Why the Next Crypto Bull Run Is Almost Here—And Exactly What’s Fueling It

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll know that crypto has a history of roaring back at seemingly unexpected times. After Donald Trump’s election, the market entered a surprising stretch of positive momentum: Bitcoin and other digital assets kicked off a bull run that left even seasoned investors astonished. Fast-forward to the present, and we’re coming off a relatively significant market correction—the kind of reset that often precedes the next major uptrend. While some remain skeptical in light of regulatory debates and macroeconomic uncertainty, there’s a growing sense among industry watchers that the next crypto bull run is closer than people think.

In fact, several signals point to a bullish turning point just on the horizon: shifting macro conditions, imminent liquidity injections, clearer valuations under evolving regulations, and even unpredictable crypto-native catalysts. If history is any indication, these ingredients can converge and spark a rally before most investors realize what’s happening. Below, we break down the key forces setting the stage for what could be the next explosive crypto bull run—and why it’s likely to arrive sooner rather than later.

Key Takeaways

Macro Factors and Federal Reserve Policies: The cryptocurrency market is closely linked with broader economic trends. Anticipated interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve in the second half of 2025 could create a favorable environment for risk assets like cryptocurrencies, potentially igniting the next bull run.

Institutional Adoption via ETFs: The approval and launch of cryptocurrency ETFs are expected to inject significant liquidity into the market. These regulated investment vehicles provide traditional investors easier access to crypto assets, paving the way for substantial capital inflows.​

Regulatory Clarity Under New Administration: The current administration's initiatives, such as establishing a Crypto Reserve and issuing executive orders related to Bitcoin, coupled with the SEC's more accommodative stance, are contributing to a clearer regulatory framework. This clarity is likely to attract institutional investors who were previously hesitant due to regulatory uncertainties.​

Crypto-Native Innovations: Developments within the crypto ecosystem continue to drive interest and investment. These innovations can act as catalysts for market growth, independent of external economic factors.​

Imminent Bull Run in Late 2025: Considering the convergence of favorable macroeconomic conditions, increased institutional adoption through ETFs, regulatory advancements, and ongoing crypto-native innovations, the next significant crypto bull run is anticipated in the latter half of 2025. Investors are advised to stay informed and engaged to capitalize on emerging opportunities.​

Macro Factors: Risk Assets, Rates, and the Fed’s Next Move

Crypto no longer moves in a vacuum; it’s increasingly synced with the wider market. Bitcoin and other digital assets have been trading in tandem with high-growth tech stocks recently, rising and falling with the same waves of investor risk appetite. In other words, when markets are in “risk-on” mode—buoyed by optimism and easy money—crypto tends to rally along with equities. This strong correlation with risk assets means that broader economic trends and policies (like interest-rate changes) have a profound impact on crypto prices.

Currently, economic uncertainty is keeping markets on edge. Policy moves such as new tariffs or geopolitical tensions have added to inflation worries (or even stagflation), which in turn influence expectations for U.S. Federal Reserve policy. In fact, recent Fed commentary suggests a “wait-and-see” stance amid questions about how much tariffs and other factors might stoke price pressures. This caution has delayed the much-anticipated pivot to rate cuts. As long as rates stay high, it’s harder for risk assets like crypto to sustain a major uptrend. On the flip side, once there’s a confirmed path of Fed rate cuts, it could flip the switch to a risk-on environment almost overnight. Lower rates would ease financial conditions and make stocks and crypto more attractive relative to bonds or cash. We’ve seen how markets respond when the Fed even hints at loosening policy last year—stocks and Bitcoin often surge in tandem. If and when the Fed formally shifts into rate-cut mode, it could ignite a broad rally across risk assets, with crypto riding shotgun.

Although a rate-cut signal may emerge as early as the May 7th FOMC meeting, investors should also keep a close eye on the April 2nd tariff decisions—a potential wildcard that could reignite inflation concerns. With Powell still leading the Fed, inflation remains the central variable shaping monetary policy. Every shift in rate-cut expectations moves the market, but in today’s volatile environment, capital is increasingly cautious, waiting until the last moment to reposition. From a macro perspective, all signs point to the second half of 2025 as the likely window for a full-blown bull run—once the Fed’s direction becomes clear and the macro dust settles.

