Author: imToken
Objectively speaking, for Crypto/Web3, 2025 is absolutely the most pivotal year in the past decade.
If the past decade was a period of "wild growth" for the crypto industry on the fringes of mainstream finance, then 2025 marks the first year this species officially completed its "legitimization evolution":
From stablecoins to RWA, from the abrupt policy U-turn in Washington to the finalization of rules in Hong Kong and the EU, the global regulatory logic is undergoing an epic paradigm shift.
I. United States: Crypto's Institutional Vindication
For a considerable period, the US regulation of the crypto industry resembled more of a tug-of-war lacking consensus.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under Gary Gensler's tenure was particularly representative of this, frequently using enforcement actions to define the legal boundaries of crypto assets. Lawsuits, investigations, and deterrence became the main themes. This "enforcement first, define later" regulatory approach not only left many developers and entrepreneurs in a highly uncertain environment but also kept the entire industry under prolonged high pressure.
However, with the inauguration of a new administration in 2025, this situation underwent a fundamental reversal. Washington stopped trying to force crypto assets into the old securities law system born in the 1930s and instead began to publicly acknowledge their status as a "new hybrid asset" distinct from traditional securities, commodities, and currency.
The pinnacle of this shift was undoubtedly the formal signing of the GENIUS Act in July 2025. This act not only established a federal-level stablecoin regulatory framework, requiring issuers to hold 100% highly liquid reserves (such as cash or US Treasury bonds), but more importantly, it clarified that holders have priority claim rights in the event of issuer bankruptcy. This meant the on-chain form of the US dollar was incorporated into the national institutional purview for the first time.
Echoing this, the US also established a "National Digital Asset Reserve" via executive order in 2025, listing previously seized Bitcoin as a strategic asset. This move彻底 (completely) changed Bitcoin's position in global asset pricing, elevating it from a "fringe alternative asset" to a part of national strategic competition.
Of course, this shift was not accidental. With the appointment of new SEC Chairman Paul Atkins, the long-standing "regulation by enforcement" clouding the market came to an end. Protracted investigations and charges against projects like Coinbase (COIN.M), Ripple, and Ondo Finance were successively dropped or downgraded. Crypto officially moved from being an enforcement target back to the policy discussion table.
Simultaneously, the core team of the new administration showed an unprecedented level of overlap with tech capital and crypto capital—from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. A group of decision-makers explicitly supportive of AI, Web3, and new financial technologies entered the power center. Crypto assets were no longer "aliens" in the political system.
Interestingly, on December 2nd, US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Paul Atkins, in a speech at the New York Stock Exchange, officially announced the end of the multi-year "regulation by enforcement" era for the crypto industry and stated that the SEC will usher in a new era of compliance in January 2026.
This new policy, dubbed the "Innovation Exemption," also marks the US regulators' shift from reactive case-by-case crackdowns to establishing a "compliance sandbox" with clear entry standards. According to the "Project Crypto" plan disclosed in November, qualified DeFi protocols and DAO organizations will receive a compliance buffer period of 12 to 24 months. During this time, project parties will not need to undergo cumbersome S-1 securities registration and only need to submit simplified information to operate.
This mechanism彻底 (completely) solves the long-standing vicious cycle where startup protocols couldn't afford high compliance costs yet faced charges for not being registered. Simultaneously, a new asset classification law categorizes digital assets into commodity-type, utility-type, collectible-type, and tokenized securities, providing a clear legal exit for assets that can prove "sufficient decentralization."
In summary, the signal from the US regulatory shift in 2025 is clear enough: Crypto is no longer a systemic risk that needs to be suppressed, but a institutional variable that is being incorporated into rules and can be guided.
II. EU, Hong Kong China, Japan: The Establishment of a Multipolar Order
While the US completed its policy reversal, other major economies did not choose to follow with looser regulations but instead charted three distinct regulatory paths, all pointing towards co-optation.
European Union
First, the European Union. 2025 is the first full year of the full implementation of the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation (formally implemented mid-2024). As is well known, MiCA's core goal is not to incentivize innovation but to trade unified rules for financial stability and cross-border controllability. For instance, through a "passporting" license, compliant crypto service providers can operate freely across all 27 member states, but the代价 (cost) is significantly raised compliance thresholds.
It is precisely in this context that in 2025, to meet MiCA's stringent audit transparency, pass-through supervision, and ultra-high capital requirements, a large number of small and medium-sized crypto service providers (VASPs) were forced to exit the European market due to their inability to bear the compliance premium. Even some leading DEXs temporarily delisted their front-end trading functions in the European region due to an inability to meet specific identity verification requirements.
At the stablecoin level, the EU has also shown strong "monetary protectionism," particularly by setting strict daily trading limits and reserve requirements for non-euro stablecoins,客观上 (objectively) building a barrier at the European retail level and forcing liquidity to flow back to compliant Euro-denominated stablecoins (like EuROC).
Hong Kong
Unlike the EU's defensive posture, Hong Kong China demonstrated极强的 (extremely strong) offensive capabilities in 2025. With the formal生效 (effectiveness) of Hong Kong's Stablecoin Ordinance on August 1, 2025, fiat-pegged stablecoins were formally incorporated into the licensed system, marking Hong Kong's transformation from a retail trading hub to a global institutional-grade asset settlement center.
