One year after Donald Trump’s inauguration as U.S. President, celebrated by supporters as a victory for the digital asset industry, the crypto market is deeply in the red.
While Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have seen moderate losses, major altcoins have suffered drops of 40% to 50%, with smaller assets collapsing 70% to 90% from their inauguration day prices.
This steep decline presents a complex picture for an industry that had banked on a “crypto president” to usher in a regulatory dawn and a sustained bull market, forcing a reassessment of political expectations versus market reality.
Market Performance Contrasts with Political Promises
A review of price performance on CoinGecko since January 20, 2025, revealed a broad downturn, with data at the time of writing showing Bitcoin down approximately 15% over the past year and trading near $91,000. It reached an all-time high above $126,000 in October 2025 but has since fallen. Ethereum shows a relatively smaller decline, down about 8% year-over-year to near $3,100 after hitting its own peak at just under $5,000 in August 2025.
However, the losses are steeper for other major assets. For instance, XRP has fallen nearly 40% in the last twelve months and is now trading a bit below $2.00, while Solana has been halved, going down by more than 50%, with its price around $129.
These figures only tell part of the story. According to analyst Ted Pillows, the damage extends far beyond large-cap tokens. He stated that other large-cap cryptocurrencies are down 50% to 60%, mid-cap assets have fallen 70% to 80%, and small-cap and meme coins have seen declines of around 90% over the same period.
This broad-based correction occurred despite early market optimism following Trump’s election in November 2024. At that time, analysts from Bybit projected a transformative period with regulatory clarity and a favorable environment for altcoins and DeFi.
Geopolitics Overshadowed Regulatory Optimism
Over the past 12 months, the market’s response has often been impacted by the Trump administration’s trade policies. The president’s repeated threats of imposing tariffs on China and the European Union have caused volatility and halted Bitcoin’s bullish momentum. As an illustration, consider the recent market liquidations, which totaled roughly $871 million in just one day following Trump’s confirmation of new tariffs on a number of European nations.
This pattern has left the optimistic expectations from early 2025 unmet. While Trump appointed pro-crypto officials, such as SEC Chair Paul Atkins, macro events have overshadowed the anticipated regulatory clarity. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse acknowledged in a December 2024 interview that the crypto community had embraced Trump, but the market’s performance since suggests that political support is only one factor among many.