"I lost over a million last year," Xiao Su told Foresight News.

As a seasoned crypto investor, he bought a significant amount of VC-backed tokens during the last bull market cycle. In 2021, when Bitcoin surged past $67,000 to set a new all-time high, many VC-backed tokens also rose in value, even outperforming Bitcoin. This was where Xiao Su made his first fortune.

However, the market is unpredictable. In this cycle, Xiao Su stumbled. Since 2024, several of the VC-backed tokens he heavily invested in have performed poorly, with a continuous downward trend. Forced to hold on tightly like a "diamond hand," he eventually could not withstand the pressure and had to sell at a loss. After several such instances, his accumulated profits had largely evaporated.

"Why is it so hard to make money this time? Who in the market is actually profiting?" Xiao Su was very puzzled. In his view, the era of blindly buying tokens and effortlessly making money during bull markets seemed to have ended. Now, one had to be "quick on their feet" to earn. Market participants, including VCs, market makers, exchanges, project teams, retail investors, and yield farming studios, all faced new and significant challenges.

Xiao Su's experience is not unique. Not only he, but also some well-known crypto VC firms, recently announced transformations, admitting that their returns from private investments in this cycle were very disappointing.

However, looking at the history of cryptocurrencies, 2024 to 2025 has been a momentous year. The approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF led to a flood of traditional financial institutions entering the market. After Trump's re-election, the crypto policy environment became unprecedentedly relaxed. These favorable developments propelled Bitcoin's price from a low of $15,000 to over $100,000, setting a new all-time high.

Investors' expectations for a raging bull market reached a peak.

However, Ethereum, another major market leader, shattered investors' dreams. In this cycle, Ethereum did not set a new all-time high. The two major price boosters of the past, DeFi and NFTs, failed to create a wave. Ethereum's founder, Vitalik, and the Ethereum Foundation faced heavy criticism. With ETH's poor performance, narratives like layer-2 scaling, re-staking, and ZK (Zero-Knowledge) proofs fell flat, and many related ecosystem tokens disappointed.

The only hot spot— the Meme coin frenzy—was, to some extent, a venting of retail investors' dissatisfaction with the high valuations of VC-backed tokens. Profits from VC-backed tokens were already divided among VCs before they hit the exchanges, leaving only retail investors to catch the falling knife and face "endless declines."

But in this more brutal "casino," only a handful of shrewd traders, insider traders, and token issuers made a fortune. Most retail investors who rushed into Meme coins lost more and more in a series of lottery-like events, eventually realizing that the so-called wealth effect was ultimately just a "show-off" for others.

So, who are the real winners? Foresight News, with the above questions, interviewed several crypto practitioners in the field, and they gave their answers.

Bitcoin Holders: The Biggest Winners

Bitcoin buyers have undoubtedly reaped substantial profits in this cycle. On May 10, data from Bitcoin Magazine Pro showed that after Bitcoin broke through $100,000, only 0.55% of addresses were still in a loss-making state. This proportion indicates that the vast majority of Bitcoin players in the market are in profit. As of the time of writing, Bitcoin has broken through $110,000 and set a new all-time high. No one who bought Bitcoin is losing money anymore; all buyers are in profit.

Bitcoin Holders, On-Chain P Marshals, Airdrop Hunters... Who Are the Biggest Winners of This Crypto Cycle?

The NDV (NextGen Digital Venture) fund, established in 2022, is one of them. Its founder, Jason (@jhy256), told Foresight News that the first phase of the NDV fund was liquidated in February this year, with a total return of 3.75 times, and the financing for the second phase of the fund was recently launched.

Jason has extensive experience in the venture capital field, having worked at institutions such as Huaxing Capital and Qiming Venture Partners. In 2023, at the age of 34, he chose to leave Blue Pool Capital, a family office jointly set up by Jack Ma and Joe Tsai, to establish NextGen Digital Venture.

Jason said, "In the broader world, there are still many external buyers. Many institutions don't even have a 0.1% allocation and might just start with 0.1%, insensitive to price fluctuations. If traditional big money allocates 1% of its funds to Bitcoin, it would be very significant for this asset class." In the first year, he placed most of the fund's positions in GBTC, and last year he switched strategies to focus on cryptocurrency-related stocks, such as Coinbase and Strategy. These moves undoubtedly hit the market trend.

