{"id":5848,"date":"2026-01-21T07:33:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T07:33:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=5848"},"modified":"2026-01-21T07:33:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T07:33:32","slug":"key-takeaways-from-cryptos-q4-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=5848","title":{"rendered":"Key Takeaways from Crypto\u2019s Q4 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div id=\"blockquote-block_fd523fb971368ab3e800887ab204ba97\" class=\"blockquote-container\" style=\"border-color: #5100fc\">\n<div class=\"blockquote-text\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The latest quarterly report from Brisbane-based crypto exchange Swyftx argues that Bitcoin is behaving more like a \u201cbeta for high risk tech socks\u201d than digital gold after a volatile Q4 punctuated by the crypto collapse of October 8.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other trends highlighted include the success of altcoin spot ETFs and the rise of privacy coins.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Bird (aka ASX Trader) contributed to the report, forecasting a rough 2026 for crypto due to a convergence of several key cycles increasing risk.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In its latest quarterly report, Brisbane-based crypto exchange Swyftx has argued that Bitcoin\u2019s status as digital gold has \u201cmaterially weakened\u201d in the wake of the October 10 crypto market calamity \u2014 the exchange says BTC is currently more like a \u201cbeta for risk-on tech stocks\u201d than a safe haven asset.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The next instalment of our End of Quarter Industry Report is here. \ud83d\udc40<\/p>\n<p>There were so many learnings to take away from the quarter just passed. Alongside <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ASX__Trader?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ASX__Trader<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jasonpizzino?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@jasonpizzino<\/a>, we dive into the macroeconomic, narrative, and data-led dynamics that inform the crypto\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/bCqXCi9Etg\">pic.twitter.com\/bCqXCi9Etg<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Swyftx (@Swyftxglobal) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Swyftxglobal\/status\/2013099532591202525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 19, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Swyftx attributed the October 10 crypto market collapse to a number of factors, including macroeconomic and geopolitical drivers, but highlighted the role of lowered US dollar liquidity and all-time high leverage rates in the crypto market.<\/p>\n<div id=\"blockquote-block_ebaad554f5390a924821671d890af933\" class=\"blockquote-container variant-personal\">\n<div class=\"blockquote-text\">\n<p><em>These liquidity pressures eventually reached boiling point, and, paired with the perfect storm of conditions, the market gave way on October 10.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"blockquote-attribution\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"author-image lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2023\/09\/28131019\/Pav-Hundal.jpg\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2023\/09\/28131019\/Pav-Hundal.jpg\" class=\"author-image\" data-eio=\"l\"\/>        Pav Hundal, Lead analyst at Swyftx    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Bitcoin\u2019s relatively weak performance throughout 2025 \u2014 but particularly after October 10 \u2014 demonstrates it isn\u2019t behaving at all like \u2018digital gold\u2019 in difficult market conditions. \u201cThis year saw a significant decoupling between the two [gold and Bitcoin] with the divergence accelerating in Q4 2025,\u201d the report\u2019s authors noted.<\/p>\n<div id=\"blockquote-block_191efda9c87643b7a65fb5bc9a6c2ad4\" class=\"blockquote-container variant-personal\">\n<div class=\"blockquote-text\">\n<p><em>Through the year gold was a pre-eminent performer (+70%), while Bitcoin traded largely flat. By late November correlation between the assets was consistently negative, falling as low as -0.9.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n                Swyftx Q4 2025 Report    <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The exchange also pointed out that Bitcoin\u2019s price decoupled from global M2 money supply in 2025, with the decoupling accelerating during Q4, which suggests the drivers of Bitcoin\u2019s price action may be changing and the market may be \u201centering unchartered waters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another important narrative which emerged during Q4 was the launch of altcoin-based spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) \u2014 with ETFs based on Solana, XRP, Hedera, Dogecoin and Chainlink all being launched in quick succession.<\/p>\n<p>While almost all altcoins were weak through Q4, investor demand for these altcoin-based ETFs has actually been quite strong, according to Swyftx. The exchange said that suggests a longer-term investment strategy for those opting to gain exposure through ETFs rather than directly buying altcoins.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Since being launched in November, Solana-based funds have accumulated assets under management (AUM) of over US$700 million (AU$1b), while the XRP-based funds reached a market cap of over US$1 billion (AU$1.4b) in just over a month and didn\u2019t have a single day of net outflows during this time.