Liquidity Injection into Crypto: ETFs and Fresh Capital Flow

One of the strongest undercurrent buildings beneath the surface is the potential flood of liquidity into crypto, coming not from retail traders, but from traditional finance through regulated vehicles. And nothing represents that bridge better than ETFs.

Why would ETF approvals be such a game-changer? Because they unlock access for large institutional players—the pension funds, mutual funds, and RIAs of the world—who are legally restricted from holding crypto directly. An ETF, by contrast, is a familiar, regulated investment tool that can be bought in any brokerage account or retirement plan. Just look at what's happening right now: many U.S. public funds still can't buy Bitcoin directly, but they're allowed to buy shares of MicroStrategy (MSTR), which functions like a leveraged Bitcoin proxy. Case in point: California’s two largest pension funds now hold over $150 million in MSTR. That alone tells you how much institutional appetite is waiting for a more direct, compliant way to gain crypto exposure.

We already saw what happened when Bitcoin spot ETFs launched earlier this year. In under 12 months, these products collectively acquired more than 5% of Bitcoin’s total supply—an incredible amount of accumulation in such a short time. And this is just the beginning.

Now, attention is turning toward the next wave of crypto ETFs, including those for SOL, XRP, and others. The SEC has officially accepted multiple 19b-4 filings, triggering a timeline where the SEC must issue an initial review within 45 days and a final decision within 240 days. For context, both the BTC and ETH ETFs' 19b-4 form were approved exactly on Day 240 in previous cycles—but it was only because of Gensler that we had to wait that long! That means, at the very latest, we’ll likely see a new batch of ETFs hit the market before the end of this year. But in all likelihood, it could happen much sooner.

(Only the earliest ETF with 19b-4 filing accepted for each token is listed here. Other ETFs' applications for the same token are likely to be approved on the same day, based on past precedent. For a more detailed explanation, please refer to the earlier discussion.)

Even the recent delayed in approval decisions for several cryptocurrency spot ETF applications might have a strategic reason behind it—possibly tied to upcoming changes in SEC leadership. And while the futures-based SOL ETF is already live, it’s the spot version that could truly open the floodgates. One way or another, this points again toward the second half of 2025 as a key window, not just for rate cuts but also for large-scale institutional inflows into crypto.

Regulatory Clarity: The Final Unlock for Institutional Legitimacy

Another key piece of the bull-run puzzle is regulatory clarity. For years, uncertainty around U.S. policy has cast a shadow over the crypto industry—keeping institutional capital on the sidelines and capping the upside for even fundamentally strong projects. But now, that cloud is finally be lifting—as Trump returned to the White House.

Not only did he announce plans for a Crypto Reserve and issue executive orders related to Bitcoin reserves, but he also repeatedly emphasized the need for clear crypto regulations. Just this week, during a the digital asset summit, Trump reaffirmed his stance—calling for straightforward, common-sense rules for stablecoins and overall market structure.

At the same time, the SEC’s posture has shifted dramatically. The agency not only began accepting new 19b-4 filings for additional crypto ETFs but also dropped lawsuits against several crypto firms. Even more telling, recent statement from the SEC suggest a complete tonal shift—indicating that crypto exchanges may no longer fall under their direct jurisdiction. This softening stance marks a major departure from the hardline approach we saw just a year ago.

The combination of political will and regulatory de-escalation is setting the stage for crypto to finally be treated as a compliant, institutionally investable asset class—on par with stocks, bonds, and commodities. We're entering an era where crypto isn’t a regulatory gray zone—it’s a legitimate asset category with clearer rules, custody frameworks, and market structures.

