The year 2025 in the crypto world was not an easy one to summarize. Narratives repeatedly failed, consensus frequently collapsed, cycles became blurred, and wildly fluctuating emotions were amplified to the extreme.
Against this backdrop, writing itself became more difficult—because compared to "writing fast," it was more important to write accurately, write truthfully, and write something that can stand the test of time.
This year, the Odaily Planet Daily platform published a total of 1,770 original articles. The editorial team members selected from their own works those that raised critical questions or recorded slices of the era at the time, and which still held value or offered insights when looking back at the new year.
(Note: Many "hot events" may not be included. For an overview of the year's key moments, please refer to Odaily's previously published "4 Key Themes, Composing the 2025 Crypto Seasons' Song".)
The articles vary in perspective and style, and even the answers are not uniform, yet together they paint a true outline of 2025.
We wish our readers judgment in the face of uncertainty in 2026, the ability to find their own rhythm amidst the volatility, and may all your wishes come true!
Now, let's take a look at these representative articles:
January 8
"Confessions of an 88x Heavy Bag Diamond Hand: Why I Chose ai16z (and Sold Swarms)"
Asher(X:@Asher_ 0210 ): Have you already forgotten the AI Agent hype at the beginning of the year? This records my most successful early埋伏 (ambush), telling the true story of how I discovered ai16z and held firmly to achieve nearly a hundredfold return. Although the hype has long faded, the methodology remains, motivating myself to still believe in early埋伏 for gains in 2026.
January 18
"Who Made Over a Million Dollars on TRUMP? The Winning KOLs and the Disappointed ETH Maxis"
Wenser(X:@wenser2010): The wealth creation opportunity from TRUMP at the beginning of the year was堪称 industry-level, a landmark project. We were also among the first to盘点 (take stock of) the traders with impressive track records. Looking back now, most of the smart money remains active in the crypto circle and subsequently seized many major annual opportunities, worth long-term attention.
January 28
"Odaily Dialogues with CryptoD: TRUMP Single Coin Profit of Tens of Millions of Dollars, Starting with 1 SOL to Advance to A9 Net Worth"
Golem(X:@web3_golem): The Meme market may have receded now, but the wave of fierce competition in early 2025 is still worth revisiting. It was at that moment that Odaily interviewed Crypto D, a representative figure in the Meme field. The Meme strategies he summarized in the article are not products of emotion but冷静拆解 (calm deconstruction) of cycles, human nature, and liquidity; they will not become outdated.
February 8
"From New York to Washington, US Anti-Crypto Forces Are Facing a Comprehensive Reckoning"
Dc(X:@HanzoDC): Focuses on the fundamental changes in the US regulatory environment. After the Trump administration took office, the overall landscape of personnel reshuffles and policy shifts within major US financial regulatory agencies (including the SEC, FDIC, CFTC) and how this change reshapes the regulatory attitude towards the crypto industry. The angle found is quite special; most of the news points discussed were minor stories not heavily covered by mainstream media, but together they form a major trend. Some events were actually very interesting.
February 19
"盘点 (Inventory) of Big Crypto Money-Making Machines"
Wenser(X:@wenser2010): The business models of platforms, organizations, and projects within the circle have always been a direction I pay attention to. So, in the first half of the year, I did a simple data collection and analysis on the revenue and people efficiency of highly profitable protocols and platforms. Looking back now, CEXs and stablecoins remain the top, while the DAT model is highly dependent on market performance.
February 21
"Bull Market Black Swan: Bybit Hacked for Over $1.5 Billion in Assets, 514k ETH Dumped Directly onto the Market?"
Wenser(X:@wenser2010): The Bybit $1.5 billion asset theft shocked the industry inside and out. That night, we quickly provided in-depth tracking reporting on the event within 2 hours and witnessed a textbook-level crisis PR. The industry's ability to digest security risks and crisis events was once again verified. A very iconic security attack event.
March 8
"White House Crypto Summit: A Political Performance of Flattery and Empty Slogans (Full Live Transcript Attached)"
Dc(X:@HanzoDC): After following the conference live, I was very shocked by the empty and假大空 (false, large, and empty) nature of the meeting itself; much of it was the kind of very bureaucratic but content-less expression in English. I quickly wrote this article. It's not long, but at a time when the prevailing wind was吹捧 (praising) Trump for leading crypto, I tried to glimpse the other side.
April 19
"From Application Process to Fees, In-Depth Comparison of Ten Crypto Payment Cards"
Dc(X:@HanzoDC): Conducted a systematic evaluation and横向比较 (horizontal comparison) of ten representative crypto payment cards on the market. Spent a long time collecting information, conducting interviews, comparing domestic and international user needs and experiences, and their user feedback.