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: Institutions Set to Supercharge Crypto\u2019s Next Wave in 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-swyftx-metrics-show-customers-prefer-bitcoin-and-a-few-other-narrative-driven-winners-nbsp\">Swyftx Metrics Show Customers Prefer Bitcoin and a Few Other Narrative-Driven Winners\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p>Data on Swyftx customers\u2019 behaviour shows that investors sought the relative safety of Bitcoin, with trades involving Bitcoin on the platform (Bitcoin dominance) surging 70% in Q4 of 2025 to 33.5% \u2014 up from 19.6% in Q3.<\/p>\n<p>For a brief period in December, Bitcoin dominance actually hit 50%, showing just how much users were flocking to Bitcoin over alts.<\/p>\n<p>There were a few select winners other than Bitcoin, with trading volumes for Sui, Hedera and Bittensor all significantly higher than what would be expected based on their market caps.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of price action, there was one huge winner in Q4 \u2014 privacy coins, led by ZCash (ZEC). Through Q4, Zcash\u2019s price surged by over 600%, largely driven by privacy concerns around Bitcoin.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full variant-no-border\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"673\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-132581 lazyload\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/01\/21161159\/image-1.jpeg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/01\/21161159\/image-1.jpeg 1600w, https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/01\/21161159\/image-1-768x323.jpeg 768w\" data-eio-rwidth=\"1600\" data-eio-rheight=\"673\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1600\" height=\"673\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/01\/21161159\/image-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-132581\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/01\/21161159\/image-1.jpeg 1600w, https:\/\/cdn.cryptonews.com.au\/2026\/01\/21161159\/image-1-768x323.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1600px) 100vw, 1600px\" data-eio=\"l\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Top 5 performing categories on Swyftx during Q4 2025. Source:<\/em><em> Swyftx<\/em><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Privacy-based tokens were the only category on Swyftx to see average price increases in Q4, being up on average 183.4%. All other categories fell, with the second-best-performing category, \u2018layer 1s\u2019, dropping by an average of 24.2%.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-2026-a-year-for-playing-defence-says-asx-trader\">2026 a Year For \u201cPlaying Defence,\u201d Says ASX Trader<\/h2>\n<p>Investment adviser and report contributor, David Bird (Aka ASX Trader), said 2026 was likely to see \u201cdefensive assets\u201d such as gold outperform higher risk assets such as Bitcoin and crypto.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom a macro perspective several major cycles appear to be approaching peaks \u2014 the Land Cycle, Brenner Cycle, broader economic cycle, the mid-term election cycle and even the 4-year crypto cycle itself. When multiple cycles align this way, risk tends to rise not fall. Crypto, being highly sensitive to liquidity and sentiment, is particularly exposed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related: Crypto Investment Products See Largest Weekly Inflows Since October 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Investing YouTuber Jason Pizzino also contributed his insights to Swyftx\u2019s report and shared a similar outlook for 2026: he thinks several indicators are now aligning to confirm crypto has entered a bear market.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTime and sentiment indicators have now slowed to levels not seen since the prior bear market in late 2021 \/ early 2022, which led us to believe this time is not different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Pizzino suggested one potentially positive indicator is that we haven\u2019t (yet) seen Bitcoin fall 50% from its bull market high. If Bitcoin can continue to hold above this level (around US$71,000 according to Pizzino), we may yet see it rally if other macro conditions become more favourable.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>Cryptocurrency,Market Analysis,Swyftx#Key #Takeaways #Cryptos1768980812<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The latest quarterly report from Brisbane-based crypto exchange Swyftx argues that Bitcoin is behaving more like a \u201cbeta for high risk tech socks\u201d than digital gold after a volatile Q4 punctuated by the crypto collapse of October 8. Other trends highlighted include the success of altcoin spot ETFs and the rise of privacy coins. David<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1069,1562,1563],"class_list":{"0":"post-5848","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bitcoin","8":"tag-cryptos","9":"tag-key","10":"tag-takeaways"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.6 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Key Takeaways from Crypto\u2019s Q4 2025 - Crypto News: Latest Cryptocurrency News and Analysis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptonews.uk.com\/?p=5848\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Key Takeaways from Crypto\u2019s Q4 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The latest quarterly report from Brisbane-based crypto exchange Swyftx argues that Bitcoin is behaving more like a \u201cbeta for high risk tech socks\u201d than digital gold after a volatile Q4 punctuated by the crypto collapse of October 8. 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