March 2025 Crypto Recap: Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana Navigate US Trade Tariff Politics and Trump-Era Uncertainty

Here’s a summary of the key events that influenced the crypto market in March 2025:

Bitcoin Navigates Trump-Era Volatility Amidst ETF and On-Chain Shifts

March 2025 was a difficult month for Bitcoin (and crypto as a whole), with market volatility stemming from US President Donald Trump’s new tariff policies.

While Bitcoin (BTC) experienced a slight monthly return decrease of 0.61%, it navigated a period of significant market fluctuations driven by geopolitical tensions. After an initial drop, Bitcoin rebounded to $88,000 around March 24 before falling back to around $82,800 by April 6.

Despite the recent price drop, US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw a positive shift in investor sentiment. Monthly net outflows decreased significantly to $794.74 million in March, a 78% improvement compared to the substantial $3.56 billion outflow in February.

On-chain data also reflected continued network activity and adoption. Bitcoin transactions increased by 6% to 12 million, while active wallets grew by 15%, reaching 23.6 million, and new wallets grew by 14%, reaching 9.8 million. These metrics indicate a growing user base and sustained utilization of the Bitcoin network, even amidst market uncertainty.

However, the Bitcoin mining sector faced increasing challenges. The Bitcoin network difficulty continued its upward trend, reaching 112.14 trillion on March 10 and climbing further to 113.76 trillion on March 23.

The average Bitcoin hashrate also remained high at 808.40 EH/s. This rising difficulty, coupled with declining network transaction fees (which decreased by 8% to $15.11 million in March), put pressure on miners, particularly those using older hardware.

Total mining revenue for the month reached $1.22 billion, a slight 1.6% decrease compared to February’s $1.24 billion. The combination of higher difficulty and lower fees can push some miners into unprofitable territory, potentially leading to hardware shutdowns until upgrades or improved network conditions occur. The long-term impact of the April 2024 Bitcoin halving, which reduced the block subsidy to 3.125 BTC, continued to be felt by the mining industry.

On a more positive note, Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption saw progress at the state legislative level in the US. During March, 13 US states advanced various Bitcoin- and crypto-related bills, ranging from proposals to establish Bitcoin reserves to initiatives focused on crypto taxation and exploring pension fund investments. This legislative activity signals growing recognition and acceptance of Bitcoin within the traditional financial and regulatory landscape.

If you’re interested in more detailed and valuable market insights, check out Cryptonews’ in-depth price analyses, which offer expert forecasts for Bitcoin and other coins.

Bitcoin News – March 2025 Highlights

Ethereum’s Mixed March: ETH Price Drops and ETF Flows Reverse Despite Technical Gains

March 2025 presented a mixed picture for Ethereum, characterized by a significant downturn in its market performance alongside notable technical advancements.

The price of Ether (ETH) experienced a substantial 18.4% decrease during the month, reflecting broader market sentiment.

This negative price action also coincided with a dramatic shift in US spot Ether ETF inflows. After a positive inflow of $60.1 million in February, there was a significant outflow of $403.4 million in March, a 771% drop month-on-month.

On-chain data provided further insights into network activity. While the number of transactions on the Ethereum network saw a modest increase of 4.8% to 37.3 million, the number of active wallets experienced a slight decline of 1.4% to 13.9 million. Interestingly, the creation of new wallets surged by 30% to 6.9 million, indicating continued interest in joining the Ethereum ecosystem despite the prevailing market conditions.

Within the broader Ethereum ecosystem, certain tokens saw significant price volatility, with FUNToken (FUN) and WhiteRock (WHITE) leading the gains, while STP (STPT) and MyShell (SHELL) experienced substantial losses.

Examining the revenue generated by Ethereum block validators, staker revenue decreased by 16% to $145 million compared to February, while transaction fees saw a positive increase of 30% to $14.47 million.

Additionally, a February gas limit increase eased congestion, leading to significantly lower transaction fees.

However, Ethereum’s economic model continues to face pressure. Standard Chartered revised its 2025 ETH price target downwards in March, citing structural issues related to fee capture, as Layer-2 solutions, particularly Coinbase’s Base, are diverting value and substantial transaction fees away from the Layer-1. This dynamic has sparked concerns within the community that Ethereum risks “commoditizing itself” within its own scaling architecture.

