research report first referred to Strategy as a "DAT model pioneer" (Digital Asset Treasury) and defined the companies that followed suit as DAT companies. The introduction of this concept marks Bitcoin's transition from "alternative investment" to "a foundational asset of the corporate financial system."

However, the MicroStrategy model also faces market scrutiny. With the recent bear market, Strategy's stock price fell to around $200, and the market net asset value multiple (mNAV) approached the critical point of falling below 1. When mNAV drops below 1, Strategy's "BTC appreciation cycle" model will face severe challenges.

Despite this, Michael Saylor remains committed to a long-term strategy. On November 17, he stated in a media interview that unless Bitcoin falls below $10,000, Strategy will not sell its holdings.

3. Tom Lee: The Bridge Between Wall Street and the Crypto World

In the historic shift of traditional finance towards crypto assets, Fundstrat Global Advisors founder Tom Lee played a key bridging role. As one of Wall Street's earliest and most influential Bitcoin bull analysts, his views shaped institutional investors' perceptions of crypto assets.

In 2017, when mainstream finance was extremely hostile towards Bitcoin, Lee first suggested in a CNBC interview that Bitcoin could break $25,000, making him "Wall Street's most famous crypto bull." More importantly, his introduction of the Bitcoin Misery Index (BMI) and cost and network effect models in 2018 provided a serious valuation framework for Bitcoin, which is still widely referenced in the industry today.

In 2020, as Strategy, Tesla, and other companies began to allocate Bitcoin, Lee repeatedly stated, "Companies will treat Bitcoin as treasury assets; this is an irreversible trend." His prediction for the 2021 bull market was ultimately validated.

In 2025, Lee expanded his focus to the Ethereum ecosystem. In media interviews, he pointed out that Ethereum is entering an early stage of a "super cycle" similar to Bitcoin after 2017. With his active promotion, market sentiment remained high, and Ethereum broke its historical high in August, approaching $5,000.

Lee is not only a theorist but also a practitioner. As the chairman of the board of the Ethereum treasury company BitMine, he continued to increase Ethereum holdings. As of December 21, 2025, the company disclosed it held 4,066,062 Ethereum, accounting for about 3.37% of the total Ethereum supply.

Despite Ethereum recently falling below $3,000 and BitMine's stock price being only $32, Lee still maintains his year-end target price of $10,000.

Lee's influence lies in his successful introduction of Wall Street's analytical framework and investment logic into the crypto world while conveying the innovative value of crypto assets to traditional financial institutions, making him an indispensable catalyst in the integration of the two worlds.

4. Changpeng Zhao: The Relentless Will of Power

For CZ (Changpeng Zhao), 2025 was a pivotal year for rebirth from legal shadows and regaining control over industry discourse.

Trump's presidential pardon not only restored CZ's freedom of power but also showcased his top-notch political lobbying skills. However, what is truly noteworthy is how Zhao established his dominance in the crypto world again within just a few months.

Someone who once stood at the pinnacle of power in the crypto industry cannot completely relinquish power. Zhao's return is filled with the deep foresight of an emperor and an unwillingness to fade into obscurity. The Alpha 2.0 platform launched by Binance in March 2025, ostensibly a "launcher for discovering early Web3 projects," is in essence a meticulously planned commercial revolution. It not only achieved a leapfrog over OKX Wallet, incorporating on-chain asset issuance into the Binance ecosystem but also reshuffled the entire industry landscape.

Activating the BSC chain, threatening Solana's position, and delivering a dimensional blow to the listing of second- and third-tier exchanges… indeed, there is something to it.

Even more impressive is his precise control over market sentiment. When the "Binance Life" meme coin surpassed a market cap of $500 million within four days and skyrocketed 6,000 times in 96 hours, Zhao's seemingly casual "#BNB meme szn" tag on the X platform instantly ignited a meme coin frenzy across the entire BNB chain.

In 2025, CZ began to interact more frequently with various KOLs, and his tweets also spawned numerous MEME coins. Although he later claimed it was "pure coincidence," one tweet led to the redistribution of hundreds of millions of dollars in wealth, symbolizing power.

Every public action by Changpeng Zhao carries the imprint of a will to power. His investment of 2 million tokens in the Aster project in November, on the surface, reflects optimism about the decentralized perpetual contract track, but in reality, it also signals to the market: even under regulatory pressure, he still possesses the ability to redefine the direction of the industry. He no longer needs to directly control the market through Binance; instead, he maintains his influence through more subtle yet effective means such as investment layouts, social media influence, and ecosystem building.

