Exactly one year has passed since Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025, and over this period the crypto market has lived a small lifetime — with euphoria, hopes, disappointments, and a harsh reassessment of reality. If on inauguration day many investors expected a “golden era” for digital assets, the outcome turned out to be far more grounded and, for many, painful.
At first glance, the picture looks paradoxical. Bitcoin and Ethereum, as the main pillars of the market, formally managed to stay afloat. BTC declined by roughly 10% over the year, while ETH fell by just 3%. For traditional markets, this would look like a mild correction. But for crypto, accustomed to aggressive growth phases, such a result feels more like disappointment than success. Especially given expectations that under Trump, digital assets would receive regulatory relief and an inflow of capital.
The price difference of the top 10 crypto assets during the first year of Trump’s presidency. Data: Incrypted.
The real drama, however, unfolded in altcoins. Most projects in the top 10 went through a classic “crypto winter,” losing between 45% and 65% of their value. Solana, Cardano, Avalanche, Dogecoin, Chainlink — all came under heavy pressure. In some cases, the market punished excessive expectations; in others, weak real demand; and in some, a speculative bubble inflated in the previous cycle simply burst.
DOGE is particularly illustrative, having lost nearly two-thirds of its value. Meme magic ultimately gave way to cold calculation, and the market made it clear that a single tweet or symbolic support is no longer enough. ADA and AVAX faced a similar fate — projects with loud promises but limited progress in mass adoption over the past year.
Against this backdrop, rare exceptions stand out. BNB and TRX posted gains of more than 30% each. These projects moved against the broader trend thanks to resilient ecosystems, active usage, and clear economic models. Once again, the market reminded participants that during turbulent periods, it is not the loudest who survive, but those most deeply embedded in real infrastructure.
XRP became a separate example of how regulatory risks can destroy market capitalization even for major players. Losing more than a third of its value over the year is the price paid for legal uncertainty and prolonged conflicts with regulators that investors are no longer willing to ignore.
As a result, over one year, “crypto under Trump” transformed from a story of hopes into a story of selection. The market became tougher, more rational, and far less tolerant of empty promises. Capital concentrated in a limited number of assets, while the rest had to prove their viability not with words, but with numbers.
The infographic clearly captures this shift: prices of the top 10 cryptocurrencies at the time of Trump’s inauguration and today show not just price dynamics, but a change in the phase of the entire market. This is no longer unrestrained growth driven by expectations, but a cold cycle of reassessment, where the strong survive and the weak pay for past euphoria.
The irony is that it was precisely under a president many considered a potential ally of the crypto industry that the market went through one of its most sober and painful tests. Crypto once again reminded everyone of an old rule: politics can generate noise, but price is ultimately determined by demand, liquidity, and real utility. Everything else is temporary.
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