Market Highlights
- Tariffs and U.S. interest rate uncertainty continued throughout the week.
- Oklahoma’s BTC reserve bill failed to pass the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee.
- Syntethix’s sUSD depegged to a new low of US$0.66.
- Staked SOL ETFs launched in Canada.
- The U.S. SEC approved VanEck’s Onchain Economy ETF, with a tentative launch of May 14.
Markets Overview
Macro Market Updates:
As uncertainty over President Trump’s tariffs and negotiations with China continued, traditional finance markets traded lower this week. Despite lowering most countries’ tariffs to 10% for 90 days, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Chinese electronics would be subject to forthcoming semiconductor levies, which caused confusion over how long the recently announced exemptions on electronics imports would be in place. All major U.S. indexes finished the week down. The S&P 500 declined by 3.2%, while the Dow Jones and Nasdaq declined by 3.5% and 4.7%, respectively. Heading into the new week, U.S. futures are down on earnings season jitters and President Trump’s threats to replace Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell if he doesn’t cut interest rates soon.
In other news, the Bank of Canada left its interest rate on hold at 2.75%, while the European Central Bank lowered its main refinancing rate to 2.4%. On Wednesday, 16 April, Federal Reserve Governor Powell spoke at the Economic Club of Chicago. Powell reiterated the central bank’s stance that it’s awaiting clarity on inflation before considering a rate cut. This week, manufacturing and services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data from the U.S., Europe and the U.K. are due on Wednesday, 23 April. Investors and policymakers are also presumably monitoring the rallying Japanese yen and 30-year bond yields this week, with further strength potentially signalling that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) may need to pause further rate hikes. Historically, a strong yen drives capital away from risk assets, such as equities and some cryptocurrencies.
Crypto Market Sector Performance
Most sectors saw gains this week, with Bitcoin Ecosystem, AI and gaming leading the way. Growth in the Bitcoin Ecosystem was led by Core (CORE). The Proof of Stake (PoS) layer for bitcoin gained 30.7% on the week, presumably due to a raft of positive news about the network’s staking capabilities, which allows users to unlock further yield from their BTC holdings. In DePIN declines, Helium (HNT) and JasmyCoin (JASMY) saw losses of 7.2% and 9.8%, respectively, on the week. JASMY presumably saw declines as it was included in a list of potential cryptocurrencies to be delisted from Binance. JASMY was also at risk of being delisted in March 2023, along with HNT.
Crypto Market Sector Performance (7D)
Market sector performance - 22 April, 2025.
Bitcoin (BTC)
Bitcoin traded flat for much of the week, hovering around US$84,600. The start of the new week on Monday, 21 April, saw gains of 2.5% as almost US$100 million worth of BTC short positions were liquidated. While analysts say it may take more time and certainty for BTC to break US$90,000, it signals a potential divergence from risk assets, which are selling off to start the week. Bitcoin is currently trading at US$87,282, an increase of 2.8% on the week.
Oklahoma’s bitcoin reserve bill failed to pass its Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee on Monday, 14 April, in a 6-5 vote. Four Republican Senators and two Democrats voted against the bill. There are currently 39 active state-based bitcoin bills live across 20 U.S. states.
In bitcoin buys, Metaplanet bought 330 more BTC for US$28.2 million, taking its total holdings to 4,855 BTC at an average purchase price of US$85,386 per coin. Strategy added 6,500 more bitcoin to its strategic reserve last week. Finally, healthcare tech firm Semler Scientific is launching a US$500 million securities offering. Part of the funds raised will be used to grow its BTC holdings.
Bitcoin asset investment products saw minor inflows of US$15.9 million this week.
Bitcoin - 22 April, 2025.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum had a similarly flat week. Opening the week at US$1,597, ETH hit a weekly low of US$1,538 on Wednesday, 16 April and consolidated throughout the following days.
Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s co-founder, revealed his vision to create a simpler, faster ETH network. His proposal includes replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with RISC-V, which is an open-source instruction set architecture. The change promises to improve efficiency by 100x without compromising the network’s core functionality. His proposal outlines several paths to making the transition from EVM contracts to RISC-V.
