BTC Gains 14% in April
Happy Friday, Defiers!
Today’s big story:
Crypto spot prices and ETFs had a good month in April, but DeFi faced record exploits and trading volumes and TVL continued to trend downward.
In other news:
- MEGA debuts at $2B FDV
- Anchorage, M0 partner on stablecoin stack
- Polymarket taps Chainalysis
- Energy Web Is Building the Verification Layer for Real-World Markets [MEDIA PARTNERSHIP]
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Markets Rise in April, But DeFi Faces Major Stress Test
Crypto markets had a good month in April, all things considered. BTC gained 14%, testing $80,000 levels multiple times toward the end of the month. ETH also fared well, gaining 7% on the month and reaching as high as $2,450.
Total crypto market cap gained over 8% last month to reach solidly above $2.6 trillion.
Meanwhile, monthly crypto exchange volumes across CEXs and DEXs have continued to trend downwards since October 2025, following the crash and record liquidation cascade on Oct. 10.
For DeFi, April was a brutal month, marked by historic exploits and the broader crypto space’s worst month yet in terms of the number of hacks and exploits. The $285 million Drift Protocol drain on April 1 and the $293 million Kelp DAO bridge exploit on April 18 accounted for 91% of the month’s exploit losses, which totaled $635 million.
While the total valued locked in DeFi has also been trending downwards since October, TVL saw a sharp drop of over $10 billion after the Kelp exploit as capital fled from Aave. Aave’s TVL is down nearly 40% on the month, currently around $15 billion, pushing it to second place among DeFi protocols, following Lido with a TVL of ~$21 billion.
For major crypto ETFs, as for spot prices, the month was a positive one. Bitcoin ETFs saw nearly $2 billion in net inflows in April, and the sector welcomed a new competitor from Morgan Stanley, MSBT, which boasts the lowest fees in the group and saw $163.86 in net inflows in its first month of trading, which kicked off April 8.
Ethereum ETF flows turned green in April after a five-month outflow streak, with nearly $356 million in net inflows. Finally, XRP ETFs had a solid month with ~$81.6 million in net inflows.
Meanwhile, markets are kicking off May in the green, continuing yesterday’s moderate rebound on Big Tech earnings.
Enjoy the weekend,
Olivia, senior editor at The Defiant
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The $300M DeFi Bailout: Heroic or Unsustainable?
Was DeFi United a bailout or just voluntary market coordination? The Defiant's Camila Russo is joined by Dean Eigenmann (Markets Inc.), binji (Ethereum Foundation), and David Phelps (Confetti) to debate whether crypto bailouts are good for crypto, what this means for decentralization, and what DeFi must fix before it can scale to the mainstream.
Watch the full debate here:
MegaETH Token Debuts at $2 Billion Valuation
Ethereum Layer 2 network and “real-time” blockchain MegaETH's long-awaited MEGA token began trading on Thursday, with simultaneous spot listings across 13 major centralized exchanges and on-chain access via the network's decentralized exchanges.
Why it matters: The TGE marks the first liquidity event for participants in MegaETH's three community-led raises, all of which are in profit at current prices.
Anchorage Digital Partners with M0 on US Stablecoin Issuance Stack
Anchorage Digital has partnered with stablecoin infrastructure provider M0 to offer a combined issuance stack aimed at companies looking to launch U.S.-regulated stablecoins.
Why it matters: Anchorage is known as the first federally licensed crypto bank in the U.S., and will provide the regulated backend for issuance.
Polymarket Taps Chainalysis to Police Insider Trading
Polymarket has selected Chainalysis to deploy what it describes as a "first-of-its-kind" on-chain market integrity solution to monitor trading activity and enforce platform rules.
Why it matters: The deal lands as prediction markets face intensifying scrutiny over insider trading.
Trending on The Defiant
- Bitcoin Dips Under $76K as Fed Holds Rates in Rare 8-4 Split
- Meta Launches Stablecoin Payouts In Colombia And The Philippines
- Polymarket Hit $25.7B in March Volume as Retail Traders Bet on Sports, Politics and Crypto
- US Judge Bans Celsius Founder Mashinsky From Any Product Involving 'Assets'
- Pumpfun Announces 50% Revenue Buyback-and-Burn Model
- Standard Chartered Calls Kelp Aftermath DeFi's 'Antifragile Moment'
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