When discussing the rise of Bitcoin, he analyzed that the launch of spot ETFs was indispensable. "Traditional financial funds can flow directly from ETFs to BTC, which is also an important reason why BTC has consistently outperformed many altcoins. Perhaps Trump's election and token issuance will give some new opportunities to other digital currencies."

Bitcoin Holders, On-Chain P Marshals, Airdrop Hunters... Who Are the Biggest Winners of This Crypto Cycle?

In January 2024, the approval of the Bitcoin spot ETF became a milestone event in this cycle. So far, the total net inflow of Bitcoin spot ETFs has exceeded $42.7 billion. Institutions such as BlackRock and Fidelity have heavily purchased Bitcoin spot ETFs. With their early entry, low cost, and steady holding, they have become the market's clear big winners. These funds mainly come from hedge funds, pension funds, and family offices, marking a shift in the crypto market from retail speculation to institutional investment.

Bitcoin Holders, On-Chain P Marshals, Airdrop Hunters... Who Are the Biggest Winners of This Crypto Cycle?

Not only that, but also various listed companies have joined the Bitcoin purchasing ranks and made a fortune.

The US-listed company Strategy, with its aggressive purchasing style, has not only seen a significant increase in its stock price but also an astonishing company-wide profit. As of May 18, 2025, Strategy held 576,230 Bitcoin, with a total purchase price of approximately $40.18 billion, averaging about $69,726 per Bitcoin. After Bitcoin broke through $109,700, its unrealized profit once exceeded $23.04 billion. The Japanese listed company Metaplanet holds 7,800 Bitcoin, with a historical average purchase price of 13.51 million yen per coin (about $94,165.70). Calculated at $109,000 per Bitcoin, Metaplanet's Bitcoin holdings have an unrealized profit of $121 million.

Since its inception, Bitcoin's long-term appreciation has not disappointed any "diamond hand" players. Even El Salvador, which has been continuously increasing its Bitcoin holdings, has an unrealized profit of over $357 million.

The mining machines, crypto infrastructure companies, and financial derivatives derived from BTC have also made substantial profits. Taking Canaan Creative as an example, financial report data shows that in the fourth quarter of 2024, its revenue increased by 80.9% and mining income increased by 312.5%. The company mentioned that customer orders for the first quarter of 2025 have already been booked into the second quarter, showing a continued momentum in mining machine sales.

Meme Coin Big Winners: Making Millions from a Single Token

"My total profit has reached a hundredfold, mainly including what I made last year from AI, deSci, and TRUMP," yuyue told Foresight News.

The well-known on-chain KOL yuyue seized the TRUMP opportunity and made a name for herself by earning millions of dollars. According to community pictures that circulated, she spent $158,000 to buy TRUMP, with an unrealized profit once exceeding $2 million.

Bitcoin Holders, On-Chain P Marshals, Airdrop Hunters... Who Are the Biggest Winners of This Crypto Cycle?

She entered the circle in March 2022, initially just looking for an internship. Later, through airdrops and community interactions, she met more people and reviewed market opportunities. When the opportunity came, she dared to increase her position and eventually achieved significant results.

In the past year's crypto world, the most wealth-effect track has undoubtedly been "Meme." Since the beginning of 2024, Meme coins have sparked an unprecedented frenzy in the crypto market. From WIF and BONK on the Solana chain to PEPE and TURBO on Ethereum, to DEGEN and MOCHI on the Base chain, and even Meme assets in the Bitcoin ecosystem, each hot spot has quickly attracted tens of thousands of retail investors and speculators.

Memes are no longer just for entertainment; they have become a new experimental field for wealth distribution mechanisms. According to statistics from CoinGecko and Dune Analytics, in 2024 alone, the total market value of Meme coins soared from less than $2 billion to over $60 billion, with an annual increase of over 2900%. Among them, Meme coins on the Solana chain accounted for more than one-third. WIF once rose from an initial market value of less than $1 million to over $3 billion, with early holders even achieving returns of over 100,000 times. Some users bought a new Meme coin, BOME, for less than $200 in April 2024, and their account value skyrocketed to over $2 million in just 72 hours.

These Meme coins often lack traditional technical backgrounds and do not rely on complete project whitepapers. They can ignite millions of dollars in trading volume with just a one-sentence slogan or a simple dog head image.