Remember when crypto seemed like the perfect modern gift? Easier to buy than ever, more exciting than a gift card, and with enough tech credibility to make you look like the cool family member who understands the future of finance.

Well, if you gave Bitcoin (BTC), Dogecoin (DOGE), or Ethereum (ETH) as Christmas presents last year, you might want to brace yourself for some uncomfortable questions at this year's holiday gatherings. Think Thanksgiving dinner tension, but with portfolio losses.

The problem? Timing. Major cryptocurrencies were riding high in December 2024 following the presidential election, with some hitting fresh all-time highs as investors bet on a friendlier regulatory environment. Optimism was abundant, and crypto evangelists were feeling vindicated.

Then reality set in. Cryptocurrencies surged even higher to start 2025, but the rally didn't last. Those Christmas gifts quickly turned into underwater investments, the kind that make family members wonder if you actually like them.

The Damage Report

Let's say you gave someone $100 worth of cryptocurrency on Christmas Day 2024. Here's what they could have bought based on the intraday high prices on December 25:

• Bitcoin: 0.0010 BTC
• Dogecoin: 292.94 DOGE
• Ethereum: 0.02823 ETH

And here's what those gifts are worth now:

• Bitcoin: $87.77, down 12.2%
• Dogecoin: $37.70, down 16.9%
• Ethereum: $83.13, down 62.3%

If you were really generous and gave $100 of each cryptocurrency for a total $300 gift, that's now worth $208.60. That's a decline of 30.5%, which is not exactly the holiday spirit anyone was hoping for.

The enthusiasm for crypto gifts has probably cooled along with the prices. For context, if you had invested that same $300 in the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust, which tracks the S&P 500 Index, it would be worth $344.43 today. That's a 14.8% gain, the kind of boring, reliable return that suddenly doesn't seem so boring anymore.

The Bigger Picture

Here's the thing: this year's decline is an outlier. Crypto gifts had been on a winning streak. A $300 investment split across these three cryptocurrencies from Christmas 2023 to Christmas 2024 would have turned into $725.32, representing a massive 141.8% gain. The year before that, from Christmas 2022 to 2023, the same gift would have grown to $559.61, an 86.5% increase.

So if you've been giving crypto as gifts for several years, your loved ones are probably still ahead overall. But last Christmas represents a rare misfire, thanks to cryptocurrencies peaking right at the end of 2024.

The lesson? Market timing matters, even when you're trying to be thoughtful. And maybe diversification applies to gift-giving strategies too.