1. DeFi Has the Potential to Recover

According to a report from cryptonews.com, CoinMarketCap's Head of Research, Alice Liu, stated that the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has the opportunity to recover as regulatory restrictions at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ease following Donald Trump's return to the U.S. presidency.

Liu noted that the DeFi sector has the potential to grow three to five times by 2025, provided that more crypto-friendly regulations are established. Since election day, DeFi's market capitalization has increased from $77 billion to $154 billion. Several key sectors expected to drive this growth include decentralized exchanges (DEXs) on Layer 1 networks, liquid staking/re-staking, payment services, and digital wallets.

2. Institutions Increasingly Eyeing Crypto Assets

Coinme CEO and co-founder Neil Bergquist revealed that financial institutions are expected to increase their exposure to crypto assets after SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s term ends on January 20.

"We are already witnessing this shift. Morgan Stanley’s recent disclosure of $272.1 million in Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), along with a combined $600 million investment from Goldman Sachs and DRW Capital in spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs, serves as a strong signal that Wall Street is beginning to change its stance on crypto assets. This trend is predicted to continue throughout 2025," said Bergquist.

3. Real-World Assets (RWA) Gaining Traction

Amid the rising popularity of speculative sectors like meme coins and artificial intelligence (AI)-based projects, investments in real-world assets (RWA) are expected to gain more attention in 2025. RWAs refer to assets that hold tangible value in the real world and serve as the foundation for crypto projects, such as the tokenization of physical and financial assets.

One major project highlighting RWA’s potential is BlackRock, which successfully launched a $500 million tokenized treasury fund in July 2024. This initiative is expected to drive RWA sector growth by up to 50 times by 2030.