March 2025 was not much different from February, as cryptocurrencies continued their disappointing performance and declined further.
Overall, the decline was driven by macroeconomic uncertainty and political changes in the United States.
Amid all this negative sentiment, some crypto sectors have seen some positive signs, recording notable developments, as highlighted by Binance Research.
The market fell by 5% in March:
After US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to create a strategic reserve of Bitcoin in early March, the cryptocurrency market experienced intense volatility throughout the month.
This, coupled with the Federal Reserve's decision to keep benchmark interest rates steady for a second consecutive meeting and tariff tensions, led to a significant decline in risk appetite, which was reflected in a 4.4% decline in the crypto market.
Amid all this negativity, the Binance research team found that the supply of Bitcoin among long-term holders is increasing.
Bitcoin has also seen significant growth since the creation of the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, with institutional buyers increasingly buying it.
The interest from institutions was driven particularly by the introduction of clear regulation in the United States.
March saw significant transformations in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector, with Bitcoin-based decentralized finance (BTCFi) recording significant growth.
The US Senate has repealed a rule that would have required decentralized finance (DeFi) platform operators to submit to stricter reporting requirements from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
However, despite the positive impact of the new regulation, the total value locked (TVL) of the DeFi sector decreased by 1.5% month-on-month, with intense competition leading to a decline in the market share of some leading platforms, such as Uniswap.
Binance Research analysis shows that competing decentralized exchanges such as PancakeSwap and Raydium have increased their market share.
The same analysis showed a clear decline in the value of the meme coin market, which had rebounded with the launch of the Trump meme coin. Once the meme coin lost momentum, all other similar cryptocurrencies collapsed along with it.
Meanwhile, for non-fungible tokens, total sales volume in the non-fungible token (NFT) market fell by 12.4% in March, while the market capitalization of stablecoins rose by 4.4% in the same month.