Cointelegraph Reviews 2025: Exchange Hacks, Macro Shocks and Regulation Reshape Crypto Market

Cointelegraph on Dec. 26 reviewed key 2025 events that reshaped the crypto sector through hacks, macro shocks, regulation and traditional finance integration, BlockBeats reports. In February, Bybit lost $1.4B in one of the largest exchange thefts, with the U.S. attributing the attack to North Korea-linked hackers and refocusing attention on custody and operational risks. In April, global tariff tensions pushed Bitcoin to a yearly low, showing crypto behaving as a high-beta macro asset sensitive to non-crypto news, while in July Donald Trump signed the GENIUS Act, bringing payment stablecoins under federal rules defining issuance, reserves and audits. The review also noted the U.S. approval of common listing standards for spot crypto ETP commodity-based trust shares in September, Bitcoin surging above $125,000 followed by a sharp drop and over $19B in liquidations in October, and December developments including Circle and Ripple gaining approval to set up or convert into U.S. national trust banks, UK and Hong Kong regulatory moves, and Terra founder Do Kwon receiving a 15-year fraud sentence.