Weekly Recap: Bitcoin Plunges to $107K in Tariff-Fueled Flash Crash
Happy weekend Defiers!
It was a rollercoaster week for crypto markets, as Bitcoin soared to an all-time high above $126,000 on Monday, only to crater nearly 18% by Friday evening.
Trump’s tariff announcement late Friday sparked a vicious selloff that resulted in over $20 billion in leveraged liquidations, the highest in crypto history. Most altcoins briefly dipped by 30-80% on major exchanges before rebounding.
Meanwhile, prediction markets continue to garner institutional interest, with ICE investing $2 billion in Polymarket this week.
Privacy coins are rallying after the Ethereum Foundation revealed its ‘Kohaku’ toolkit to enable private transactions.
Finally, Plasma’s much hyped XPL token is struggling two weeks after a successful launch.
Enjoy!
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Top stories this week
Crypto Markets Plummet as BTC Briefly Drops Below $106K
The crypto market plunged sharply on Friday evening, with Bitcoin (BTC) falling 12% as low as $105,896, and Ethereum (ETH) slipping 17% under $3,600 amid renewed risk-off sentiment.
BTC 24-hour price chart. Source: CoinGecko
Major altcoins followed suit, dragging total crypto market capitalization down about 15% to $3.59 trillion. The brutal selloff was marked by the highest single-day leveraged liquidations ever.
‘Golden Age’ of Prediction Markets Dawns as Activity Reaches New Highs
The rivalry between Kalshi and Polymarket is intensifying, pushing cumulative prediction market activity to new highs, while volumes reach their highest levels since the 2024 presidential election.
Also this week, NYSE operator ICE invested $2 billion in Polymarket.
‘Made in China’ Tokens Outperform Broader Crypto Market
The “Made in China” category on CoinGecko rallied sharply this past week, led by digital assets such as BNB, Mantle (MNT), and Aster. This category comprises cryptocurrencies with strong ties to China.
Railgun Token Soars as Vitalik Calls Privacy a ‘First-Class Priority’ for Ethereum
The Ethereum Foundation revealed on Thursday that the ‘Kohaku’ toolkit is a set of primitives that enables wallets to be “secure and to process private transactions while minimizing dependencies on trusted third parties.”
In a separate X post, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin also mentioned Kohaku, adding that full-stack privacy and security “are first-class priorities in Ethereum.”
Plasma Struggles to Reclaim Post-TGE Momentum
Stablecoin-focused Layer 1 blockchain Plasma debuted its XPL token two weeks ago, and following an impressive post-TGE surge, the token has since been bleeding.
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