2025 is undoubtedly the biggest exit wave in crypto history. With attention and liquidity highly concentrated, the inevitable result is the injury and clearing out of long-tail projects and participants. I can think of about six reasons behind this exit wave: 1/ Most importantly, the market isn’t bad, but your portfolio isn’t aligned with the main trend. From the data, overall trading volume in 2025 is on the rise (top-tier CEX spot quarterly trading exceeds $5 trillion), but the issue lies in extreme concentration. Funds are favoring top assets (like $BTC / $ETH) and leading ecosystems. If you’re not holding these main assets, then your market experience will feel like a cold winter. 2/ The second reason is something we’ve been talking about for a while: spot and composite crypto ETFs have attracted record-breaking capital inflows. However, the majority of these funds have flowed into Bitcoin and Ethereum, with a small portion going to $SOL / $XRP, creating a siphoning effect away from altcoins. 3/ Altcoins are facing a dual collapse in liquidity and returns. In multiple market stress tests this year, altcoin liquidity has proven to be extremely fragile. 4/ Hacks and scams are happening more frequently. By mid-2025, the amount stolen has already surpassed the total for all of 2024. The $15 billion hack of Bybit, in particular, became the largest single security incident in history, driving many short-term participants—those who just wanted to invest in new tokens, cash out, and leave—completely out of the market. 5/ The AI sector has become the new darling of capital. In 2025, the majority of incremental VC funding (reportedly over half, even close to two-thirds) has been absorbed by AI projects. Many entrepreneurs and researchers who were originally focused on Web3 have shifted to the AI track. 6/ User activity has become severely polarized. In Q3, daily active wallets for decentralized applications (dApps) dropped by about 22% quarter-over-quarter. On the other hand, DeFi’s total value locked (TVL) hit a new high. Users are now highly concentrated in a few leading application scenarios, while a large number of long-tail applications have completely lost their competitiveness. At the same time, everyone can clearly notice around them: - Previously lively airdrop groups and project discussion groups have seen a cliff-like drop in message volume and participation. - Projects without an AI+Crypto narrative or real revenue streams can hardly secure funding. - Market depth for altcoins is thin, trading slippage has increased, and many trading pairs have been shut down. Perhaps 2025 will be the biggest reshuffling year in the entire crypto space.