Crypto trends 2025: Ether, XRP, Bitcoin lead wallet growth; but who’s losing?

After hitting a high of $100,000 earlier this week, Bitcoin has retraced to around $92,000. The crypto market is feeling pressure as Bitcoin price tumbled alongside stock markets since the beginning of 2025. Meanwhile, a Wall Street investment bank made a massive bet on a potential BTC game-changer, adding to the uncertainty.

The events of the first week of 2025 have shown that investors have already picked their key performing assets for the year, as a trend starts to develop. The cumulative digital assets market reported a marginal recovery on Friday morning after an intense sell-off. The crypto market cap stands at $3.31 trillion with a trading volume of $150 billion.

Ethereum adds 645K wallets

Per data shared by Santiment, the number of crypto holders has fluctuated at a very high rate since the new year kicked off as a roller coaster ride for the top cryptos. Ripple’s XRP and Ethereum (ETH) wallets have grown in number while Chainlink saw a drop. However, Cardano (ADA) is finally showing a positive turnaround.

Bitcoin recorded a surge, with 102K new wallets joining the race to grab the top crypto asset. Ethereum turned out to be the biggest gainer among all. Ether network added 645K wallets while the recently trending token, XRP, added fresh 58k wallets.

Dogecoin (DOGE), the biggest meme crypto, reportedly added 29K new wallets. Cardano has been lagging behind in the bull run but the new year brought fresh 2.8K wallets to the network. Meanwhile, Chainlink was in the negative column, losing 3.3K wallets.

📊 As 2025 has kicked off with roller coastering prices for crypto’s top assets, the amount of hodlers have fluctuated wildly since the new year:

🪙 Bitcoin $BTC: +102K Wallets
🪙Ethereum $ETH: +645K Wallets
🪙XRP Ledger $XRP: +58K Wallets
🪙Cardano $ADA: +2.8K Wallets… pic.twitter.com/W07x43GgW4

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 10, 2025

XRP holds strong, Dogecoin faces a dip

Across social media, sentiment for crypto’s largest market caps continues to shift. Santiment in a report revealed intriguing insights into how markets typically move contrary to the crowd’s expectations.

It mentioned that the sentiment around Bitcoin remains fairly neutral. While the market saw a bearish reaction after the Fed-induced retrace on December 20, BTC has managed to rebound back to $102K before settling in the low to mid $90K range. Traders are waiting for a larger move to dictate more extreme opinions.

Bitcoin price is down by around 2% in the last 7 days. BTC trades at an average price of $94,879, as of press time with a 24-hour trading volume of $60 billion.

Ethereum has faced some uncertainty as altcoins follow BTC’s lead. After briefly reclaiming $4,000, ETH now struggles to stay above the $3,000 support level. A breach below support could lead to increased panic and better buying opportunities.

XRP has held up well compared to other altcoins. Its market cap saw an 18% rise in just the first three days of the new year. The crowd remains optimistic following its massive 455% surge from November to December.

Solana’s community remains steadfast even as the asset has underperformed. SOL dropped 25% in the past 6 weeks. Retail traders bought the dip successfully after Christmas, maintaining a notably high optimism. Patience may be needed as the excitement dies down.

Dogecoin has been relatively quiet outside of a temporary run-up at the beginning of the year. Following Elon Musk’s brief “Kekius Maximus” handle change, DOGE has shed -28% of its market cap. Sentiment is at its lowest point in a year, offering contrarian opportunities.

Land a High-Paying Web3 Job in 90 Days: The Ultimate Roadmap