Crypto's Resurgence

Summary In the last few years, crypto has increased in maturity, crossing USD 1 trillion in market capitalization in 2021 and currently sitting at USD 3.5 trillion at the end of July ￰0￱ ETF filings followed a similar path as the underlying cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin and Ethereum representing the first spot ETF ￰1￱ crypto remains a highly volatile asset class, its increased institutional adoption is expected to continue, with highly anticipated regulatory milestones expected to be a key part of shaping crypto for years to ￰2￱ Sherifa Issifu Two decades ago, crypto didn’t exist, and even a decade ago, it was still an emergent asset ￰3￱ the last few years, crypto has increased in maturity, crossing USD 1 trillion in market capitalization in 2021 and currently sitting at USD 3.5 trillion at the end of July 2025 based on the S&P Cryptocurrency Broad Digital Market Index ((USD)).

Its increased size is not the only indicator of its increasing maturity; market participants have been offered additional tools to help in their asset allocation decisions with a growing network of associated exchange-traded products, such as futures, options, ETFs and other ￰4￱ crypto product ecosystem is expected to continue growing, with a robust pipeline of ETF filings ￰5￱ addition, a shift in the global regulatory landscape for DeFi-related products is helping to create a framework for market participants in this asset ￰6￱ ETF filings followed a similar path as the underlying cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin ( BTC-USD ) and Ethereum ( ETH-USD ) representing the first spot ETF ￰7￱ launched in 2009 as the first cryptocurrency and Ethereum launched in 2015, ushering in a second wave of crypto innovation introducing smart contracts and decentralized ￰8￱ is not surprising that early ETF filings across various regions followed the same path, shown in Exhibit ￰9￱ 2025, there is a growing list of single coin ETPs on a multitude of other coins outside of the mega-caps of BTC and ETH ( S&P Cryptocurrency MegaCap Index ) with other large-cap coins like Solana ( SOL-USD ) and Cardano ( ADA-USD ) (which are included in the S&P Cryptocurrency LargeCap Index ) expected to have their own ETFs in the U.

S., and XRP being recently approved in the ￰10￱ changes to Crypto ETP SEC Filing guidelines on Sept. 17, 2025, may potentially pave the way for more crypto spot ETFs, according to ￰11￱ further into ETF data in Exhibit 3, according to ETFGI, 1 there were only two digital asset ETPs in 2015, but there are now over 300 products as of July 2025, with a collective AUM of 220 USD billion, a figure that was only at 3 USD billion in ￰12￱ exponential rate of growth shows the heightened demand for crypto-related ￰13￱ the past two years, it’s not just the number, but the variety of crypto-focused ETFs that has expanded ￰14￱ single-coin ETF products based on Bitcoin and Ethereum led the adoption of cryptocurrency, we are also starting to see multi-coin, diversified “crypto basket” products looking at the top 5 and 10 largest crypto ￰15￱ start of non-market-cap-weighted products and capping on the largest coins like Bitcoin and Ethereum has also been a recent trend, with indices and products applying principles of diversification from traditional ￰16￱ is also being increasingly thought of as a diversifier in asset allocation decisions with the launch of more multi-asset strategies that combine crypto with traditional asset classes such as equities and commodities.

However, the journey to get there hasn’t been ￰17￱ resilience of the AUM growth is even more impressive against the backdrop of the crypto drawdowns at the start of 2025, which was marred by uncertainty and risk-off undertones due to geopolitical tension, tariffs and concerns around whether ￰18￱ would ￰19￱ the end of March, the S&P GSCI Gold was in positive territory, sporting a return of 18%, whereas the S&P Bitcoin Index, S&P Cryptocurrency MegaCap Index and S&P Ethereum Index were down 12%, 18%, and 45%, respectively, in Q1 2025 and had an even more severe drawdown compared to their ￰20￱ this market turbulence, the largest cryptocurrencies have shown resilience, with Bitcoin and Ethereum nearing all-time highs as of July 2025.

However, there remains some underperformance, with smaller coins still ￰21￱ crypto remains a highly volatile asset class, its increased institutional adoption is expected to continue, with highly anticipated regulatory milestones expected to be a key part of shaping crypto for years to ￰22￱ developments, like the GENIUS Act and Clarity Act in the ￰23￱ MiCA in Europe, as well as expected changes in APAC adoption, could be determinants of where crypto goes next. 1 “ ETFGI reports Crypto ETFs listed globally gathered 3.69 billion US dollars of net inflows in April .” ￰24￱ 30, 2025. Disclosure: Copyright © 2025 S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a division of S&P ￰25￱ rights ￰26￱ material is reproduced with the prior written consent of S&P ￰27￱ more information on S&P DJI, please visit ￰28￱ full terms of use and disclosures, please visit ￰29￱ Post Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.