Weekly Recap: Crypto Markets Dip on Renewed Trade War Fears

Happy weekend Defiers!

Crypto markets gave up most of their gains from the previous week as President Trump’s escalating tariff threats and hotter than expected PCE inflation figures dampened investors’ appetite for risky assets.

Bitcoin is trading around $82K after opening the week above $86K. ETH and SOL are down 7% and 3%, respectively, in the past seven days.

Hyperliquid is under fire again after another vault attack was controversially mitigated by the team. HYPE is trading at $13, down 60% from its all-time high.

Plus. Aave partners with Chainlink to recapture oracle MEV, Pumpswap surpasses Raydium to become Solana’s top DEX by volume, and the Ghibli Studio craze spills over to memecoins.

Also, don’t forget to check out our interviews with Max Luck, Head of Growth at Flare Networks, Juan Benet, Founder of Protocol Labs, Sami Start, Co-Founder and CEO of Transak, and Yaniv Tal, Founder of The Graph.

Enjoy!

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PODCAST & INTERVIEWS

Flare Network: Full-stack (EVM compatible) L1 for data-intensive use cases | Max Luck Interview

Max Luck, Head of Growth at Flare Networks, discusses the layer-one EVM blockchain's focus on providing high-integrity data to builders through its enshrined oracles. He explains how Flare's secure bridging infrastructure and interoperability solutions are designed to connect non-smart contract chains like XRP, Dogecoin, and Bitcoin to the DeFi ecosystem.

Protocol Labs Founder Juan Benet on Decentralizing the Internet with IPFS & Filecoin

Juan Benet, Founder of Protocol Labs, discusses the importance of a decentralized internet and how Protocol Labs is working to achieve this through various open-source projects, most notably IPFS and Filecoin. He emphasizes the role of these technologies in creating a more secure, censorship-resistant, and efficient internet experience.

Sami Start on How Transak Simplifies Global Crypto Onramps | ETH Denver 2025

We spoke with Sami Start, Co-Founder and CEO of Transak, the gateway to Web3 that streamlines onboarding for hundreds of networks and dApps across the crypto landscape. Active in more than 160 countries, Transak offers straightforward fiat-to-crypto and crypto-to-fiat solutions, enhancing the real-world utility of digital assets.

The Graph's Yaniv Tal on GRC 20 and the Future of Web3 | ETH Denver 2025

Yaniv Tal, Founder of The Graph, joins us at ETH Denver 2025 to discuss the evolution of Web3 and the importance of composability for building a truly decentralized internet. He explains how The Graph's new Knowledge Graph standard, GRC 20, will enable developers to better organize and share information.

Saturday

How Will the Pectra Upgrade Affect Ethereum’s User Experience? The network upgrade will include a variety of modern features for self-custodial wallets.
Bitwise CIO Projects Multi-Trillion Dollar Stablecoin AUM The stablecoin market capitalization is up 33% since the election, and stablecoin issuers are DeFi’s top revenue generators.

Friday

Aave Partners with Chainlink to Recapture Oracle-Related MEV Chainlink’s SVR allows dApps to reclaim the MEV lost due to oracle interaction.
Ethena Labs’ USDtb Stablecoin Surges 1,500%, Enters Top 10 Stablecoins The synthetic dollar, backed by BlackRock’s BUIDL fund, surpassed a $1.4 billion market cap.
Pi Network Responds to ‘Scam’ and ‘Multi-Level Marketing’ Allegations A spokesperson for Pi said its referral program has none of the hallmarks of a multi-level marketing scheme.
Hyperliquid to Compensate JELLYJELLY Traders and Strengthen Risk Protocols Hyperliquid controversially delisted the JELLYJELLY token to avoid a $10 million loss.
Crypto Market Declines for Third Day as Tariffs and Inflation Spook Investors Bitcoin drops 3.2%, leading to $428M in leveraged liquidations.
Tokenized Treasuries Surge, Yet Remain a Small Fraction of Stablecoin Market As demand for blockchain-based RWAs accelerates, tokenized Treasuries are poised for further growth.