Ethereum asset investment products saw outflows of US$32.2 million this week.
Ethereum is currently trading at US$1,578, a decrease of 3.5% on the week.
Ethereum - 22 April, 2025.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Altcoins
Never break the multi-chain
- Loom Network (NEW) (LOOM) gained 82.3%, taking its market cap to US$38.4 million. The multi-chain DeFi ecosystem rallied on Monday, 21 April, when it was included in a roundup of cryptocurrencies to watch following the announcement of Circle’s new payments and remittance network.
Shared network
- NKN (NKN) grew by 75.5%, which takes its market cap to US$24.5 million. The peer-to-peer network connectivity protocol saw gains following the announcement of its in-app rewards program. The second half of the week saw an uptick in volume and gains across several exchanges, presumably due to increased investor interest.
DeFi in flight
- AirSwap (AST) gained 67.7%, taking its market cap to almost US$8.1 million. The decentralised peer-to-peer trading network running on the Ethereum blockchain saw gains throughout the weekend following the release of its proof of attendance protocols (POAPs) for March and April, presumably strengthening community trust on the network.
- Flamingo Finance (FLM) grew by 38.2%. This takes its market cap to US$10.8 million. The interoperable full-stack DeFi protocol gained throughout the start of the new week on Monday, 20 April, following the announcement that users can claim dividends from Epoch 3 on the network.
Hitting the Stratisphere
- Stratis (STRAX) gained 45.8%, taking its market cap to almost US$117.3 million. The modular layer-1 blockchain announced a new EVM network explorer tool this week, while last week’s BitMart listing announcement is presumably driving interest in STRAX.
Living in a digital world
- LTO Network (LTO) grew by 40.5%. This takes its market cap to US$14.7 million. The layer-1 blockchain for real-world assets (RWA) saw gains on the announcement of its beta program for its new equity RWA platform.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
In Other News
Other crypto news
- Mantra’s (OM) co-founder John Patrick Mullin said he’ll burn the team’s and core contributor OM token allocation following the cryptocurrency’s 90% crash last week. Mullin vowed to burn the tokens in a bid to restore faith amongst the community. The details and size of the burn are yet to be determined.
- Synthetix’s sUSD depegged to a new low of US$0.66, adding to a month-long trend of the stablecoin trading below its intended US$1 peg. The network’s founder Kain Warwick explained in early April that sUSD is collateralised stable, not algo stable. This means the sUSD peg can be prone to drifting, and the network’s mechanisms to restabilise this are currently transitioning.
- This week in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Canary Capital sought U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approval to launch the first Tron (TRX) ETF with staking. Solana (SOL) ETFs launched in Canada, including those with staking capabilities. The U.S. SEC approved VanEck’s Onchain Economy ETF, with a tentative launch of May 14. Finally, the U.S. SEC postponed its decision on Grayscale’s proposal for its Ethereum ETFs to engage in ETH staking, with a decision or further proceedings expected by June 1.
Regulatory
- Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove of the Eastern District of Kentucky granted a 60-day pause in an 18-state lawsuit against the U.S. SEC over its approach to crypto regulation. The judge cited the SEC’s admission that the case may be solved due to the leadership transition at the agency. Both sides of the legal case must submit a joint status update within 30 days.
- Oregon’s Attorney General Dan Rayfield filed a lawsuit against Coinbase on Friday, 18 April, accusing the crypto exchange of promoting and selling cryptocurrencies as unregistered securities. It follows the U.S. SEC dropping a similar case against the company in February. Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer, Paul Grewal, criticised the State-based suit as “regulation by enforcement” reminiscent of the SEC’s approach under the previous administration.
Disclaimer: This assessment does not consider your personal circumstances, and should not be construed as financial, legal or investment advice. These thoughts are ours only and should only be taken as educational by the reader. Under no circumstances do we make recommendation or assurance towards the views expressed in the blog-post. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. The Company disclaims all duties and liabilities, including liability for negligence, for any loss or damage which is suffered or incurred by any person acting on any information provided.
from Caleb & Brown Cryptocurrency Brokerage.
