SecondLane’s data reveals critical nuance in 2025 trends in crypto secondary market
The year 2025 presents a double narrative for the crypto market. On one hand, public markets are buoyed by institutional tailwinds, with spot ETFs proving mainstream acceptance. On the other, the private secondary markets, where the next generation of value is built, tell a more nuanced story of caution.
While industry reports like a16z’s “State of Crypto” chart a bullish macro-trajectory, that optimism requires grounding in hard transaction data. And that’s where our own numbers offer important context.
In this report, we use SecondLane’s proprietary 2025 data to dissect five critical trends shaping the secondary market and to highlight what’s actually happening beneath the broader macro optimism. It’s a grounded view of where liquidity is forming, where it isn’t, and what signals matter as the cycle matures.
Key takeaways:
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I. Institutional Adoption
The macro trend: The prevailing theme of 2025 is “The Year of Institutional Adoption,” a narrative largely defined by significant capital flows into Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. This has validated digital assets as a legitimate portfolio component for major financial institutions.
SL’s confirmation:
Our data confirms this market maturation. Deal activity in H1 2025 surged 73% year-over-year, and our Q3 data shows this momentum continuing. Our September report shows 259 total offers (+5% MoM) and $1.5 billion in total offered amount (+7% MoM), marking the fourth consecutive month of growth.
Nuance:
However, the real story in the secondary market is how institutions are participating. While ETFs provide passive exposure, our data reveals a more active, high-conviction engagement. Token investments (SAFTs) consistently dominate by volume, accounting for ~59% of deals in October 2025, while equity deals represent ~36%.
Institutions in private secondary markets actively engage with novel token structures, not just equity-wrapped vehicles, showing deeper direct digital asset integration than the broad ETF narrative implies.
Why this matters:
It shows that institutional participation isn’t just passive ETF exposure but direct involvement in private deals, which shapes pricing, liquidity depth, and deal competition.
What we’re watching next:
We anticipate a continued surge in secondary equity rounds for pre-IPO infrastructure and top-tier crypto firms. The September report’s data on equity’s average offered amount (highest at ~$10.1M per order) suggests these larger value transactions are key, with regulatory clarity driving strategic placement.
II. Stablecoins, Onchain Activity, and the RWA
The macro trend: The industry is buzzing with the promise of a world moving on-chain. This is exemplified by the growth of tokenized Real-World Assets (RWAs) and the mainstreaming of stablecoins, which are increasingly used for settlement beyond speculative trading. According to the BCG and Ripple’s “Approaching the tokenization tipping point” report, tokenization of real-world assets is projected to grow from around USD 0.6T in 2025 to USD 18.9T by 2033 in the midpoint scenario.
SL’s confirmation:
Our observations confirm stablecoins’ foundational role in facilitating efficient capital movement for secondary market settlement. The RWA growth trend is also undeniable at a protocol level.
Nuance:
A significant gap exists between on-chain growth and active secondary trading. Despite impressive industry growth figures, direct RWA or stablecoin assets are absent from our “Most asked BUY/SELL assets” lists for July, August, and September 2025. This suggests that while these assets are being utilized for primary capital formation and yield generation, their secondary market is still nascent.
Why this matters:
It highlights the gap between on-chain growth and actual secondary trading, making clear that infrastructure and regulation still dictate where real liquidity forms.
What we’re watching next:
For tokenized RWAs to become prominent traded assets, maturation in market infrastructure and regulation is required. As these assets seek more dynamic price discovery, the secondary market will become a release valve for liquidity.
III. Infrastructure and Development
The macro trend: The health of the crypto ecosystem is often measured by developer activity, with intense competition among L1s and L2s to provide scalable, high-performance infrastructure. Developer interest in newer chains is often highlighted as a leading indicator of growth.
SL’s confirmation:
Our transaction data confirms that infrastructure-heavy sectors are driving secondary market activity. The September 2025 “Most asked BUY/SELL assets” lists are dominated by established L1s and critical infrastructure/L2s, including Canton, Plasma, ByteDance, and LayerZero on the BUY side, and Polymarket, Plasma, Anoma, and TON on the SELL side.
