This Week in Crypto: Markets Shed $800 Billion but Keep Hope for Mainstream Adoption

Volatility is the name of the game when it comes to crypto markets, and this week offered participants more of the same: an $800 billion rout since January.

The price of bitcoin has dropped from its peak of $108,000 circa Trump’s election to around $86,000 as of reporting, as fervor over the potential for a softer U.S. regulatory climate wanes and the sector is rocked, again, by a series of scandals.

The recalibration of expectations has led to a recalibration of the markets. Rather than kicking of a regulatory shift and investing into the creation of a national bitcoin reserve during his first 100 days in office, Trump’s most prominent crypto move has been the launch of his own meme coin. The $TRUMP and $MELANIA meme coins have also been buffeted by the market turbulence, with both falling to all-time lows.

But as it relates to enterprise blockchain and stablecoin use, the story is slightly different, and a little rosier. Institution interest in the sector, ultimately, could be the energy the ecosystem needs.

After all, the crypto and on-chain landscape of today is barely recognizable compared to that of just a year ago, with major players in 2025 making ongoing and increasingly mainstream advances in crypto payments and finance.

Read more: How the World Does Crypto and What It Means for US Businesses

The Industry Welcomes a Softer Stance From the SEC

For years, cryptocurrency firms have navigated a challenging regulatory landscape, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) often leading the charge on enforcement actions. However, 2025 is signaling a change as evidenced by regulatory news dropping this week.

On Monday (Feb. 24), Robinhood Markets announced the closure of an SEC investigation into its cryptocurrency operations without any enforcement action.

Robinhood’s announcement came days after another crypto firm, Coinbase, announced Friday (Feb. 21) that the SEC was set to dismiss a major lawsuit the crypto company had been battling.

The SEC’s evolving approach is underscored by its decision last Thursday (Feb. 20) to replace its dedicated cryptocurrency unit with a broader team focused on investigating cyber-related misconduct.

Still, that doesn’t mean that misconduct isn’t still happening across the crypto landscape. On Monday (Feb. 24), a judge fined the operator of the OKX cryptocurrency exchange more than $504 million in fines and fees for breaking anti-money laundering (AML) laws.

As the blockchain ecosystem grows, security challenges become more complex, as evidenced by the news on Friday that cryptocurrency exchange Bybit was hit by a hacker who stole $1.5 billion of its holdings. The attack was described as being likely the “largest incident ever, not just crypto.”

But the marketplace is responding, with Blockaid raising $50 million in a Series B funding round last week to help meet the demand for its blockchain security platform. The company plans to use the funds to expand its product development, enhance engineering teams and strengthen its research capabilities.

Crypto’s New Era Could Feature Reliable Payments

With regulatory relief and financial backing, cryptocurrency companies are turning their focus to growing mainstream adoption.

In payments news, artificial intelligence (AI) commerce solutions company Rezolve Ai said Monday that it is rolling out a $1 billion bitcoin treasury, a move the company says will support the launch of its cryptocurrency payments platform. The platform will enable consumers to pay with bitcoin, USDT and other digital assets at the point of sale, while retailers gain the elimination of merchant fees, instant crypto-to-fiat conversions and AI-driven transaction intelligence.

Elsewhere, PayPal Holding’s senior management laid out a strategy at its annual Investor Day on Tuesday (Feb. 25) and included crypto in its “PayPal 2.0” vision. With a nod to crypto, Diego Scotti, general manager of the company’s consumer group said, “PayPal was the company that brought the world offline-to-online and now we’re the ones taking it from online to on-chain.”

Also on Tuesday, cryptocurrency-focused asset manager Bitwise completed a $70 million equity raise. The funding round will help Bitwise bolster its balance sheet and develop new investment capabilities and investor solutions.

Rep. French Hill of Arkansas, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee (HFSC), and Rep. Bryan Steil of Wisconsin, head of the HFSC’s Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee, wrote in a joint opinion piece last week that Congress has overlooked the sector for too long.

“There is little doubt that these innovations will make financial products more affordable and accessible,” they wrote. “From stablecoins to tokenization of assets, to decentralized finance applications, these advancements have the potential to lower costs and expand opportunities for both investors and consumers.”