Recapping Crypto’s Most Consequential Year

John Robert Reed
December 12, 2025 | 6 minute read

When we look back in a not-so-distant future, I believe we’ll remember 2025 as one of the most consequential years in the history of crypto. The sheer number and magnitude of de-risking events this year have been truly unprecedented. From the passage of the historic GENIUS Act—arguably the most important piece of financial legislation since Dodd-Frank—to the definitive end of Chokepoint 2.0, to the announcement of Project Crypto and the SEC’s bold plan to rebuild America’s capital markets on blockchain rails, this year has marked a decisive turning point.

But the story of 2025 extends well beyond policy. We’ve witnessed major breakthroughs in market microstructure with propAMMs and conditional liquidity, public-market innovation (including the rise of digital asset treasury companyies, or DATs), prediction markets (both on- and off-chain), payments, stablecoins, synthetic dollars, DePIN, and more. Together, these advances signal that the crypto industry is moving into a new phase of expansion, coordinated growth, and legitimacy.

We explored each of these themes in depth at our eighth annual Multicoin Summit, which wrapped late last month. As is our tradition, we brought together an incredible lineup of guest speakers, portfolio founders, and industry leaders to share their perspectives on where markets and innovation are headed next.

We also unveiled several new Multicoin theses. Our team spends hundreds of hours refining these ideas—distilling months of research into concise, 15-minute presentations that articulate where we see the world going next.

Spencer argued that we’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg in fintech innovation, and explained why the best is still to come. Shayon introduced the concept of Internet Labor Markets, a powerful new framework that challenges the mainstream “AI-replaces-jobs” narrative head-on. And Vishal examined emerging opportunities in order-flow monetization, and why it will reshape the business models of internet applications.

While the Summit is designed first and foremost for our investors, we always aim to make our thinking accessible to all builders, investors, and stakeholders across the crypto ecosystem. We’re pleased to share that talks from the 2025 Multicoin Summit are now live on our YouTube channel. Links below. We hope you’ll watch, learn, and continue building alongside us as crypto enters its most exciting chapter yet.

The Road Ahead For Internet Capital Markets

Kyle Samani, Managing Partner, Multicoin Capital

2025 and the Future of U.S. Crypto Policy

Greg Xethalis, Partner and General Counsel, Multicoin Capital

The Rise of American Crypto

Bo Hines, CEO, USAT

Prediction Markets Rule Everything Around Me

Tarek Mansour, Co-Founder & CEO, Kalshi

Kalshi-as-a-Platform

John Wang, Head of Crypto, Kalshi

User Generated Assets and Order Flow: The Internet’s New Business Model

Vishal Kankani, Principal, Multicoin Capital

The Opportunity for Specialized Stablecoin Fintechs

Spencer Applebaum, Investment Partner, Multicoin Capital

The Evolution of Market Microstructure

Nitesh Nash, CEO, DFlow

Internet Labor Markets

Shayon Sengupta, Investment Partner, Multicoin Capital

The Physical AI Revolution

Mike Horton, Founder, GEODNET

Reinventing Banking With Stablecoins

Garrett Harper, Head of Business Development, Squads

Making Payments Fun

Alex Fine, CEO, Fun.xyz

Sports Betting in Real Time

Jason Krupat, Co-Founder & CEO, Cheddr

Stablecoins or Synthetic Dollars?

Guy Young, CEO & Founder, Ethena Labs

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/Specialized Stablecoin Fintechs

Spencer Applebaum
Eli Qian
by Spencer Applebaum & Eli Qian
December 10, 2025 | 13 minute read

Over the last two decades, fintech has changed how people access financial products, but not how money actually moves. Innovation focused on cleaner interfaces, smoother onboarding, while the core financial infrastructure remained largely unchanged.

Spencer Applebaum
Eli Qian
by Spencer Applebaum & Eli Qian
December 10, 2025 | 13 minute read

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