In a joint 2025 end-of-year report with FactSet, Talos has analyzed a year that marked a “structural” shift for digital assets. Drawing on Coin Metrics On-Chain and Market Data alongside FactSet’s capital markets intelligence, the report examines how regulation, institutional access, and “real economic usage reshaped crypto markets over the past year.”
Some of the key takeaways from the Talos research report are as follows:
- Policy and market structure come into focus: 2025 delivered the clearest regulatory progress to date, particularly in the U.S., where the GENIUS Act established the first federal framework for stablecoins and agencies moved toward more coordinated oversight. Similar advances across Europe, the U.K., and Asia signaled a global push toward clearer rules—laying the groundwork for deeper institutional participation and more durable market infrastructure.
- Capital markets integration accelerates: Institutional access expanded rapidly through spot ETFs, digital asset treasuries, and crypto-linked equities. Using Coin Metrics supply and flow data, the report shows how ETFs and corporate balance sheets absorbed meaningful portions of circulating supply, while FactSet data highlights strong performance across crypto-exposed equities. Together, these trends point to crypto’s growing role within traditional portfolios and public markets.
- Stablecoins and on-chain fundamentals mature: Stablecoins emerged as core financial infrastructure in 2025, with supply nearing $300B and usage extending well beyond trading into payments, remittances, and dollar distribution. At the same time, Coin Metrics data shows improving on-chain fundamentals: transaction costs fell, blockspace scaled and ownership patterns ‒ particularly for Bitcoin ‒ continued to mature as institutional channels anchored demand.
Collectively, these key developments position 2025 as somewhat of a pivotal year, where digital asset markets became increasingly “defined by regulated access, balance-sheet adoption and real economic activity.”
The report also examines what this noticeable shift actually “means for market structure, risk and opportunity as crypto enters its next phase.”
Based on these developments, it’s clear that the web3 and digital assets sector is primed for growth. While Bitcoin and crypto prices are down, the fundamentals have never been more sound and regulatory support is finally becoming more meaningful. With all of the right pieces in place, the crypto market is poised for another bull run. Although nobody can predict (accurately) the timing of the next run, it is obvious that many more serious ecosystem participants have joined the blockchain space in the past 5 years.