Fixygen: the best crypto startups of 2025 — who really moved the market

2025 turned out to be the year of “infrastructure instead of hype.” The fastest-growing projects were those that simplify payments and onboarding, build rails for stablecoins and tokenization, and close security gaps. Against this backdrop, the market capitalization of stablecoins, according to industry reviews, grew markedly and by December reached about $306 billion. At the same time, Artemis analysts estimate annual onchain settlement of stablecoins at about $26 trillion (after filtering out “noise”) — which explains why a new “startup boom” has emerged around stablecoins. 1) Privy (onboarding and wallets as a service) One of the most telling successes of the year – infrastructure for embedded wallets and login in web3. Privy raised additional funding in the spring and in June was already acquired by Stripe – a rare case in which a web2 giant “takes” web3 infrastructure for itself. 2) Plasma (a blockchain “built for stablecoins”) While “universal” L1/L2 chains argued about TPS, some teams began building networks aimed at one key use case — stablecoins and settlements. Plasma raised a round to develop a stablecoin-oriented chain and payment infrastructure. 3) Coinflow (stablecoin payments for business) A bet on simple integration of stablecoins into payments for goods and services. In 2025, Coinflow raised a notable round to develop its payment platform and B2B partnerships. 4) Speed (Lightning payments: BTC + stablecoins) Alongside the “stablecoin highway,” Lightning also revived as a fast settlement layer. Speed raised $8 million from Tether and Ego Death Capital to scale payment solutions on Lightning. 5) Stable Sea (stablecoin treasuries and cross-border) A new wave — services that turn stablecoins into a “treasury” for companies: liquidity management, international transfers, fintech integrations. Stable Sea raised a seed round and positions itself directly as infrastructure for institutional treasury operations. 6) Block Street (stock tokenization: execution layer) In 2025, the tokenization of public assets became a topic again – but now with the emphasis on “how to execute trades and settlements” rather than on marketing. Block Street raised $11.5 million for execution infrastructure for onchain stocks. 7) EigenCloud (a developer platform built around the restaking idea) The trend of the year — turning “crypto security as a resource” into a product for developers. Eigen Labs promotes EigenCloud as a platform layer where crypto-economics and security become part of dev infrastructure. 8) Hexagate / security-as-a-service (signals, monitoring, prevention) Amid rising attacks, the winners are those who sell not an “audit once a year” but continuous monitoring and response. In 2025, Chainalysis actively promoted Hexagate Security as a separate line of business for funds and ecosystems. 9) Crown (regional stablecoins and local currencies) Another marker of maturity — the growth of stablecoins pegged to local currencies. Crown (BRLV, the Brazilian real) raised a $13.5 million Series A in December at a stated valuation of about $90 million. What Fixygen considers the main trend for the “near future” In 2026, it is logical to expect acceleration where crypto already competes with traditional rails: stablecoin payments, “painless wallets,” tokenization of simple instruments (primarily money and short-term bonds), as well as security and compliance as a mandatory part of the product.