After BTC hits new highs: What other surprises are there in the crypto market in the second half of the year?

Source: Blockworks; Compiled and sorted by: BitpushNews

With only 11 days into the second half of 2025, Bitcoin (BTC) has already hit record highs several times, most recently breaking the $118,000 mark. With Bitcoin taking the lead in reaching the goal of "hitting a record high" on the "crypto market prediction list" for the second half of the year, what other surprises can we expect in the next six months?

Behind this round of Bitcoin's surge, it is inseparable from the continued promotion of the wave of corporate-level Bitcoin purchases. Industry observers expect that more institutional platforms will open investment channels for Bitcoin assets to customers in the future.

Ledn Chief Investment Officer John Glover has attracted much attention for his accurate predictions of Bitcoin's trend. Today, he is still optimistic that Bitcoin is expected to reach $136,000, and believes that this goal will be achieved faster than originally expected, most likely within this year.

However, John Glover also reminded that after reaching this high point, the price of Bitcoin may experience a period of correction, with the range expected to be between $91,000 and $109,000, but it will eventually continue to rise.

Clear regulation: the "green light" for institutional funds to enter the market?

In addition to price trends, Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer believes that the most significant catalyst for the future crypto ecosystem will be the formal entry into force of the CLARITY Act. The bill aims to establish a clear framework to define whether crypto tokens are commodities or securities.

Mark Palmer pointed out: "Once the huge regulatory uncertainty is eliminated, institutional investors will get a real 'green light' and can safely invest heavily in the crypto field." This means that if this bill can be successfully implemented, the huge institutional funds that have been on the sidelines due to regulatory fog may set off a new round of entry.

M&A boom: Traditional finance accelerates its layout in the crypto field

It is worth noting that the merger and acquisition (M&A) activities in the crypto industry are heating up at an unprecedented rate.

A report by Architect Partners shows that the number of M&A transactions in the crypto field reached 78 in the second quarter, a record high. There are some eye-catching "marriages" among them, such as Ripple's acquisition of Hidden Road, which is another strong proof of the trend of integration between crypto and traditional finance (TradFi).

In the crypto-native sector, large transactions are also happening frequently, such as Coinbase's acquisition of derivatives giant Deribit.

Eric Risley, founder of Architect Partners, believes that we are at the beginning of a long-term upward trend in crypto M&A as the value proposition of crypto/blockchain gains wider recognition. He said: "Although the quarterly data will fluctuate, the fundamental strategic drivers of M&A are now very clear."

Eric Risley further pointed out that participants in future M&A will include existing crypto companies, and more importantly, traditional financial services institutions - including banks, traditional brokers and payment companies - will also actively participate in it.

However, Risley also raised a key question: What will the next generation of decentralized applications (dApps) look like? Will their focus go beyond simple price speculation and payment functions? This undoubtedly leaves a broad space for imagination in the industry.

Crypto investment products hit new highs: Wall Street's "new darling"?

At the same time, the asset management scale (AUM) of crypto investment products has also reached a record high. CoinShares data shows that around the middle of this year, the AUM of crypto investment products has reached US$188 billion. And this is before the market strengthened further this week.

Since its debut 18 months ago, the US spot Bitcoin ETF has accumulated a net inflow of US$51 billion (yesterday's single-day inflow was close to US$1.2 billion, setting a new high). The US spot Ethereum ETF also recorded a single-day inflow of US$383 million yesterday, setting its second highest record.

The industry expects that more crypto ETFs (including single asset and index types) will be launched this year, although the specific timetable is still pending. Grayscale has also expressed its views on this to the SEC, which shows the market's expectations for new products.

For investors who prefer to gain crypto exposure through the stock market, after Circle's IPO (initial public offering), they are closely watching the listing dynamics of more crypto companies, such as Gemini and Kraken.

Asset Tokenization: The Trillion-Dollar Track is Accelerating

In addition, the wave of asset tokenization is also continuing to advance.

Bitwise and VanEck executives have previously predicted that the tokenized securities market will reach $50 billion by 2025, and this goal is now halfway achieved.

"If Robinhood is launching tokenized trading, you can be sure that companies such as Charles Schwab are also actively researching it," Matt Hougan, chief investment officer of Bitwise, wrote in a memo this week. He expects more related announcements to appear this fall.

Although a Charles Schwab spokesperson did not disclose specific plans, he said the company is "actively tracking and exploring many opportunities in the field of digital assets, including tokenization."

Obviously, for crypto players, the crypto world will continue to be exciting in the second half of 2025 and will never be boring. Various data and expert expectations point to a more mature and more mainstream crypto market.