Crypto market review May 2025

Market Analysis

May 2025 marked a strong comeback for the crypto market, following April’s correction phase. Bitcoin began a spectacular rebound in the first days of the month, once again surpassing the $100,000 mark to reach a new ATH of $112,000 on May 22, before posting a historic monthly close at $104,500, up +11% on the month.

This rebound is mainly explained by an easing of trade tensions, as Donald Trump suspended his tariff increases to encourage dialogue with international partners. This signal of détente was immediately interpreted as a pause in the liquidity tightening cycle, offering clear support for long-duration assets like Bitcoin.

On the macroeconomic side, several signals also reinforced the positioning in favor of anti-monetary-dilution assets:

• Moody’s downgraded the U.S. debt rating, signaling a concerning fiscal trajectory.
• The GENIUS bill on stablecoins was passed, paving the way for their massive adoption by major banks.
• The U.S. fiscal deficit is worsening, with Treasury bond issuances becoming increasingly difficult to place (partial failure of the 20-year bond auction).
• Yields on Japanese JGBs soared, illustrating growing distrust in sovereign debt.

In this context, Bitcoin is increasingly assuming the role of a hedge against inflation and debt, and is now the fifth largest asset in the world, ahead of Amazon.

Another highlight of the month was the spectacular rebound of Ether (ETH), which finally broke its bearish trend against Bitcoin. ETH posted a +40% performance in dollar terms in May (from $1,750 to $2,500) and +27% against BTC.

Bitcoin dominance saw a slight inflection (-0.15%), a first in over six months. It remains particularly high and shows that BTC leaves very little room for altcoins, apart from isolated performances.

Among the top performers of May, we notably find Believe’s LAUNCHCOIN, representative of the new ICM narrative we introduced during the app’s launch. We also see Kaito (KAITO) and Maple Finance (SYRUP), both of which we’ve covered extensively on OAK Research in recent weeks.

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Spot ETFs in the United States

Bitcoin Spot ETFs

May was aligned with the overall market for Bitcoin spot ETFs. After February and March saw net outflows (respectively -$2.45 billion and -$801 million), April already laid the groundwork for a reversal (+$2.97 billion). May confirmed this trend with record net inflows of +$6.21 billion, an all-time high since their launch.

This momentum is almost entirely driven by IBIT (BlackRock), which alone attracted $6.22 billion during the month. It further consolidates its absolute leadership in the Bitcoin ETF market. Other ETFs saw much more modest inflows: FBTC (+$310M), ARKB (+$224.5M), BITB (+$132.6M), while smaller ETFs such as HODL, BRRR, or BTCW attracted only a few million. Conversely, GBTC continues to experience outflows (-$343.6M), illustrating its gradual decline in institutional portfolios.

Three exceptional days marked this record month: May 22 (+$934.8M), May 2 (+$674.9M), and May 19 (+$667.4M). These peaks, mostly concentrated on IBIT, rank among the largest ever recorded for Bitcoin spot ETFs.

Ethereum Spot ETFs

Ethereum spot ETFs also posted a positive performance in May, though much more modest than Bitcoin’s. With +$278.4 million in net flows, the month nonetheless marks a clear rebound compared to April (+$66.1M) and especially March, which saw outflows of -$389M.

The issuer hierarchy remains dominated by BlackRock (+$218.3M), confirming its leadership on ETH as well. The second-largest entity, Grayscale, also posted positive flows (+$72.5M), while Fidelity recorded net outflows (-$13.1M), the only player in the red this month. Other ETFs (Bitwise, Franklin, VanEck, etc.) showed marginal performances, reflecting a market still centered around a single flagship product.

The days of May 22 (+$110.5M), May 20 (+$64.8M), and May 14 (+$63.5M) concentrated the majority of net ETH inflows, with a clear predominance of flows toward BlackRock. These peaks demonstrate a still highly polarized dynamic, likely driven by the same macro signals affecting BTC.

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On-Chain Analysis

The on-chain ecosystem saw a strong resurgence in May 2025: Total Value Locked (TVL) jumped by 13%, rising from $98.7 billion to over $112 billion. This is notably due to the growth of the main assets used in these ecosystems: Ether, Solana, BNB, and TRX.

The lending sector remains dominant with a combined TVL of $53 billion (+17.2% in May), followed by Liquid Staking with $49 billion (+30.9%), bridges with $44 billion (+8%), and finally DEXs with $20 billion (+9%).

Flows Between Blockchains

Observing capital flows between blockchains is an interesting indicator for detecting trends. In May, Ethereum showed by far the highest net positive flow (+$1.08 billion), followed by Hyperliquid (+$159 million), Injective (+$131 million), and Polygon (+$118 million).

Note that with this excellent month of May, Ethereum is now the ecosystem with the highest net positive flows since the start of 2025, with over $1.5 billion.