Thursday

Crypto Market Extends Losses as Tariff Uncertainty Weighs on Investor Sentiment Bitcoin rose slightly, but Ethereum, XRP, and Solana declined.
SEC Ends Ripple Lawsuit: Here’s Why It Matters After a four-year court battle, Ripple wins its fight with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Sui-based Decentralized Storage Protocol Walrus Launches Mainnet Walrus is developed by Mysten Labs, the company behind the SUI blockchain.
Soneium Partners with Animoca Brands to Bring Anime Fans to the Sony-backed Layer 2 Animoca is using its digital identity infrastructure platform Moca Network to create a decentralized ID and reputation layer focused on engaging anime fans.
Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao Will Read Your Message for $640 To tame his inbox, CZ turned to ReachMe, a BNB-based pay-to-reach service that lets key opinion leaders (KOLs) cut down on spam while earning a few bucks.
Studio Ghibli Memecoins Grab Attention After OpenAI Releases Image Generation Feature Over 20 Studio Ghibli-themed memecoins have been launched in the past two days.
Polymarket’s $7M Ukraine Mineral Deal Debacle Traced to Oracle Whale The premature resolution of a market on a Trump/Ukraine minerals deal leaves bettors high and dry, and shows a flaw in Polymarket’s oracle system.
GameStop Seeks to Buy Bitcoin with $1.3 Billion of Convertible Notes Jeff Park of Bitwise projects that GameStop acquisitions “will hit even harder than the Bitcoin Strategic Reserve.”

Wednesday

Senator Elizabeth Warren Slams Stablecoin Bill, Calls It Donald Trump and Elon Musk's "Grift" The Massachusetts senator urges Congress to “step up.”
Stablecoin Industry Surges as USDC Hits $60 Billion Market Cap and Institutional Interest Grows World Liberty Financial joins the race, while Fidelity tests its own stablecoin.
PumpSwap Surpasses Raydium to Become Largest Solana DEX The platform has generated over $2 billion in total trading volume since launch.
Shiba Inu Soars Amid Memecoin Market Rebound An anonymous user sent 1 billion SHIB tokens to a dead wallet, burning them from the Shiba Inu supply.
Hyperliquid Token Tanks as Another Vault Attack Sparks Controversy The perpetual exchange’s HLP vault was down $10 million on an absorbed position before the team intervened and closed the position at a profit, casting doubts on its decentralization claims.
Crypto Market Declines as Trump’s Tariff Talk Stokes Renewed Uncertainty Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana slip as total market cap drops 3% to $2.95 trillion.
Movement Network to Establish Strategic Reserve with $38 Million Recovered from Market Maker Binance confirmed that the market maker in question was offboarded.

Tuesday

Crypto Market Records Mild Gains as Bitcoin Holds Steady and Solana Rallies Crypto investors remain cautious amid ongoing market volatility.
Binance Suspends Wallet Team Member Over Alleged Insider Trading Binance Wallet announced the internal audit team’s findings and credited four whistleblowers.
Pi Network’s Price Plummets Below $1 as Allegations of a ‘Scam’ Fly Both Bybit CEO Ben Zhou and Cyber Capital Founder Justin Bons have ripped Pi Network, calling it a scam.
Chainlink Partners with Abu Dhabi Global Market The United Arab Emirates-based financial center aims to boost the utility of tokenized assets in the UAE.
BlackRock Launches Bitcoin ETP in Europe The move comes as Blackrock also expands its tokenized money market fund BUIDL to Solana.
Berachain Rolls Out ‘Proof of Liquidity’ System The launch kickstarts phase one of the Layer 1 blockchain’s onchain governance.

Monday

Fidelity Wants to Tokenize its Treasury Fund The multi-trillion dollar asset management firm is the latest major financial institution to enter the RWA space.
Plume Partners with Goldfinch to Expand Access to Private Credit Plume CEO Chris Yin spoke to The Defiant and explained the project’s focus on crypto-native utility.
Polymarket is Up to 94% Accurate In Predicting Outcomes: Analysis A data analyst found that Polymarket is 90% accurate in predicting outcomes one month out.
Memecoins Fly as Risk-on Sentiment Returns FARTCOIN is leading the charge with a 100% move over the last week.
Bitcoin Surges to $88,000 as Trump Signals Flexibility on Tariffs ETH and SOL rallied 4% and 7%, respectively, as the total crypto market cap inched back towards $3 trillion.
With $20 Billion TikTok Bid, Project Liberty Wants to Port 170 Million Users Onchain Project Liberty COO Sheila Warren said in an interview they have already succeeded in bridging Web2 users onto Web3, on a smaller scale.