2025 was a line in the sand for cryptocurrencies.
Decades from now, we will look back at these years as 2009 – 2024. Then 2025. And then everything after that.
It’s worth taking a moment to think about exactly why that is and what it means for the next decade.
Up until this point, cryptocurrencies could be classified as the “Wild West” with all the pros and cons that that entails.
We have witnessed a decade of unprecedented innovations in computer science, cryptography, and finance, leading to innovations such as 24/7 open markets, permissionless financial products, and zero-cost global dollar payments.
The concepts and products introduced by cryptocurrencies are now changing the world.
But throughout the same decade, scams, speculation, and lack of regulatory clarity hurt cryptocurrency theories and put an end to the industry’s growth.
That all changed in 2025 with the administration’s regulatory embrace of cryptocurrencies. In a complete reversal, the SEC went from fighting cryptocurrencies to announcing a “cryptocurrency project” and pledging to on-chain the global financial infrastructure.
We also got the first major positive crypto legislation (GENIUS). Many cryptocurrency companies have gone public. Stablecoins have become mainstream. Prediction markets are the fastest growing product outside of AI. Billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions are finally happening. DEXs are taking over market share from CEXs. RWAs grew 4x. The list goes on…
For the first time ever, banks, payment providers, startups and enterprises have an incentive to build on-chain.
Everyone loves to compare cryptocurrencies to the Internet, so here’s our analogy: We think we’ve just witnessed the equivalent of 2002 for the Internet.
The era of speculative capital driving cryptocurrencies is over, and the slow grind where innovations are truly scaled is only just beginning.
This has profound implications for investors, builders and society as a whole.
From our perspective, here’s what this means for Blockworks.
We’re making our next big bet.
The theme of the past decade can be described as “assets moving on-chain.” $300 billion has been converted into stablecoins. $100 Billion Moved to DeFi. Another $50 billion flowed to related companies and markets.
Now, we have entered a new era.
We believe that the theme of the next decade will be real works based on the series.
If you squint, you can see what it looks like. Startups like Hyperliquid, Pump, and Aave generate hundreds of millions in revenue with just a dozen employees. Fintech companies like Robinhood, Stripe, and Klarna have launched their own blockchains and stablecoins. Institutions like BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and JPMorgan all transact on open public blockchains.
The world moves on the chain. Slowly at first, then all at once.
In the next decade, we will go from $10 billion in onchain revenue today to over $1 trillion.
Combined with artificial intelligence, this transformation of the blockchain space will create an explosion of opportunities and entirely new types of businesses that did not exist before.
We’ve spent the last year positioning ourselves to win what we believe is the biggest opportunity we’ve ever seen since starting Blockworks.
The problem as we see it today: Even the most talented teams must manage multibillion-dollar protocols and Internet-connected companies using a mixture of block explorers, internally built dashboards, and broken spreadsheets.
There is no single operating system and software platform on which teams can run their business.
Blockworks will solve that.
Our next phase is about transforming the data platform we have built into a real operating system for on-chain companies.
We’re building for a world where Blockworks powers the underlying data and workflows of millions of on-chain companies.
More on this in 2026!
2025 in numbers
Thanks to our team, 2025 was our strongest year in our history. Some highlights:
- sales: We’ve increased ARR more than 10x this year. ARR Data and Analytics is now growing faster than any other business area.
- Profitability: We have maintained our dividend, with positive net operating income and more cash on our balance sheet compared to the beginning of the year.
- Expand our data platform at scale: Our data warehouse now contains more than 2.1 trillion rows of data flowing through more than 100 pipelines that ingest data from 82 different sources. This data powers nearly 2,600 visualizations and 280 dashboards for 145 different companies.
- 4 main analytical products shipped: We launched Analytics 2.0, with a custom data warehouse, front-end, and studio product, and used that backbone to ship a dashboard builder, a chart builder, and the first version of our API (which already had 378 metrics available).
- Extended data beyond just onchain data: We added off-chain datasets for ETFs, fundraising, M&A, centralized exchanges, and more. This will be important as we add more off-chain data for businesses in 2026.
- Token transparency frame: After submitting the proposal to the SEC and receiving their support, we introduced the Token Transparency Framework, an open disclosure standard for cryptocurrency projects. The TTF is already being used to evaluate leading protocols and we are now in active discussions with exchanges, financial institutions and other data providers to integrate the framework across the industry.
- Podcasts: Our podcast network is the most listened to network in the cryptocurrency space. Our creator-led offerings now reach multi-million professionals and investors in finance, cryptocurrency, and technology.
- social: We’ve built a community of over 800,000 followers across our creators and brands.
- Events: DAS New York was our best conference ever: This was the first time a sitting US president had addressed a cryptocurrency conference.
Day after day
When we started Blockworks in December 2017, the mission was simple: build the best source of cryptocurrency insights and information for investors and professionals.
Since then, we have built a global team of approximately 100 people. Millions of people listen to our podcasts. Tens of thousands have attended our events. Hundreds of organizations read our research and consume our data.
If you zoom out, the Blockworks story is not a series of funding rounds, product launches, or key hires. We are a company that has weathered several bear markets, survived defaults, and quietly snowballed into something far more ambitious than we ever thought possible.
As we approach 2026, we are more convinced than ever that cryptocurrencies will improve the world by expanding access to assets, increasing transparency, and reducing financial friction. Construction work will play an essential role in this world.
For those who want it, the opportunity for cryptocurrencies has never been greater or more important to humanity.
See you in the trenches,
Jason and Mike
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