Gate Research Institute: Review of the Crypto Assets Market in May 2025

Summary

• In May, the total market value of cryptocurrencies displayed a high-level fluctuation trend, continuing the upward momentum brought by the easing of tariff policies at the end of April, with the market overall maintaining a strong upward trend. Driven by the positive impact of the passage of the U.S. stablecoin bill “GENIUS”, the total market value of cryptocurrencies reached a temporary high before the bill was passed. As the effects of the favorable policies gradually dissipated, the total market value experienced a moderate correction.

• In May 2025, the top 8 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization generally rose, with ETH leading mainstream cryptocurrencies with an increase of over 40%. The only token that fell in May was XRP, whose market cap dropped by 2.33%, primarily due to the delay in the approval of the XRP ETF.

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• In terms of on-chain data for public chains, Solana continues to lead with an average of nearly 100 million transactions per day, consolidating its dominance in high-frequency applications; Base’s trading volume surpassed 10 million transactions in mid-May, showing strong performance. Ethereum maintains a high single transaction value, with stable Gas revenue.

• In the top 10 DeFi protocols by TVL, Lido, Eigenlayer, EtherFi, and Pendle all experienced an increase of over 40% in TVL. This phenomenon is due to TVL being denominated in USD. In May, the price of ETH rose by more than 40%, leading to a simultaneous increase in the TVL of Ethereum ecosystem DeFi protocols.

• Due to the stable growth in the total market value of cryptocurrencies in May, both DEX and perpetual contract DEX trading volumes have significantly increased compared to April. In late May, PancakeSwap surpassed UniSwap and Raydium to become the DEX with the highest trading volume.

• The Web3 industry completed a total of 122 financing deals, amounting to $1.92 billion, a 35% decline compared to the previous period. Among them, the CeFi sector and blockchain services were the hottest, securing $1.29 billion and $274 million in financing, respectively.

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• In terms of security incidents, the cumulative loss is approximately $257 million (disclosed amount), with over 80% of the incidents caused by account hacks and contract vulnerabilities.

• On June 20, 2025, ZRO will unlock 23.13% of the tokens, worth over 50 million USD, which is expected to have a significant impact on the market.

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