After a year of regulatory changes and uneven market performance, crypto investors are reassessing where value has accumulated in 2025.
In a recent podcast, Pantera Capital partner Mason Nystrom, Hash3 co-founder Hootie Rashidifard and Variant partner Alana Levin identified incumbents such as Robinhood, along with stablecoins and prediction markets as this year’s top performers.
According to Nystrom, existing companies have benefited from acting once the regulatory environment has become clearer. He pointed to Robinhood, which he said had taken a cautious stance on cryptocurrencies in recent years before moving more aggressively in 2025, adding that incumbents “have done a great job leading the way in cryptocurrencies” as clarity emerged.
Stabilcoins were another clear winner, according to Rashidifard, who pointed to the issuer’s rapid growth in transaction volume and profitability, noting that “Tether is the most profitable company on the planet per employee.” he said:
“In 2022-2023, no one was touting their stablecoin-based project as a cool thing to have in their portfolio, and now people are saying, ‘oh wow, that’s a really interesting business,’ and not just because it’s generating revenue, but because it’s actually providing value to some end customer.”
Variant’s Levin highlighted prediction markets as one of the fastest-growing categories in 2025, saying platforms such as Kalshi and Polymarket have surpassed earlier suspicions of wash trading and election activity. She said:
“I think a year ago both Kalshi and Polymarket were valued at under $1 billion, and then to see Intercontinental Exchange put $2 billion into Polymarket this year, it’s amazing.”
Related: Polymarket bets rise on Lighter airdrop as Hyperliquid lists LIT
Losers in space 2025
Venture capital executives also pointed to clear losers, citing both individuals and institutions that weighed down the crypto industry this year.
Levin singled out Do Kwon, co-founder of Terraform Labs, as an individual loser. On Dec. 11, Do Kwon was sentenced to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy charges related to the collapse of Terra, which wiped roughly $40 billion off the crypto market in 2022.
Rashidifard pointed to the “Biden-era” US Securities and Exchange Commission as a broader institutional loser, arguing that years of aggressive enforcement have produced little lasting benefit.
He described the period as “hostile for politicized reasons that made no sense,” saying it drove founders overseas before the policy changed in 2025 following the departure of former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler. He added that the passage of the GENIUS Act and the Crypto Market Structure Act signaled a broader shift in government approach.
The GENIUS Act, passed in July, established a federal framework for stablecoin issuance, reserves and regulatory oversight in the United States, while the market structure bill was delayed after the Senate Banking Committee postponed hearings on margins until 2026.
Magazine: Do Kwon Sentenced to 15 Years, Bitcoin’s ‘Restless Dance’: Hodler’s Digest, December 7-13
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