Pro
State of Bitcoin Q1 2025
Key Insights
- Despite setting a new all-time high in January, BTC ended Q1 down 12% QoQ at $82,500. Risk-off sentiment from U.S. tariffs on Canada and Mexico weighed on price, although the launch of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve (SBR) in March helped support BTC during the latter half of the quarter.
- Spot Bitcoin ETFs continued to accumulate BTC despite price headwinds. AUM in BTC rose 3% QoQ to 1.19 million BTC, while AUM in USD declined 9% due to the market correction. IBIT and FBTC expanded their holdings, while GBTC saw slower outflows than previous quarters.
- Onchain activity declined, with average daily transactions down 28% QoQ, and metaprotocol activity shifting. Despite the overall decrease in transactions, BRC-20 transactions surged 157% QoQ amid lower fees, surpassing runes transactions for the first time.
- Network fees dropped 64% QoQ in BTC terms, reaching the lowest levels since the inscription boom in Q4’23. Meanwhile, miner revenue increased 7% QoQ to $42.9 million daily despite falling fees.
- Bitcoin’s ecosystem continues to expand with new Bitcoin layers and staking protocols. While DeFi TVL in USD terms declined 17% QoQ, BTC-denominated metrics remained more stable. Berachain, Base, and Stacks saw notable growth in bridged BTC, while Babylon maintained dominance in Bitcoin DeFi with an 82% TVL share.
Primer
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AJC is a Research Manager at Messari for the Enterprise team. His primary focuses are on Bitcoin and Consumer. Prior to joining Messari, AJC wrote an independent crypto blog.
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