October 2025 turned into one of the most unpredictable months for crypto. A 0 shutdown shook global markets, breaking Bitcoin’s seven-year “Uptober” streak, while DeFi and on-chain activity kept 1 memecoin manias to prediction market wars, here’s what really moved the crypto market this 2 Shutdown Sparks Uncertainty October started with a major shock for the 3 October 1, 2025, the federal government shut down after Congress failed to agree on a new 4 of thousands of federal employees were sent home, and many agencies stopped or slowed their 5 a result, key economic data, like labor reports and inflation numbers, stopped coming 6 lack of information created even more 7 Federal Reserve had to make decisions without fresh data, while investors grew nervous about what might happen 8 shutdown also hit the economy directly, costing billions of dollars each week, lowering consumer spending, and increasing the risk of job losses as government spending slowed 9 crypto, especially Bitcoin , becomes more connected to the 10 market, these uncertainties quickly affect digital assets as 11 shutdown added pressure to risk assets, eventually leading to a drop in cryptocurrency 12 long as the shutdown continues, it will remain the main focus in both economic and policy discussions, and its influence on the market will likely 13 the government reopens, we can expect a short-term sense of relief across markets.
However, the absence of clear progress on crypto regulation could limit 14 the overheated S&P 500 enters a correction phase, crypto might also move sideways or see a mild decline in 15 Breaks Its Seven-Year “Uptober” Streak Traditionally a bullish month, October ended with Bitcoin’s first negative performance in seven 16 were several reasons for this shift. First, Bitcoin had already been rising for months, it grew steadily from April onward, with only a brief pause in 17 such a strong run, the market naturally needed a period of consolidation. A more direct cause was the 18 government shutdown, which created uncertainty across all 19 impact became especially visible at the start of November, when the prolonged shutdown and delayed economic data triggered another wave of risk aversion, putting additional pressure on Bitcoin and the broader crypto 20 past month once again confirmed that Bitcoin is becoming increasingly tied to the global financial 21 sharp reaction to the 22 shutdown proved this link 23 a higher-risk asset, Bitcoin moved faster and more violently than traditional markets, amplifying the effects of macro 24 forward, Bitcoin’s price dynamics appear closely connected to the U.
S. economy, stock market performance, and any future developments in crypto 25 global liquidity conditions and American policy shifts evolve, Bitcoin is likely to mirror those changes even more directly, behaving less like an isolated digital asset and more like a volatile extension of the broader financial 26 Faces Sharper Decline Amid Regulatory Uncertainty Ethereum , being a riskier asset compared to Bitcoin, saw an even sharper decline and showed greater volatility throughout the 27 the past two years, Ethereum’s price behavior has been marked by extremes, it either gradually trends downward or experiences sudden monthly surges of 40% or more.
Historically, these strong price rallies have almost always coincided with major catalysts, such as anticipation of an ETF approval, Trump’s election victory, or the passage of the GENIUS 28 this stage, regulatory developments remain the primary driver for Ethereum’s price 29 significant policy move, particularly one related to institutional access or classification of digital assets, is likely to determine the direction of its next major 30 State of Blockchains BNB Chain Keeps Leading in Active Addresses It’s been the best month for BNB Chain this 31 fees reached $70.7M, the highest since January 32 chain also led in October by active addresses, reaching 58.3M 33 recorded $119B in DEX volume, the highest since October 2021, and set a new record in perps trading at $16.8B.
The surge in activity came from perps trading, driven mainly by Aster , a perp DEX that brought thousands of traders to BNB 34 users farmed the Aster airdrop, the network’s metrics 35 liquidity influx reignited the memecoin sector – 36 launchpad earned $44M in fees, surpassing its total historical 37 forgotten tokens hit new ATHs, while new runners 38 the end of the month, the memecoin hype cooled off, but overall network activity stayed near peak 39 is the Top Chain by DEX Volume October was a contradictory month for 40 fees dropped to $27.7M, the lowest level since 41 addresses dropped to 37.7M, which is far below the peak activity seen a year 42 the positive side, total transactions grew by 3% MoM, and DEX volume hit $149M, the highest since February and the top among all 43 became the #1 DEX by volume, surpassing Meteora, Raydium, and 44 activity was at a minimal level this year as traders shifted toward other chains (Base, BNB Chain) and sectors like perps trading and prediction 45 solidified its dominance as Solana’s leading launchpad, now holding 90-95% market share by volume, token launches, and active users.
