In 2025, crypto markets entered a data-defined period. For years, buyers relied on halving cycles, on-chain, and TVL charts to learn sentiment. However the framework reshuffled.
This 12 months, CEX spot volumes fell 27.7% whereas DEX exercise grew 25.3%, and Henley counted over 240,000 crypto millionaires worldwide. With digital treasuries and establishments pouring billions, the query for 2026 is now not the place capital flows—however which on-chain metrics most reliably reveal the market’s subsequent route.
To unpack these shifts, BeInCrypto spoke with the Dune management staff, whose analytics platform processes billions of blockchain occasions every day.
Stablecoins: Winners, Structural Adoption, and Velocity as 2026’s Key Metric
Stablecoins expanded from roughly $200 billion to $305 billion in 2025, reflecting deeper on-chain utility fairly than short-term hypothesis. The main issuers reveal the place institutional liquidity has moved.
A Dune–Artemis report mentioned complete stablecoin provide rose 63% to $225 billion by February, processing $35 trillion in transfers. USDC doubled to $56 billion as USDT held $146 billion, whereas Ethena’s USDe hit $6.2 billion — proof that buyers favor yield-backed tokens over hypothesis.
In an exclusive BeInCrypto interview, specialists rejected Commonplace Chartered’s declare that stablecoins might drain $1 trillion from emerging-market banks.
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Lisk’s Dominic Schwenter referred to as the shift “evolution, not disaster,” whereas Cork Protocol’s Robert Schmitt described it as a “second Bretton Woods” increasing digital-dollar rails as an alternative of threatening native banking methods.
“USDC doubled 12 months over 12 months to nearly $80 billion in provide. Ethena’s USDe rose from about $2.4 billion to $14.8 billion, whereas Plasma—launched lower than a month in the past—has already reached $8 billion, rating fifth by on-chain stablecoin provide. The expansion is primarily structural in treasuries, DeFi lending, and RWA settlements fairly than speculative demand.”
Dune analysts suggest monitoring stablecoin velocity—the ratio of transaction quantity to market capitalization—because the clearest metric in 2026. It separates lively utilization from hoarding habits.
Tokenized RWAs: Treasuries Dominate, Bonds Catch Up
Tokenized real-world property (RWAs) solidified their role in 2025 as establishments sought greater yields and diversification. Treasury and bond merchandise drove the enlargement, supported by deeper DeFi integration.
A Dune–RWA.xyz report discovered tokenized property up 224% 12 months up to now, pushed by US Treasuries and bonds. BlackRock’s BUIDL reached $2.2 billion, whereas non-public credit score rose 61% to $15.9 billion.
Analysts mentioned RWAs now anchor institutional liquidity and function a bridge between DeFi and conventional markets.
“U.S. Treasuries grew 224% 12 months over 12 months in TVL, bonds rose 171%, and personal credit score expanded 61% 12 months up to now to $15.9 billion. These classes have gotten the spine of capital market restructuring. Interoperability and composable finance are driving participation.”
Dune’s 2025 RWA report highlights that year-over-year TVL development and the variety of distinctive holders stay the perfect indicators of institutional traction.
Perpetual DEX Quantity and Rising Threat Thresholds
Decentralized perpetuals surged past $2.6 trillion in annual quantity. Open-interest focus throughout high platforms now resembles the leverage clusters as soon as seen on centralized derivatives markets.
Bitwise’s Max Shannon advised BeInCrypto that if DEXs hold profitable market share, volumes might attain $20–30 trillion inside 5 years. He mentioned leverage and buying and selling churn are accelerating development, with institutional uptake and clearer guidelines performing as key catalysts.
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“The perps market exceeded $1 trillion in month-to-month quantity. Hyperliquid, which dominated with over 70% of quantity and 90% of open curiosity, now holds 30% of complete quantity and 50% of open curiosity. Aster on BNB Chain and Variational on Arbitrum are rising rivals via yield-linked and peer-to-peer derivatives.”
Handle focus spikes have correlated with localized volatility. Monitoring on-chain open curiosity relative to complete decentralized quantity might function an early-warning threshold for systemic threat in 2026.
CEX–DEX Liquidity Migration: Structural, Not Short-term
In 2025, centralized and decentralized liquidity started to diverge. CEX deposits averaged $150 billion per thirty days, whereas DEX volumes averaged $500 billion and peaked at $857 billion in July. This hole alerts a structural—not transient—shift.
“Hildobby’s dashboards present that after November 2023, DEX volumes started to surpass CEXs. In 2025, decentralized spot reached $857 billion in month-to-month quantity, in contrast with CEX deposits close to $250 billion at their peak.”
Analysts interpret this divergence as a long-term rebalancing of liquidity towards permissionless venues, bolstered by improved consumer interfaces and institutional custody instruments.
ETF Flows and On-Chain Response Lag
ETF inflows don’t seem straight on-chain however go away measurable traces. Correlations with stablecoin actions, mempool congestion, and gas-fee spikes have tightened, revealing close to real-time liquidity reactions.