Despite economic headwinds in March, Ethereum also made technical strides with the upcoming Pectra upgrade, which introduces features like transaction batching and gasless transactions to improve usability and security, with the “Hoodi” testnet launched and mainnet activation expected by late April.

Ethereum News – March 2025 Highlights

If you’re interested in more detailed and valuable market insights, check out Cryptonews’ in-depth price analyses, which offer expert forecasts for Ether and other coins.

Solana Sees On-Chain Metrics Decline as Meme Coin Mania Fades

March 2025 proved to be a challenging month for the Solana (SOL) blockchain, marked by a notable 15.7% decrease in its token value.

This downturn was largely attributed to a cooling of on-chain activity as the fervor surrounding speculative trading, particularly in meme coins, subsided.

Transaction counts saw an 11% decrease, settling at 2.7 billion for the month. Similarly, the number of active wallets on the network experienced a modest 3% decline to 97.6 million, while the creation of new wallets remained relatively stable, with a minor 0.5% decrease, totaling 530.3 million new wallets. This suggests that while existing users may have been less active in trading, the Solana ecosystem continued to attract new participants.

DefilLlama data also shows a 12% monthly decline in Solana’s total value locked (TVL) from $7.5 billion to $6.6 billion

Within the Solana ecosystem, certain tokens experienced significant volatility, with Saros (SAROS), GOHOME (GOHOME), and Alchemist AI (ALCH) emerging as top gainers with impressive percentage increases, while Act I: The AI Prophecy (ACT), Tensor (TNSR), and Staika (STIK) suffered substantial losses.

Beyond on-chain activity, in March, Solana‘s community debated SIMD-0228, a proposal to lower inflation to ~1% with a dynamic staking correlation, aiming to reduce sell pressure. While proponents saw benefits, concerns about smaller validators and unpredictability led to its rejection, though inflation reform discussions and validator cost-reduction ideas persist.

March brought positive news for Solana’s institutional adoption with the launch of CME SOL futures contracts on March 18. This was quickly followed by the debut of the first SOL futures ETF just two days later. These developments are significant steps, potentially leading to the availability of spot SOL exchange traded products (ETPs) in the US.

Furthermore, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) might begin hearings regarding SOL’s regulatory classification as early as late spring or early summer, suggesting increasing clarity for the digital asset’s future.

Solana News – March 2025 Highlights

If you’re interested in more detailed and valuable market insights, check out Cryptonews’ in-depth price analyses, which offer expert forecasts for Solana and other coins.

April’s Key Events

In April 2025, several macroeconomic events and major conferences could have an impact on the cryptocurrency market.

Macroeconomic Events:

Major Conferences:

Looking ahead from the trends observed in March 2025, several developments could significantly influence the cryptocurrency market.

First, state-level legislative progress in the US regarding Bitcoin reserves, crypto taxation, and stablecoin regulation points to potential broader adoption of digital assets by government entities. Should some of these initiatives extend to Ether and other altcoins (for example, for crypto reserves), it could accelerate institutional interest and normalize cryptocurrency holdings within traditional financial systems.

Secondly, the positive shift in sentiment towards US spot Bitcoin ETFs in March, evidenced by decreased outflows, suggests that further altcoin ETF approvals – such as for Solana, which is seeing growing institutional interest, or even XRP – could broaden investor access and market liquidity in the coming months and years.

However, Bitcoin’s increasing integration into traditional financial markets could also amplify its vulnerability to broader market downturns, potentially challenging its narrative as a stable hedge against inflation. The interconnectedness with traditional assets means that macroeconomic headwinds could exert greater downward pressure on Bitcoin’s price.

Furthermore, the trade tariff policies enacted by Trump, which contributed to market volatility in March, could pose a continued risk to the crypto market, particularly impacting Bitcoin’s price due to its status as the leading digital asset and its sensitivity to global economic sentiment.

Crypto investors should carefully consider the current economic landscape. For more detailed information, check out Cryptonews price predictions for Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana.

The post March 2025 Crypto Recap: Bitcoin, Ether, and Solana Navigate US Trade Tariff Politics and Trump-Era Uncertainty appeared first on Cryptonews.