DeFi and smart contract-tied cryptocurrencies fell by over 66% during 2025, but analysts are pointing to maturing digital asset valuations due to incoming institutional capital.
The steep decline in altcoins over the past year may reflect a broader reassessment of which blockchain networks are likely to attract long-term capital, as institutional investors begin a gradual, multiyear entry into the market, analysts say.
Excluding Bitcoin (BTC), 2025 turned out to be a bear market for the wider cryptocurrency market. Decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens fell 67% while cryptocurrencies associated with smart contract blockchains delivered a negative average return of 66%, according to blockchain data shared by Jamie Coutts, the chief crypto analyst at Real Vision.
The past year’s poor performance was a “repricing” of the leading crypto projects as institutional capital is seeking to gain more exposure, Coutts wrote in a Wednesday X post.