On the other side, Berachain continues to see massive capital outflows from its ecosystem and recorded a major TVL drop in May 2025, driven by a net flow of -$606 million. Optimism (-$189 million), Arbitrum (-$80 million), and Avalanche (-$56 million) also show significant outflows, confirming major capital flight since the start of 2025.

In contrast, Unichain (-$132 million), Solana (-$80 million), and Sonic (-$49 million) are also seeing asset outflows from their ecosystems, but remain clearly positive for the current year. This is notably the case for Sonic, which ranks second among blockchains with the most bridged assets: $1.25 billion.

→ Read our analysis of the Sonic (formerly Fantom) renaissance:

Blockchain TVL

In May 2025, Ethereum remains by far the leader in blockchain TVL with $62 billion (+17%). Far behind, we find Solana with $8.8 billion (+12%), BNB Chain with $6.3 billion (+6%), and Bitcoin with $6.1 billion (+1.7%).

Despite a massive increase in circulating TVL, Tron shows a negative performance (-3.96%) but retains 4th place with $4.8 billion, ahead of Base and its $3.7 billion (+28%) and Arbitrum also at $3.7 billion. Notably, Sui shows a slight increase of 1.4% with $1.7 billion, despite the major incident affecting the main DEX of the ecosystem.

Regarding the main TVL increases, an interesting indicator to identify emerging opportunities: Flare posted a growth of 111%, boosted by the deployment of Tether’s USDT0 and a boost program offering yields of up to 30%.

In second place is Hyperliquid, whose TVL surged by +68% to exceed $1.4 billion in May 2025. Currently, HyperEVM (Hyperliquid’s EVM-compatible blockchain) is the most trending ecosystem, notably driven by new protocols, each offering a points system in anticipation of an airdrop.

→ Read our ultimate guide to farming the Hyperliquid airdrop and HyperEVM protocol points:

Other notable performances include: Pulsechain (+48%), Rootstock (+25%), and Base (+25%). Rootstock recently partnered with Solv to offer BTC yields via DeFi strategies. Bsquared (+21%), another Bitcoin-focused DeFi blockchain, launched staking for its B2 token with high yields.

Protocol TVL

In May 2025, Aave remains the leading DeFi protocol with $25.3 billion, an all-time high. Lido ranks second with $23 billion (+40%), followed by EigenLayer ($11.3 billion, +41%) and EtherFi ($6.7 billion, +44%), notably driven by ETH performance.

Notable performances include Hyperliquid (+75%) and Maple Finance, which surpassed $2 billion in assets under management with 66% growth over the past month.

Several protocols posted strong 30-day TVL growth. First, SparkDEX, deployed on Flare Network, benefited from the integration of Tether’s stablecoin (mentioned above) to see its TVL rise by 187%.

Within the HyperEVM ecosystem, 3 protocols lead the way: Hyperbeat (+186%), Hyperlend (+154%), and Hypurrfi (+149%). They continue their growth through points programs ahead of a token airdrop and speculation related to a possible HYPE airdrop, as mentioned earlier in this report.

Similarly, River (+160%) is also benefiting from a points campaign for an airdrop. On the other hand, other protocols such as Kinetic (+120%), Bluefin (+94%), YieldNest (+89%), Centrifuge (+86%), or Fx Protocol (+81%) also show sustained growth.

→ Read our full presentation of Fx Protocol:

Revenues

Analyzing protocol revenues is an interesting metric, as it allows us to assess profitability and detect market anomalies in the case of undervalued protocols.

The two main stablecoin issuers logically top the list of highest revenues in May 2025: Tether remains in first place with $578 million, followed by Circle ($191 million).

The most profitable DeFi protocol is Hyperliquid, with $62 million, closely followed by Tron, with $57 million. Pumpfun, whose activity has significantly declined in recent months, reported revenues of $46 million.

Also included in this ranking is Axiom, a decentralized trading platform reportedly backed (according to their website) by the well-known incubator Y Combinator. Axiom is currently running a points program, which logically attracts many traders seeking an airdrop as high as Hyperliquid’s.

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Key Highlights

Circle goes public

The issuer of the market’s second-largest stablecoin (USDC), Circle, announced its intention to go public via an IPO. By filing its S-1 with the SEC, Circle aims to list on the New York Stock Exchange and is targeting a valuation of 6 to 7 billion dollars.

The first elements of the filing reveal a business model highly dependent on interest rates, which accounted for nearly 99% of the company’s revenue in 2024. Despite $1.68 billion in revenue, Circle reports high expenses: nearly $1 billion in distribution costs (notably to Coinbase).

Questions are being raised about the sustainability of the model, especially in a sector where more and more major players are seeking to enter. However, Circle remains the only regulated proxy for gaining exposure to the stablecoin sector, one of the most promising in the crypto industry.