Nuance:
Base Chain assets remain absent from our “Most asked” lists. This highlights a lag: developer sentiment is an early indicator of success, yet secondary market trading activity for assets on newer chains demands a more mature ecosystem and broader investor confidence.
Why this matters:
It signals that infrastructure remains the core driver of secondary interest, and that developer hype alone doesn’t create liquidity without a mature investor base.
What we’re watching next:
We are closely tracking which L1s and L2s successfully convert developer mindshare into tradable, liquid assets. Advances in ZK proofs will be particularly critical for enabling the privacy features required for institutional-grade secondary deals.
IV. Pricing Dynamics and Buyer Archetypes
The macro trend: General market sentiment, fueled by ETF inflows and growing dynamics, is bullish.
This optimism, however, might be masking the complex pricing dynamics within the illiquid private secondary markets.
SL’s Confirmation:
Our data confirms that it remains a buyer’s market. The median discount to the last primary funding round held steady at -29% in October.
While the top 10% of elite deals commanded premiums of ~56% or higher, the vast majority of transactions occurred at a discount. In fact, 66% of sell offers and 70% of buy offers were below the last round’s valuation, with an average markdown of -45%.
This underscores the emergence of distinct buyer archetypes and a bifurcation between top-tier assets and everything else.
Nuance: The deep discounts for a significant portion of deals underscore the impact of the emergence of distinct buyer archetypes.
The sustained median spread on FDV of ~29% indicates the influence of short-term tactical buyers, driving price efficiency but also wider bid-ask spreads for longer-term, illiquid assets.
Furthermore, the -80% average discount for assets in the “VC” category points to significant caution towards early-stage ventures in the secondary market. With sell-side volume representing ~60% of active listings, the negotiating power remains firmly with buyers.
Why this matters:
It explains why discounts persist despite a bullish macro backdrop and how buyer behavior is shaping valuations across different asset categories.
What we’re watching next:
We anticipate continued discount compression for top-tier L1/infra assets as tactical capital maintains pressure.
V. Global Market and Emerging Niches
The macro trend: Industry reports consistently show that on-chain activity is growing fastest in emerging markets: India, Nigeria, and Brazil. Concurrently, new sectors like Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePINs) are gaining traction as the next frontier.
SL’s confirmation:
Our data confirms burgeoning interest in new sectors like DePINs.
Nuance:
Our transaction flow underscores a critical reality: secondary market liquidity follows regulatory clarity. While user adoption may be global, structured secondary transactions are concentrated in jurisdictions with legal and compliance frameworks. Significant secondary liquidity requires further asset maturity and clearer regulatory pathways than the ones that currently exist in many emerging markets.
Why this matters:
It shows that secondary liquidity follows regulatory certainty, not user adoption alone, which is critical for understanding where new markets will realistically open up.
What we’re watching next:
The progress of global regulatory harmonization, particularly in emerging markets, will define the viability of expanding secondary liquidity for private assets in those regions. We also expect DePINs and other deep infrastructure plays to feature in secondary deals increasingly.
Conclusion
While the macro trajectory for crypto in 2025 is compellingly optimistic, our data reveals the nuanced realities playing out in the private secondary markets. This is a bifurcated world: one of public market enthusiasm, and another of private market pragmatism defined by a flight to quality infrastructure, pricing discounts, and a clear preference for direct protocol investments.
What becomes clear across these five trends is that liquidity is expanding, but it is expanding unevenly. Institutions are here, but they are selective in how they participate. RWAs and stablecoins are growing quickly on-chain, but meaningful secondary trading is still ahead of them. Infrastructure remains the strongest anchor for both sides of the market. And the depth of discounts across early-stage assets shows how cautious buyers remain, even in a bullish year.
We anticipate a continued shift towards equity in pre-IPO infrastructure, persistent discounts for early-stage VC, and the broadening of secondary liquidity into evolving sectors like DePINs. For market participants, this intelligence is crucial for understanding where capital is truly moving and which signals matter as the cycle matures.
Omar-Shakeeb, CBDO; Oleg Ivanov, COO SecondLane
