2025 has been brutal for crypto - with one exception

Crypto in 2025 has been a grind. After repeated flash-crashes and record liquidations in October, liquidity thinned and risk appetite vanished across the board. Bitcoin whipped to an all-time high above $126,000 early in October, then slid more than 20% within weeks as futures deleveraged and altcoins cratered—many by 50% or more this year.

Today, Bitcoin hovers near ~$102,000—roughly around (and at times below) where it sat on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, 2025 (about ~$101k–$109k that day), and miles under October’s peak. In other words, despite a year of headline heat, BTC has delivered little to negative performance since inauguration while serving up punishing volatility along the way.

Altcoins fared worse. The October wipeout was one of the largest single-day crypto drawdowns on record, with billions in leveraged positions vaporized and broad coins slumping far more than Bitcoin. Even subsequent bounces left many tokens deeply underwater for 2025.

And yet the Trump family thrived in this same market. An in-depth Reuters investigation estimated the Trumps generated over $800 million in cash from crypto-asset sales in the first half of 2025 alone, anchored by World Liberty Financial token sales and a Trump-branded memecoin push—on top of large “on-paper” gains that swing with token prices. The analysis combined public disclosures, business records, and blockchain forensics.

That contrast is the 2025 story in one frame: while Bitcoin spent the year chopping around its inauguration-week levels and altcoins bled, the Trumps built a cash-first machine—monetizing tokens, fees, and brand gravity—turning a bruising market into hundreds of millions in realized revenue.