Source: OAK Research

Pectra deployed on Ethereum

May was marked by an acceleration of Ethereum’s roadmap with the deployment of its most ambitious update since The Merge: Pectra. Combining two hard forks (Prague and Electra), Pectra aims to improve both user experience and staking management capabilities.

Among the key changes: the ability to configure multiple validators per key, greater flexibility for stakers, and a concrete step toward account abstraction with the introduction of EIP-7702, a new wallet type compatible with external signatures. These improvements are designed to make Ethereum more accessible to both developers and end users.

Even though Pectra does not change L1 scalability, it prepares the ecosystem for broader and smoother adoption. Market attention has indeed turned to ETH, whose price surge in May coincided with renewed interest in its technical outlook.

→ Read our full analysis of Pectra:

Solana: Alpenglow and reformed consensus

Anza, one of Solana’s main core devs, revealed the details of Alpenglow, a new consensus protocol intended to replace the current system (Proof of History + Tower BFT). Combining two sub-modules named Rotor and Votor, this new model aims to improve the network’s resilience, finality, and overall performance.

In particular, Alpenglow should drastically reduce finality times (from several seconds to under one second), while increasing fault tolerance. It also marks a break from Solana’s historical consensus design by introducing a more modular and asynchronous layer.

In parallel, Alpenglow would allow for the permanent removal of vote fees, a significant part of validators’ daily expenses, thus improving their profitability. Node maintenance costs are estimated to decrease by 80%, making validator operations much more accessible on Solana.

→ Read our full analysis of Alpenglow:

Major hack on Sui

In early May, the main DEX of the Sui ecosystem, MovEX, suffered a major attack exploiting a vulnerability in the fee calculation module. The attacker drained over $53 million in liquidity, causing a sharp drop in the ecosystem’s TVL.

The hack was facilitated by the faulty handling of a bug affecting low-decimal tokens, combined with a lack of safeguards in the smart contract’s security parameters. The exploit was executed within just a few blocks, leaving little room for response from validators or the protocol’s team.

Despite this incident, the Sui chain showed some resilience: its TVL ended the month slightly up, partly thanks to the team’s swift response and recovery of the stolen funds. But this episode is a reminder that design flaws remain a critical Achilles’ heel in emerging L1 blockchains.

Maple x Cantor Fitzgerald

In May, Maple Finance announced a major partnership with Cantor Fitzgerald, a key player in traditional finance, to launch a structured bond product on the U.S. market. This financial vehicle is backed by short-term U.S. Treasury bills and tokenized via Maple.

This announcement confirms Maple’s evolution into an institutional on-chain credit platform, with products increasingly aligned with Wall Street standards. It follows a series of recent integrations with Coinbase, Grayscale, Morpho, and Pendle.

Moreover, Maple surpassed $2 billion in TVL and saw its token SYRUP rise by 66% in May. The protocol continues to establish itself as one of the pillars of regulated decentralized credit.

Echo & Sonar: the return of ICOs?

On May 15, Echo, the early-stage investment platform founded by Cobie, announced the launch of Sonar, a fully customizable public token sale tool. The goal: to allow any crypto project to raise funds in full compliance, without going through a centralized launchpad.

Unlike Echo, which operates like a private club where deal access is reserved for members approved by KOLs or founders, Sonar offers an open alternative: each project can set its own rules, choose its preferred blockchain, and organize an ICO tailored to its context. A deliberate return to the fundamentals of 2017, but with a modernized regulatory and technical structure.

The first project to use Sonar will be Plasma, a Bitcoin-compatible EVM sidechain optimized for stablecoins. Backed by Founders Fund, Bitfinex, Paolo Ardoino, and Tether, Plasma aims to become a zero-fee payment hub for $USDT, with a smooth UX and secure native bridge. An announcement that could mark the beginning of a new cycle of on-chain community fundraising.

Sei unveils Giga: an ambitious technical update

On May 20, Sei Network released the whitepaper for Sei Giga, a major update to its blockchain infrastructure, designed to push beyond the current limits of the EVM. The team introduces a fully redesigned architecture, with a custom EVM client, an asynchronous consensus separated from execution, and a new consensus protocol called Autobahn, enabling native block parallelization.

From a performance standpoint, Sei Giga promises impressive gains: over 200,000 transactions per second, latency below 400 milliseconds, and 50x improvements in throughput, 70x in block production, and 40x in execution efficiency compared to current standards. These figures position Sei Giga as one of the most ambitious EVM implementations on the market.

For the team, this update is not just a step forward, but a redefinition of what’s possible for EVM blockchains. “Sei Giga is not just another EVM chain: it’s a reimagining of what’s possible for blockchain performance,” summarizes Jay Jog, co-founder of Sei Labs. Time will tell how the ecosystem reacts once the first applications are deployed.