Galaxy Research, the research arm of Galaxy Digital, makes Bitcoin and Ethereum 2025 price predictions as 2024 comes to a close.

Entering 2025, Galaxy Research has revealed its forecasts for the crypto sector. The past year, 2024, saw major progress, including regulatory milestones and heightened institutional engagement.

The year also witnessed the introduction of U.S. spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Meanwhile, looking ahead, the Galaxy Research team predicts notable growth prospects for Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Bitcoin Predictions for 2025

Alex Thorn, who leads Firmwide Research at Galaxy Research, sees Bitcoin exceeding $150,000 in the early part of 2025 and possibly climbing to $185,000 by year-end. For context, Bitcoin currently trades for $97,089.

This growth could come from wider adoption by governments, corporations, and institutional investors. As Bitcoin gains further recognition as a reliable asset class, Thorn expects it to outperform traditional investments such as the S&P 500 and gold.

Meanwhile, Galaxy Research predicts that U.S. Bitcoin ETFs will manage over $250 billion in assets by the close of 2025. This anticipated growth would follow an impressive debut year, during which these products attracted over $36 billion in net inflows.

Further, Jianing Wu, a research associate at Galaxy, says five countries and five companies in the Nasdaq 100 will incorporate Bitcoin into their reserves in 2025. 

This move may be driven by strategies for trade settlement, portfolio diversification, or long-term positioning. Wu also foresees heightened competition among nations to mine or purchase Bitcoin, particularly from those with sovereign wealth funds or geopolitical tensions with the United States.

In addition, Gabe Parker, a research analyst at Galaxy, predicts that Bitcoin developers will reach agreement on new protocol upgrades during 2025. Although updates like OP_CTV and OP_CAT may not be deployed this year, their approval could set the stage for greater programmability within the Bitcoin network. 

Additionally, Parker expects the Bitcoin DeFi ecosystem to nearly double in value. He believes this could come from growing utilization of Bitcoin in decentralized finance platforms and staking services.

Ethereum Predictions for 2025

For Ethereum, Alex Thorn predicts that the price of ETH will exceed $5,500 in 2025 due to easing regulatory challenges and deeper collaboration between DeFi and TradFi. Notably, ETH changes hands at $3,526 as of press time. 

He expects an increase in corporate adoption of Ethereum’s layer-2 (L2) technologies and a potential revival in NFT trading volumes. The ETH/BTC ratio could range between 0.03 and 0.045, as regulatory clarity reignites interest in Ethereum’s ecosystem.

Interestingly, Christine Kim, Vice President at Galaxy Research, projects Ethereum staking rate will surpass 50% by late 2025. Improved regulatory clarity under the Trump administration could allow ETFs to incorporate staking features, boosting demand further. 

Finally, Charles Yu, another Vice President at Galaxy, predicts L2 solutions on Ethereum will outpace alternative L1 blockchains in economic activity. He estimates that fees generated by Layer 2s will grow to 25% of all Alt L1 fees.