Meanwhile, a surge in sandwich attacks raised concerns in the 46 400K attacks were recorded in October, affecting 200K users and resulting in nearly 20K SOL in 47 banned 15 validators involved, but the impact has been limited so 48 month also saw the launch of the Solana ETF by Bitmine, which attracted $199M in inflows. However, it had little effect on price, with SOL closing October down 10% 49 Memecoin Activity Grows Base showed strong performance in 50 network’s TVL surpassed $10B for the first time, while the stablecoin market cap reached $4.63B. Network fees climbed to $9.9M, the highest since January, and DEX volume hit a new ATH of $55B.
Total transactions dipped 5% MoM but stayed near record levels. However, active addresses fell 8%, approaching their 2025 51 activity surged across the 52 1.19M new tokens created, Base became the #1 chain in token launches, overtaking both Solana and BNB 53 , a Base-native token launch tool, earned $4.8M in fees, marking its second-best result 54 the increased attention, most major Base memecoins dropped over 30% in 55 around the potential launch of a BASE token continued through 56 the Base team confirmed they are exploring tokenization, no official roadmap has been 57 forecasted that the upcoming Base token could reach a $34B market cap, citing a 2x rise in DeFi TVL over the past year and projecting up to $23B in new liquidity if an airdrop and token launch 58 hits highest transactions count since 2023 In October, the network recorded its highest monthly fees of 2025 at $1.64M.
The number of transactions hit 61.5M, the highest level since 2023. Meanwhile, active addresses fell by around 10%, and TVL declined by about 15%. In ecosystem news, Visa enabled payments in four different stablecoins on Avalanche. BlackRock’s BUIDL added $500M in RWAs, making Avalanche its second-largest chain after Ethereum.
Additionally, Avalanche Treasury 59 a $675M merger with Mountain Lake Acquisition 60 form a publicly listed vehicle for AVAX exposure, with plans to list on Nasdaq in Q1 2026 pending 61 performers ZEC saw rising institutional interest following Grayscale’s announcement of a Zcash Trust aimed at accredited 62 privacy coins gaining renewed attention, investors turned to ZEC as an alternative to public 63 a result, the token surged over 200% in 64 jumped more than 300% after its listing on Aster, which unlocked liquidity and brought exposure to thousands of new traders. However, the rally was largely speculation-driven, fueled by social media hype and momentum around the AI narrative rather than 65 token is now sitting at $300M market 66 became another beneficiary of the privacy meta, breaking out of a five-year downtrend and attracting traders who had been waiting for a 67 upgrades added to market 68 token is now trading at its highest level since 2023.
H (Humanity Protocol) skyrocketed 153% in a single day on October 14 following signs of whale 69 rally was supported by the project’s expansion in the Sui ecosystem and its increasing role in decentralized biometric ID solutions. However, the token later pulled back ~30% from its newly set 70 gained 59% in October, standing out among large-cap 71 surge came amid growing institutional interest and the launch of the world’s first staked Bittensor Exchange-Traded Product (ETP) by Deutsche Digital Assets and 72 overview: Aave, Ethena, Pendle Aave Aave showed a strong resilience during a major market-wide stress event, automatically handling $180 million in liquidations with zero downtime or user 73 underscores the strength of its automated risk 74 protocol continued to attract institutional-scale users and deepen integrations, serving as a crucial liquidity source and collateral platform for the expanding initiatives of both Ethena and 75 reaching an ATH TVL of $76B, Aave’s TVL pulled back to $63B following a broader market 76 the first time ever, Aave generated over $100 million in monthly fees, totaling $102.6M.
The upcoming V4 mainnet scheduled for late Q4 2025 is going to strengthen Aave’s position as the leading DeFi lending 77 Ethena went through a major stress test in October when USDe briefly lost its peg on Binance due to an external oracle 78 peg was quickly restored, but the circulating supply dropped from 15B to 9B over the month. Later, during a broader market downturn and heavy liquidations, Ethena successfully handled another stress event — its mint and redeem functions operated without interruption, processing $2B in redemptions within 24 79 protocol expanded its integrations, launching deeper collaborations with major DeFi money markets such as Aave and Pendle to diversify collateral and enhance cross-protocol liquidity.