July 1
"Robinhood Rewrites the Global Trading Landscape, Tokenized Stocks Enter the Era of Dimensionality Reduction Strikes"
Leo(X:@LeoAndCrypto): Written overnight after the news broke. Robinhood's announcement of stock tokenization was one of the important moments in crypto this year. This is not just a product innovation but also marks the official move of real-world core financial assets towards scalable on-chain circulation. Crypto began to deeply介入 (intervene in) and reshape the operating methods of traditional capital markets.
July 11
"Odaily Exclusive Interview with Yi Lihua: Bottom Call ETH Holdings of 182k, Floating Profit of $130 Million, Why 'Not Selling a Single Coin'?"
DingDang(X:@XiaMiPP): Although the crypto industry was overall低迷 (sluggish), ETH indeed stood out this year, hitting a new high of $4950. Yi Lihua, as a "famous ETH bull," also attracted attention. This article was published on the eve of ETH's soaring. Although it didn't have much new content, it also had the taste of a shot in the arm at the time.
July 17
"Where is Institutional Money Flowing? Unveiling the Five Golden Tracks of This Potential 'Altcoin Season'"
DingDang(X:@XiaMiPP): At that time, DAT was emerging, and it was already possible to judge that altcoins would not repeat the patterns of the past. Instead, it would be a sector rotation led by the structural inflow of institutional funds. Attention shifted from traditional small-cap speculation to compliance, real yield, and institutional participation. Although the market trend in the following months was bleak,局部热点 (local hotspots) confirmed this characteristic.
July 25
"Deep Dive into Jia Yueting's Foray into RWA, Who is the New Director Behind the Old Actor?"
Ethan(X:@ethanzhang_web3): One of the hottest discussion sectors this year is RWA, and Jia Yueting's crossover into crypto was truly unexpected. Initially, based on the logic of the order assets he actually owned, it was predicted he would put pre-orders on-chain. But没想到 (didn't expect) Boss Jia would play it even better, separating the car and crypto, establishing separate operating systems, creating dual flywheels and dual bridges, making crypto metrics. Indeed, often the answer you think of most directly is not the final answer.
July 29
"ENA's 'Confidence Game': $260 Million Buyback to Stabilize Price, $360 Million Blood Transfusion for StablecoinX Sprinting Towards Listing"
DingDang(X:@XiaMiPP): This article tracked the "confidence game" process of Ethena/ENA, from the hundreds of millions buyback to stabilize the price, to on-chain data revealing potential selling pressure, to the strategic extension into the compliant stablecoin track and RWA布局 (layout).
August 22
"The First Batch of Post-00s Web3 Workers Have Already Started to 'Leave the Circle'"
Golem(X:@web3_golem): In mid-2025, I personally also went through a relatively difficult period. Questions about why I still stay in Web3, the meaning of making money, and even the motivation to move forward were repeatedly shaken. It was against this background that I wrote this article. It is not a grand narrative but an attempt to restore the real situation of an ordinary post-00s worker in the Web3 world: about choices, about ups and downs, and also about the reasons to stay on amidst uncertainty.
August 31
"This Year's Bitcoin Asia, Where Did Everyone Go?"
Golem(X:@web3_golem): It is a travelogue and also a record and reflection on the current state of the Bitcoin ecosystem. What I love is not yet dead.
September 9
"2025 New Prediction Market Complete Inventory (Part 1)"
"2025 New Prediction Market Complete Inventory (Part 2)"
"Odaily Selection: These Tools Can Double Your Trading Win Rate in Prediction Markets"
Leo(X:@LeoAndCrypto): Three combined into one, forming a prediction market实用手册 (practical handbook).
September 29
"Post-05 Crypto Madman Enheng: 'Binance Prince' is Just My Camouflage"
Golem(X:@web3_golem): Enheng is a young, smart, and controversial figure. As I said in the article, although not everyone's way of completing原始积累 (primitive accumulation) is glorious, a young person who uses limited resources to bet on possibilities, no matter what, deserves to be recorded.
October 16
"$15 Billion BTC Changes Hands: US DOJ Wipes Out Cambodia's Prince Group, Becomes World's Largest BTC Whale"
Ethan(X:@ethanzhang_web3): The article拆解 (deconstructed) the case of Chen Zhi. The amount involved was staggering. The most discussed voice at the time was the BTC reserve game between China and the US. Later,加上 (coupled with) the quantum attack rhetoric, it顺势成为 (naturally became) one of the triggers for the surge in privacy coins like ZEC.
October 19
"Odaily Office Trading Competition: Record of Mischief Made with the Boss's Money"
Dc(X:@HanzoDC): A record of the "internal office trading competition held by Odaily." The article records the real trading performance, position choices, and mindset changes of Odaily colleagues with an initial capital of 200 USDT over two weeks, the wins and losses, impulses, and reflections we experienced in the market.