This shift from direct domination to indirect manipulation has made his power even more unshakeable. Zhao has demonstrated a truth through his actions: True power does not rely on specific positions or titles but on the ability to manipulate rule-making and market expectations.

5. Vitalik Buterin: Maintaining Balance Between Decentralized Ideals and Institutional Realities

On July 30, 2025, Ethereum celebrated its tenth anniversary, and founder Vitalik Buterin continued to seek a delicate balance between decentralized ideals and institutional trends.

Ethereum experienced dramatic price fluctuations in 2025. In April, its price briefly fell to around $1,793, with the market extremely bearish. However, with the listing of Circle and the rise of stablecoins and RWA concepts, Ethereum regained attention as a core infrastructure.

On June 2, Consensys founder Joseph Lubin launched the "ETH Reserve" strategy through the U.S. company SharpLink Gaming (SBET), followed by companies like BitMine, Bit Digital, and GameSquare, driving Ethereum's price to continue rising. The monthly increase in July reached 40%, and in August, it broke its historical high, reaching $4,946.05.

On this symbolic day, July 30, Vitalik published "Ethereum 2035: Vitalik's Vision for the Next Decade." In this "ten-year vision" article, he outlined the development direction for Ethereum over the next decade, including scalability, privacy protection, governance transformation, and the importance of maintaining Ethereum's experimental culture. His roadmap depicted a vision of Ethereum transitioning from supporting crypto applications to becoming a global critical infrastructure.

On October 20, Vitalik announced the launch of the GKR protocol (Goldreich–Kahan–Rothblum), a Proof-of-Stake/ZK computing framework designed for high-speed proof generation, applicable to large-scale computing in blockchain and AI. This is seen as Ethereum's next-generation "super proof system" and serves as the underlying technical support for Ethereum's lightweight strategy.

However, Vitalik maintains a cautious attitude towards institutional trends. While the holdings of Ethereum treasury companies and institutions have driven price increases, he believes that continued institutional accumulation poses two major threats: first, it may drive away genuine users and core developers who care about decentralization, leading to community loss; second, institutional pressure may lead to inappropriate technical decisions, deviating from Ethereum's technical roadmap.

At this year's Devconnect conference, Vitalik issued an important warning that quantum computing could potentially break elliptic curve cryptography before the 2028 U.S. presidential election, urging Ethereum to upgrade to quantum-resistant algorithms within four years.

For emerging applications like prediction markets, Vitalik suggested using distributed oracles to avoid malicious manipulation.

Vitalik's thoughts represent a deep dialogue between crypto-native thinking and institutional realities. He must ensure that Ethereum can bear the responsibility of global financial infrastructure while maintaining its decentralized and experimental essence.

6. Kim Jong-un: Taxing the Entire Crypto Industry

Beneath the glamorous surface of the cryptocurrency institutionalization process in 2025, a hidden force from the Korean Peninsula is reshaping the risk landscape of global digital assets.

Multiple hacker groups under the North Korean People's Army Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), including the Lazarus Group, APT38, and Kimsuky, have shifted from traditional political espionage to economically motivated systematic attacks.

In 2025, North Korean hackers demonstrated shocking technical capabilities.

In February, a North Korean hacker group attacked the cryptocurrency exchange Bybit, stealing approximately $1.5 billion in cryptocurrency. In November, South Korea's largest exchange, Upbit, was infiltrated, resulting in a theft of $30 million.

Additionally, North Korean agents began to apply for positions at crypto companies under false identities on a large scale. Investigations revealed that about 30% to 40% of job applications received by some cryptocurrency companies were suspected to be submitted by infiltrating North Korean agents.

According to tracking reports from Chainalysis and TRM Labs at the end of 2025, North Korean hackers cumulatively stole approximately $2.02 billion in crypto assets in 2025.

According to assessments by a United Nations expert group, about 60% of these seized digital assets were used to evade international sanctions and fund nuclear weapons programs; 30% maintained regime stability; and 10% was invested in upgrading cyber attack infrastructure.

For a long time, the international community has attempted to cut off North Korea's foreign exchange sources through financial sanctions, but the emergence of cryptocurrency has changed the underlying rules of this game.

In a sense, this represents an extreme form of "state-level crypto finance," which does not rely on taxes and market financing but directly extracts value from the global open financial system.

He reminded the entire industry of a harsh reality:

Once cryptocurrency becomes global infrastructure, it inevitably becomes an extension of national competition.

