While the Bitcoin price was volatile in 2025, the overall crypto sector spent the year moving from the fringes of finance toward formal recognition, regulatory scrutiny and institutional participation.
Countries around the world took measures to better oversee the market and integrate crypto into their systems, establishing strategic Bitcoin reserves and embracing new spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Before the new year begins, here’s a look at our most popular crypto news stories of 2025.
Publish date: October 8, 2025
Australia was active in the crypto space this year, releasing a draft bill to regulate cryptocurrency exchanges. It proposes bringing crypto platforms under the Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) regime.
The bill forms part of Australia’s broader digital asset strategy, which was unveiled in March and is aimed at delivering effective settings for digital assets and payment stablecoins.
At present, digital asset exchanges in Australia are only required to register with the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Center and follow anti-money laundering and customer ID regulations.
Under the bill, any entity providing specified services in relation to digital asset platforms or tokenized custody platforms will be regarded as a “financial service” provider and therefore be required to hold an AFSL.
Publish date: May 23, 2025
Australia’s crypto market was also energized in May, when a court ruling cut to the heart of how Bitcoin should be treated under the law. Judge Michael O’Connell ruled that Bitcoin transactions should be treated similarly to cash, rather than as an investment asset like gold or shares, and therefore be exempt from capital gains tax.
The decision arose from a hearing involving William Wheatley, a former Australian federal police officer who was accused of stealing 81.6 BTC in 2019. At the time of the alleged theft, the Bitcoin were valued at about AU$492,000 in total; today, they would be worth much more — roughly AU$10.8 million.
In his ruling, O’Connell described Bitcoin as a form of property, but emphasized it is more comparable to Australian dollars than to traditional investment assets. The implications of the decision are potentially significant, although narrow. If upheld on appeal, it would apply only to Bitcoin and only to transactions made from 2019 onward.
The ruling landed amid growing public engagement with crypto in Australia.
According to the Independent Reserve Cryptocurrency Index, released in February, 31 percent of Australians have invested in or held crypto, with 70 percent of those investors holding Bitcoin. The same research found that 73.4 percent of respondents consider Bitcoin to be money, a store of value or an investment asset.
Publish date: January 14, 2025
Early in the year, spurred in part by advocacy from then-incoming President Donald Trump and his allies, several US states moved to explore or implement strategic Bitcoin reserves.
These discussions gained momentum after Bitcoin reached new all-time highs in 2024, drawing attention from lawmakers interested in its potential as a hedge against inflation and economic instability.
By the end of 2024, five states — Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire and North Dakota — were actively considering measures to incorporate Bitcoin into their financial systems.
US state interest in crypto reserves has continued in 2025.
In December, Texas launched a crypto reserve with a US$5 million purchase of Bitcoin. The Texas Comptroller’s Office said it is a “placeholder investment” while the state works to contract with a crypto bank.
The purchase represented half of the US$10 million appropriated by the legislature and made Texas the first state to actually fund a strategic crypto reserve.
Publish date: September 19, 2025
Institutional adoption also advanced through financial markets. In a milestone for altcoins, Dogecoin and XRP entered the US spot ETF market. REX-Osprey launched the REX-Osprey DOGE ETF (CBOE:DOJE) and the REX-Osprey XRP ETF (CBOE:XRPR), the first US-listed ETFs to offer spot exposure to those tokens.
Greg King, CEO and founder of REX Financial and Osprey Funds, framed the launches as a natural extension of investor demand. “Investors look to ETFs as trading and access vehicles,” he said.
“The digital asset revolution is already underway, and to be able to offer exposure to some of the most popular digital assets is something REX-Osprey is proud of and has worked diligently to achieve,” King added.
Dogecoin, created in 2013 as a parody, gained notoriety through online communities and celebrity attention, while XRP has been positioned as a tool for fast, low-cost cross-border payments.
Publish date: November 10, 2025
Crypto funds recorded US$1.3 billion in weekly outflows for the second consecutive week midway through November. Bitcoin products accounted for US$932 million of that total, with Ether seeing US$438 million in redemptions.
The pullback came amid investor caution following the prolonged US government shutdown and a lack of key economic data. Short Bitcoin funds, meanwhile, saw their largest inflows since May.
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Securities Disclosure: I, Giann Liguid, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
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