Additionally, Ethena introduced JupUSD, the native stablecoin of the Jupiter ecosystem, built on its Stablecoin-as-a-Service 80 project also transitioned the USDtb smart contract to Anchorage Digital, making it the first federally regulated stablecoin issued under the GENIUS 81 Pendle launched new “Agentic DeFi” strategies in collaboration with Giza Tech (Pulse), INFINIT Labs (Plasma), AFI Protocol, and Symphony, introducing advanced automated yield 82 recognition also grew, marked by the launch of the Pendle ETP on the SIX Swiss Exchange by 21Shares – a major step toward bridging DeFi yields with traditional finance. Pendle’s new Boros product for trading funding rates on centralized and decentralized exchanges reached $2.83B in trading volume and $4.7B in open interest within 3 83 DEX Wars The battle between major perp DEXs has intensified as new players gain 84 sector has evolved from Hyperliquid dominance into a highly competitive 85 still led October by trading volume at $308B, but rivals trail 86 finished October in second place, with $272B, followed by Aster with $260B.
Interestingly, during the last week of October, both Lighter and Aster outperformed Hyperliquid as its volumes dropped to July’s lows. However, with $9B in open interest, Hyperliquid remains unmatched. It’s is more than all other players have 87 the way, both Hyperliquid and Aster also entered the top 10 projects by monthly 88 October market crash served as a stress test, showcasing Hyperliquid’s robust infrastructure, which stayed fully operational during mass 89 and Aster grew fast, but we’ll have to see if they can keep it up in the long run, as they rely on incentivized traffic (both have points programs, while Hyperliquid doesn’t). Prediction Markets: Polymarket vs Kalshi In October, prediction markets became the top narrative, dominating CT 90 total monthly trading volume hit a new ATH of $8.5B, surpassing the 91 92 number of traders also reached an all-time high of 93 rivalry between Polymarket and Kalshi only 94 is now focused on regulatory steps to legally expand into the 95 news came with the announcement of a $2B strategic round backed by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of NYSE, at a $9B 96 big update was the confirmation of the POLY token launch coming in 2026, which will include an airdrop for active 97 news boosted excitement in the crypto community and drove Polymarket activity 98 also announced a new investment round in October – a $300M Series D at a $5B valuation, led by Sequoia Capital and Andreessen 99 total, the project has raised $565M to 100 recent partnership with Robinhood has been a game changer, allowing users to trade NFL and college football markets directly through the 101 “Sports” category now makes up over 90% of Kalshi’s 102 diversify, the platform is expanding into Polymarket’s territory, crypto, and has onboarded notable CT influencers like John Wang, ICO Beast, 0xUltra, and others.
Now, let’s break some 103 hit $4.4B in volume vs Polymarket’s $4.1B. The gap is pretty small, compared to September, when Kalshi was a clear winner – $2.9B vs $1.6B. Again, most of Kalshi volume comes from sports, whereas Polymarket has it distributed among several categories: sports, politics, and 104 also leads in transaction count: 16M vs 105 of November 1, it’s Polymarket’s $200M in open interest against Kalshi’s $296M. Other prediction apps can’t get anywhere close to the numbers demonstrated by these 106 new launches, it’s worth mentioning Opinion Labs , a prediction market backed by YZi 107 access is limited now, though, so keep an eye out for 108 October 2025 marked a shift in the crypto market as global events and macro uncertainty took center 109 110 shutdown ended Bitcoin’s seven-year “Uptober” streak, showing how closely digital assets now move with traditional 111 Bitcoin and Ethereum faced pressure, on-chain activity stayed 112 Chain and Base grew rapidly through perps and memecoin trading, Solana led in DEX volume, and Avalanche attracted real-world 113 leaders like Aave, Ethena, and Pendle proved their resilience and growing institutional 114 markets and privacy coins also gained momentum, showing the market’s expanding focus beyond speculation.
Overall, October highlighted that crypto’s future growth depends on macro stability, regulation, and continued innovation across leading networks and protocols.
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