2025 a crazy year for crypto

A YEAR or so ago I suggested in this column that cryptocurrencies, particularly Bitcoin, may be stabilising and becoming more respectable in investment circles.

- MARTIN HESSE

There were a couple of reasons for this: large institutional asset managers such as Blackrock had been unable to resist the tantalising profits that could be made and had climbed aboard the crypto rollercoaster; and regulators, including the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa, were tightening regulation.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Bitcoin is as tumultuous as ever, and 2025 proved another crazy ride for the crypto industry in general. Newly installed US President Donald Trump and his circle unashamedly embraced the razzle-dazzle crypto culture (or should that be cult?), with Trump launching a meme coin in his name.

STrump launched at US$1.2 on January 17 and spiked at $73 two days later. It dropped almost as abruptly to around $45 before falling further and levelling out it is now worth less than $6.

Let's look at Bitcoin, which may have more respectability but not a great deal more stability. Almost three years ago, at the start of 2023, Bitcoin was trading at around $17 000. It enjoyed a steady rise (one of the most stable periods in its history), ending 2023 at roughly $43 000. It traded at between $60 000 and $70 000 for most of 2024, until the US election in November. Trump's win gave Bitcoin a welcome boost, as it did for the whole crypto industry it ended 2024 at about $95 000.