“Bitcoin ETFs now maintain 1.325 million BTC—about 6.65% of provide—value $149.8 billion, with a web influx of 706,000 BTC since launch. IBIT leads with roughly 28.7% of AUM share. Bitcoin absorption runs at about 3.5% annualized, whereas Ethereum ETFs maintain 6.75 million ETH (~5.44% of provide) value $29.2 billion, rising 4.1% annualized. Stablecoin enlargement stays the quickest on-chain response, usually inside hours of ETF movement shifts.”
Checkonchain Analytics co-founder James told BeInCrypto that long-term buyers are realizing $30–100 billion in month-to-month income, slowing value features regardless of robust demand.
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“Some holders are shifting from on-chain to ETFs, however they’re not the bulk,” he mentioned. “Institutional inflows stay huge—tens of billions of {dollars}. Since October 2024, IBIT has led the pack and continues to be the one fund with regular inflows. The US now holds about 90% of worldwide ETF property.”
Dune’s ETF dashboards verify that on-chain liquidity tends to reply inside hours of main ETF allocations. This positions stablecoin provide because the cleanest proxy for brand spanking new inflows.
The Meme Coin Dilemma
Meme cash continued to dominate consumer onboarding in 2025, notably throughout Solana-based launchpads. But whereas exercise was frenetic, survivorship charges stayed close to zero.
a16z CTO Eddy Lazzarin mentioned that the “casino-like” development hurts crypto’s credibility and diverts expertise from innovation.
Different VCs argue that meme buying and selling retains customers engaged and on-chain, highlighting a divide between hypothesis and utility that defines the present cycle.
“In 24 hours, about 11,600 tokens launched throughout Solana platforms. Pump.enjoyable alone hosted 10,704, however solely 0.7–0.8% ‘graduated’ to liquidity. Pump.enjoyable maintains round 79,600 every day lively customers and $63 million in every day quantity, producing $602,000 in charges. Token-level retention is minimal, however platform-level engagement is powerful.”
The information exhibits that meme cash stay robust entry funnels however not often evolve into sustainable ecosystems. Platform-level DAUs and charge information are the important thing indicators to watch.
New NFT Entrants Nonetheless Rising
Regardless of muted buying and selling volumes, NFTs maintained a task as onboarding ramps. Minting information signifies new consumer inflows fairly than contraction.
“Distinctive NFT patrons jumped from about 49 million in 2024 to greater than 173 million in the course of the first ten months of 2025. Mint volumes peaked at $78 billion in November 2024 and stabilized close to $30 billion month-to-month. Secondary trades are smaller however constant, returning to 2021 exercise ranges.”
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The development helps NFTs as continued gateways into crypto, although secondary market depth stays restricted in contrast with early-cycle peaks.
DePIN and DeSci: Utility Outpaces Hype
Past tokenization and ETFs, DePIN and DeSci sectors expanded quietly in 2025. On-chain information suggests fundamentals, not hypothesis, are driving adoption.
NodeOps co-founder Naman Kabra said the sector “isn’t useless—it’s maturing.” He mentioned DePIN’s shift from hype to infrastructure mirrors Bitcoin’s early evolution and “filters out initiatives that may’t ship actual utility.”
The Dune “Onchain Layer of Solana DePIN” report counted 238,000 lively nodes throughout Helium, Hivemapper, and Render, with practically $6 million in on-chain income. Kabra mentioned the sector’s “boring trajectory” exhibits lasting worth as decentralized infrastructure turns into on a regular basis infrastructure.
“Helium Cellular reached 462,064 subscribers and 84,343 nodes, including over 10,000 new customers weekly. XNET contributors rose 8% to 827, and Nosana processed 2.4 million compute jobs. Hivemapper and Render confirmed regular development. Watch node counts, contributors, and jobs accomplished—they’re the cleanest demand indicators.”
DePIN’s bodily infrastructure development and DeSci’s analysis financing fashions illustrate crypto’s gradual integration into real-world productiveness sectors.
2026’s Most Predictive Indicator: Stablecoin Provide
As market capitalization handed $3.5 trillion and Bitcoin dominance rose above 62%, one metric persistently anticipated value motion.
“If you happen to observe only one on-chain metric in 2026, make it stablecoin provide. It’s the clearest proxy for brand spanking new capital. Stablecoin development exhibits roughly 0.87 correlation with BTC and infrequently leads rallies. Alternate balances symbolize dry powder for the following transfer.”
Stablecoin enlargement continues to outperform ETF flows and funding charges as a predictive measure, defining the liquidity tide heading into 2026.
Conclusion: On-chain Data is Shaping Crypto’s Subsequent Wave
Dune’s 2025 analytics depict a maturing market anchored in information precision. Stablecoins stay liquidity’s spine, RWAs institutionalize yield, and DePIN signals purposeful enlargement.
As 2026 approaches, on-chain intelligence isn’t supplementary—it’s sovereign. For buyers, the sting lies in deciphering alerts sooner and cleaner than the gang.