7. Elon Musk: A Symbol of Centralization of Power

In the process of cryptocurrency institutionalization, Musk's influence reflects an important trend: the immense impact of personal authority on the market.

On August 14, 2025, media reports indicated that the BTC held by Musk's SpaceX had surpassed $1 billion in value. In contrast, Tesla sold 75% of its Bitcoin holdings at an unfavorable time, missing out on substantial potential gains.

Musk's influence in the crypto space is not limited to Bitcoin. As a long-time supporter of Dogecoin, although he did not heavily promote Dogecoin in 2025, his social media activity still triggered significant market reactions. Simply reposting tweets related to the "green octopus" concept caused a violent surge in Meme coins on the Solana chain.

In the first half of 2025, Musk ventured into politics, leading the Department of Government Efficiency. Although he had intense conflicts with Trump over the "Great Beautiful Act" and even announced the establishment of the American Party, the two sides eventually reconciled, and Musk refocused on his business ventures.

The most notable event in the second half of the year was that Tesla shareholders approved Musk's compensation plan totaling up to $1 trillion with over 75% of the votes. If this agreement is fully realized, Musk will become the world's first "trillionaire."

The deeper significance of this event lies in the fact that it completely binds Tesla's valuation, strategy, brand, and technological pace to one person's will. In the cryptocurrency world, many protocols similarly maintain a "core founder + token narrative" focus.

The world is entering an "era of strongmen," where personal authority is becoming a key variable in value creation and market volatility. This creates an interesting tension with the original decentralized ideals of cryptocurrency.

8. Justin Sun: Learning the Rules and Utilizing Them

In March 2025, Justin Sun graced the cover of Forbes' English edition, hailed as the "crypto billionaire who helped the Trump family achieve $400 million in profits."

This year, his strategic moves were equally noteworthy: in April, he provided $456 million in funding support to TUSD to avoid de-pegging, and in the same month, Canary submitted an application for a staking version of the TRX ETF; in June, he completed a reverse merger listing for TRON through an investment bank associated with the Trump family; in July, he spent $28 million to become the youngest Chinese commercial astronaut…

However, the most striking change in 2025 was the profound shift in public perception surrounding Justin Sun. On social platforms like Zhihu and Xiaohongshu, his past courses and statements were re-examined, such as his 2016 call to buy Tesla and Bitcoin, and his advocacy for not marrying or buying a house before the age of 30 to focus on asset accumulation.

These views, once questioned as "novelty-seeking," gained a new interpretation in the current market environment. Some commented on Zhihu, "Justin Sun embodies a way of thinking from oceanic civilization, embracing the unknown, not seeking the protection of islands and walls, but only looking for the ability to balance in storms, re-evaluating all values, not aligning with any external order, goodness, or evil; he is truly a neutral in chaos, a superman loyal only to his own will to power."

This reversal of public opinion reflects, to some extent, the struggles of young people in the current era, where following traditional social rules and proceeding step by step does not necessarily yield satisfactory results, leaving young people shrouded in an invisible sense of disillusionment.

Justin Sun remains the clever person who understands the rules and knows how to utilize them, commonly referred to as "bugging," precisely hitting the rhythm of the times each time.

9. Brian Armstrong: The Advocate for Compliance Infrastructure

Coinbase founder and CEO Brian Armstrong's performance in 2025 perfectly illustrates how crypto enterprises can reposition themselves in the process of institutionalization.

At the beginning of 2025, Armstrong clearly supported the establishment of a U.S. national "Bitcoin Strategic Reserve" through the official Coinbase blog. On January 21, he stated at the Davos Forum that if U.S. leadership embraces cryptocurrency, it will significantly attract investment into the industry. On January 25, he boldly predicted that Bitcoin could surpass gold's $18 trillion market value by 2030.

On March 20, Coinbase released a validator report showing that the company operates approximately 120,000 validator nodes, staking 3.84 million ETH, accounting for about 11.42% of the total staked Ethereum, making it the largest single node operator on the Ethereum network. This position made Coinbase a key infrastructure provider for the Ethereum network.

On May 8, Coinbase announced plans to acquire the Dubai-based crypto derivatives exchange Deribit for $2.9 billion, which includes $700 million in cash and 11 million shares of Coinbase Class A stock, aiming to create "the most comprehensive crypto derivatives platform in the world."