Regulatory clarity wouldn’t just ease fears; it would also enable a fundamental re-rating of crypto asset valuations. Remember that many crypto projects are no longer just speculative ideas – they’re real businesses generating real revenue. Take decentralized finance (DeFi) and other blockchain services: some protocols are raking in tens of millions of dollars in fees from users each month. ​Over the past five years, Uniswap has consistently facilitated daily trading fees exceeding $1 million. These fees are primarily distributed to liquidity providers (LPs) as compensation for supplying liquidity to the platform. However, a portion of these fees is also allocated to the protocol itself, representing its revenue. These cash flows are comparable to mid-sized tech companies, yet the corresponding tokens often trade at a fraction of what a traditional company with similar revenue might be worth. Why? In large part because regulatory uncertainty has kept a lot of value-oriented investors on the sidelines – it’s hard to do discounted cash flow analysis on a token if you’re not even sure it’ll be legal to hold tomorrow. Once the rules of the road are established, expect many of these undervalued projects to be repriced to better reflect their actual usage and earnings potential. In a clear regulatory environment, pension funds, endowments, and corporate treasuries could finally justify allocations to crypto assets that have strong fundamentals, further boosting demand. The bottom line: as laws and guidelines fall into place, high-quality crypto assets may see a significant upward revaluation.

There are multiple timelines to track here, but two stand out:

The 180-day deadline for David Sacks’s group to deliver a draft regulatory proposal, which points to July 22, 2025.

The appointment of Paul Atkins as the new SEC Chair, with his Senate confirmation hearing scheduled for March 27th—meaning he’s likely to officially take office sometime between April and June.

With these timelines converging and the narrative shifting fast, we could be just months away from a radically different regulatory environment—one that invites major capital into the space and re-rates the entire crypto sector.

Crypto-Native Catalysts: The Unexpected Triggers

While macro trends and regulations set the stage, sometimes the spark that actually lights the fire of a crypto bull run comes from within the crypto world itself. These are the crypto-native catalysts – the innovations, narratives, and even memes that capture the imagination of investors and drive frenetic buying. Every bull cycle in crypto has its own flavor. In 2017 it was the ICO (Initial Coin Offering) boom, in 2020 it was DeFi and yield farming, and in 2021 it was a cocktail of NFTs and meme coins.

These kinds of internal momentum drivers can be hard to predict, but they are incredibly powerful. For example, who could have foreseen that an asset originally created as a joke (Dogecoin) would skyrocket into the tens of billions in market cap? Yet it happened – fueled by social media hype, celebrity tweets, and a wave of enthusiastic retail money. The lesson is that viral narratives can spark real financial moves in crypto. A clever new protocol could attract users at an exponential rate, a blockchain game could become a global craze bringing millions into crypto, or a silly meme token could suddenly catch fire and draw in a swarm of speculators. These events create their own momentum, independent of traditional fundamentals or macro conditions.

Crypto-native catalysts are the X-factor that add excitement (and volatility) to the market. They remind us that beyond economic charts and regulatory filings, crypto is also driven by community, culture, and technological breakthroughs. Likewise, improvements to underlying crypto technology (such as a major network upgrade or a new DeFi portocol) can reignite investor optimism. It’s a reminder that the crypto ecosystem is constantly evolving, and with that comes continual opportunities for a new storyline to take hold. Of course, not every meme or trend will last, and these speculative frenzies can reverse quickly, so risk management is key. But in combination with solid macro conditions, a frenzy of positive crypto-native innovations can provide the extra fuel to push the market into a full-blown bull run.

Conclusion: The Next Bull Run Is Months Away—Stay Ready

All the pieces are coming together. From macro tailwinds and expected rate cuts, to the flood of capital poised to enter via ETFs, and now a clear political shift bringing long-awaited regulatory clarity—the signals are aligning. We’re not talking about a distant rally years away. We’re likely just months out from the next major crypto bull run, with the second half of 2025 shaping up to be the window where everything accelerates.

At times like this, it’s easy to get discouraged by short-term volatility or headlines—but this is when winners position early. Big money often moves in silence and then all at once. By the time the market is screaming “bull run,” the largest gains may already be underway.

For investors, the key is simple: stay engaged. Keep learning. Follow the developments in policy, macro trends, and the crypto space itself. Whether it’s a new protocol, an ETF approval, or a major announcement from regulators, each headline could be a spark.

Hold still, stay sharp, and don’t tune out. Because when this market turns—and all signs say it will—you’ll want to be riding the wave, not chasing it.