October 30
"If This Continues, Really No One Will Trade Coins Anymore"
Wenser(X:@wenser2010): An article written after the October 11th major crash. It only points out problems, expresses emotions, gives no methods, no clear conclusions, highlighting the chronic ills of the current crypto industry. The market is facing the困境 (dilemma) of drying up increments and并存 (coexisting)存量竞争 (stock competition).
November 1
"17 Years Later, Why Do We Still Need Bitcoin?"
Dc(X:@HanzoDC): A long article summarizing the trajectory of Bitcoin's 17 years since its birth, reflecting from the perspectives of historical cycles, institutional logic, and value philosophy: while the real world continuously expands credit and debt, Bitcoin, due to its immutability and decentralization, remains a key to understanding the present and future.
November 3
"Privacy Coin Revival: From Binance Delisting Candidate to a 13x Surge, ZEC's Lightning Rebirth"
DingDang(X:@XiaMiPP): When writing this article, the market still regarded ZEC's rise as an emotional rebound; but what I wanted to emphasize was: against the backdrop of持续收紧 (continuously tightening) regulation, privacy has not disappeared but has been重新定价 (repriced) and has developed new narrative models.
November 5
"What is the Curator Role in DeFi? Could It Be a Hidden Landmine in This Cycle?"
Azuma(X:@azuma_eth): In November, on-chain security incidents entered a high-incidence period. Curators became the trigger for multiple blow-up events at the time. But when searching for information in the Chinese region, I found that basically no one had systematically written about the Curator role, which had实质上 (substantially) become a behemoth in DeFi. So I published an article to梳理 (sort out) its role, revenue logic, and risk paradox, becoming an important reference for understanding DeFi security incidents and yield strategy changes during that phase.
November 6
"The Record of 'Machi Big Brother' Going to Zero"
Ethan(X:@ethanzhang_web3): Machi,兼具 (combining) the底气 (confidence) of "infinite bullets" and the label of a "serial entrepreneur," has a story full of depth and a vivid character image. From holding the highest long position of $126 million on Hyperliquid in July,跻身 (joining the ranks of the platform's top whales, to his account彻底归零 (completely zeroed out) in November, this drama of "sudden wealth - downfall" has long been commonplace in the coin circle — everyone knows him, teases him, yet countless people still渴望 (desire) to become the next him. On the "gambling table," obsessed with "being the big brother," his outcome was perhaps predestined, but this still doesn't stop him from trying every possible way to scrape together money and continue opening positions.
November 11
"On-Chain Wealth Management, Danger! Run!"
Azuma(X:@azuma_eth): Starting from the panoramic logic of on-chain wealth management risks, it拆解 (deconstructs) how the depegging of high-yield stablecoins, the leverage amplification of curator fund pools, and the lack of regulation in lending protocols联动 (interact) to trigger systemic risks leading to large-scale withdrawal of DeFi funds. This is also why I believed the risk transmission on-chain after 10.11 was not over. I梳理 (sorted out) the judgment logic from the beginning and implemented it in my personal operations.
November 26
"Exclusive Reveal of Exchange User Acquisition Rules: $50 to Buy a New User"
Golem(X:@web3_golem): User growth remains a core难题 (difficult problem) that the Web3 industry cannot avoid. Even in 2026, this statement still holds true. For this reason, I interviewed the Paid Ads team of an exchange. They are trying to find the possibility of "breaking the circle" for Web3 in a way closer to mainstream internet. Perhaps one day, Web3 ads will really appear in every corner of our lives.
December 4
Why Prediction Markets Are Really Not Gambling Platforms
Xiao Hua: Attempts to explain why prediction markets are repeatedly suppressed and then pulled back to the table by capital and institutions—it challenges not the regulatory bottom line but the existing classification system. The real conflict is not about "whether it resembles gambling," but about who regulates it, who gets the taxes, and whether it counts as a financial product. This is a power and institutional game, not a moral judgment.
December 12
"2025 Airdrop Farming Survival Rules: Formerly Gold Everywhere, Now Relying Solely on These Two Trump Cards"
Asher(X:@Asher_ 0210 ): Summarizes the real process of the airdrop farming track in 2025 from "gold everywhere" to "winter involution," revealing the structural changes of sharply reduced airdrop profits, studios exiting, and the rise of new玩法 (playstyles). It is not only an annual summary of airdrop farming techniques but also a梳理 (sorting out) of the logic behind the transformation of interactive收益 (yields) in a bear market by a firsthand experiencer, along with suggestions for 2026.
December 28
"2026, Survive: A Bear Market Survival and Counterattack Manual for Crypto Practitioners"
Wenser(X:@wenser2010): 2026, survive, we are with you!