The data breach incident that occurred in the same month showcased Armstrong's crisis management capabilities. Faced with the threat of hackers collecting personal data from about 70,000 users and demanding a $20 million Bitcoin ransom, Armstrong publicly refused to pay the ransom. Instead, he allocated $20 million to establish a "bounty fund" for capturing the perpetrators and promised compensation to the affected users. This decision was expected to cost between $180 million and $400 million but helped maintain the company's reputation and principles.

Mid-year, Coinbase hosted the State of Crypto Summit 2025 industry conference, where Armstrong announced a series of strategic products aimed at the enterprise market, including Coinbase Business, Coinbase Payments, and DEX Trading on Coinbase. He particularly emphasized the ability of stablecoins (especially USDC) to address "real pain points" in enterprise payments, such as reducing settlement costs, speeding up cross-border payments, and expanding financial accessibility.

In November, Coinbase announced its relocation from Delaware to Texas. Armstrong publicly praised Texas for "supporting economic freedom and being crypto-friendly." This move not only involved tax and corporate law considerations but also served as a clear signal of the company's alliance with "pro-crypto political forces."

Armstrong's strategy reflects the key characteristics of successful crypto enterprises: operating compliantly within regulatory frameworks while promoting the improvement of industry infrastructure and maintaining a keen sense of innovation.

10. Peter Thiel: Building a Crypto Financial Empire

PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel showcased his investment strategy in 2025, demonstrating how top Silicon Valley investors can build systemic advantages in the decentralized crypto world.

In July 2025, an SEC filing caused a stir in the crypto space: Peter Thiel's company quietly acquired a 9.1% stake in BitMine Immersion Technologies, becoming the largest investor in this Ethereum treasury company.

A month later, Bullish, in which Peter Thiel invested in 2021, successfully went public on the New York Stock Exchange. Bullish (BLSH) debuted at an issuance price of $37, opening at around $90, peaking with a 170% increase during trading, and closing with an approximately 84% gain, pushing its market capitalization over $13 billion.

In addition to asset holdings, Peter Thiel also supported the creation of Erebor Bank, which specifically serves crypto companies and plans to hold stablecoins, while controlling industry discourse through CoinDesk.

In his book "Zero to One," Peter Thiel repeatedly emphasizes that competition is a game for losers, while monopolies can yield excess profits. The answer to establishing a monopoly in a decentralized world is: control the underlying infrastructure. When all transactions require stablecoins, controlling stablecoin protocols is equivalent to obtaining "minting rights."

Looking at Thiel's Founders Fund investment portfolio, his strategic intentions are clear. The fund rarely invests in decentralized applications (DApps), only lightly touches on GameFi, and has minimal involvement in NFTs. Their real interests lie in Layer 2 scaling solutions (Caldera), compliance infrastructure (Paxos), derivatives protocols (Avantis), and stablecoin networks (Ubyx).

In November, the DeFi perpetual DEX Lighter raised $68 million in a new funding round, led by Founders Fund. This round of financing brought Lighter's valuation to $1.5 billion, making it a unicorn. Peter Thiel is building a complete crypto financial empire through diversified investments.

Recently, Peter Thiel expressed a cautious view on Bitcoin's prospects in a media interview. He believes that after being "incorporated" by institutions and governments like BlackRock, Bitcoin's upside potential has been significantly compressed, although volatility will remain high. He described the future path as "a bumpy and volatile road," with opportunities still present, but no longer in the era of 10x or 100x returns.

Peter Thiel's strategy reflects the long-term thinking of top investors: establishing infrastructure advantages during the chaotic period of an emerging industry to ultimately achieve influence over the entire ecosystem.

Conclusion

Looking back at the end of 2025, there is a sense of disillusionment.

This year, Wall Street giants incorporated Bitcoin into their asset portfolios, the U.S. government established a strategic Bitcoin reserve, and stablecoins became an important infrastructure for international payments… cryptocurrency completed a stunning transformation from a "countercultural tool" to a "core component of the system."

More importantly, 2025 showcased the complex flow of power between the old and new worlds. Traditional financial elites like Tom Lee paved the way for institutional capital to enter the crypto market; political leaders like Trump directly participated and profited; native crypto builders like CZ and Vitalik adapted to institutional requirements while maintaining innovative vitality.

This process of institutionalization also brought about profound reflections. When decentralized technology is adopted on a large scale by centralized institutions, when personal authorities (like Musk and CZ) can significantly influence the "decentralized" market, are we heading towards a more centralized future?

The impact of cryptocurrency has transcended the realms of technology and finance, becoming an important component of geopolitical and cultural soft power. From Wall Street to the White House, from Silicon Valley to Shenzhen, new power networks are forming.

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