Hong Kong's strategic intent is very clear. It is no longer just a platform for buying and selling crypto assets but an Asian institutional interface connecting Chinese capital, international capital, and on-chain finance. Therefore, this year Hong Kong massively promoted the tokenization process of RWA,致力于 (committed to) introducing traditional assets like government bonds and trade finance into the global视野 (view) through on-chain settlement.
More意味深长的是 (profound is) the functional positioning difference between Hong Kong and Mainland China regarding Web3. According to the latest relevant reports from Caixin, the Hainan Free Trade Port and Hong Kong form a complementary relationship: Hainan, as a trade hub for domestic and international trade, focuses on physical trade and data flow; while Hong Kong serves as a financial testing ground, undertaking high-pressure testing tasks such as Bitcoin strategic reserves and cross-border stablecoin payments.
This "front shop, back factory" model makes Hong Kong in 2025, and subsequently 2026, a unique node globally that can both access traditional Chinese capital and seamlessly connect to Web3 native liquidity.
Japan
In contrast, Japan's regulatory path appears more restrained. It had long managed by细分 (segmenting) businesses like exchanges, custody, and intermediation. It was also considered a crypto desert by developers due to extremely stringent regulations post-2018 and a comprehensive tax rate as high as 55%.
However, Japan's recently proposed FY2026 tax reform outline suggests gradually positioning crypto assets as "financial products contributing to the formation of national assets," exploring the application of separate taxation to spot, derivative, and ETF trading profits. The tax rate is expected to (有望) plummet from the 55% ceiling to a flat 20%, aligning with stocks, and introduces a maximum 3-year loss carryforward.
This could directly activate Japan's vast retail and institutional markets. Coupled with Japan's lifting of the ban on Bitcoin spot ETFs and issuing the first stablecoin operating licenses to giants like Circle and SBI, objectively speaking, Japan is attempting to leverage its mature compliance system to try and recapture the long-lost discourse power in Asian crypto finance.
III. After "Co-optation": Stablecoin Reshuffle, and Web3's Repositioning
Looking globally, the main theme of regulation in 2025 is "co-optation."
Regulators have深刻意识到 (deeply realized) that the decentralized financial power inherent in crypto technology cannot be completely eliminated. Therefore, the most effective governance strategy is to dismantle, absorb its logic, and ultimately incorporate it into the existing global financial landscape.
This co-optation does not negate the value of Crypto. On the contrary, it means regulators have默认 (defaulted to) a premise: that crypto technology itself is efficient, irreversible, and worth preserving. But the condition is that it must be incorporated into an institutional structure that is understandable, auditable, and accountable.
It is precisely for this reason that this regulatory shift has brought about an unprecedented dual effect. On the one hand, there is a rapid回流 (return) of liquidity and credit, as compliance身份 (status) indeed allows massive amounts of capital to enter boldly and institutions to愿意配置 (be willing to allocate). On the other hand, it poses a profound拷问 (questioning) of Web3's original spirit: when rules become a prerequisite, how much decentralization remains?
In this paradigm shift, stablecoins have become the first and most typical pressure point.
The reason is not complicated. As the infrastructure with the deepest intertwining of Crypto and TradFi and the widest penetration, stablecoins naturally lie right in the center of regulators'视野 (view). They connect to fiat currency, influence payments, participate in settlement, and are deeply embedded in the DeFi and on-chain liquidity system.
Therefore, this year stablecoins clearly entered an epic reshuffle period first.
In July, US President Trump formally signed the GENIUS Act, marking the final landing of stablecoin legislation; in August, Hong Kong's Stablecoin Ordinance also生效 (took effect), becoming the first regional regulatory framework; simultaneously, major economies like Japan and South Korea are also accelerating the跟进 (follow-up) of detailed rules, proposing to allow compliant entities to issue stablecoins.
In other words, the stablecoin track has迎来 (ushered in) a true "regulatory window"—evolving from a grey-area liquidity tool to a financial infrastructure where compliance and experimentation coexist (Extended reading: Grey Behemoths vs Whitelisted Players, A Look into the "Forking Moment" Brought by Compliant Stablecoins).
In this process, the track will inevitably分化 (differentiate). On one end, there are institutional-type stablecoins纳入 (incorporated into) the whitelist system,承担 (bearing) payment and settlement functions; on the other end, there are crypto-native stablecoins that continue to serve on-chain native finance, emphasizing censorship resistance and self-custody精神 (spirit). They will not simply be a life-or-death struggle but will serve completely different scenarios and user groups.
The real change is that stablecoins are being asked to answer a question for the first time: Which part of the financial system do you actually want to become?
This is also a question that other Crypto/Web3 tracks will have to answer in 2026.
Conclusion
2025 is undoubtedly a clear turning point year.
Regulation is no longer a vague, adversarial, passive existence but has begun to systematically shape the structure, boundaries, and development path of the crypto industry. From the US to the EU, from Hong Kong to Japan, rules are completing the institutional absorption of Crypto at an unprecedented speed.
But we also need to be清醒地认识到 (clearly aware):
Compliance is only a means, not the endgame of Web3.
In this global-scale co-optation and restructuring, discerning what is merely noise that will be washed away by the times and what is the true foundation承载 (carrying) the future will become a required course for every Web3 participant.
Regulation is no longer the "enemy" of the crypto industry, but its敲门砖 (stepping stone) to a multi-trillion-dollar market.
