The cryptocurrency market continued to surge this previous week as the general digital asset market capitalization exceeded $3.27 trillion, an 8.6% enhance over the earlier week.
Bitcoin (BTC) reached a excessive of $103,600 on Could 8 after reclaiming $100,000 for the primary time since January. Its market dominance additionally surged above 60%, reflecting extra bullish BTC sentiment. This marked the third time BTC has damaged by six figures because it reached the milestone on Dec. 5, 2024, and once more on Jan. 20, forward of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
The BTC rise coincided with Trump saying a commerce take care of the UK, which can embrace eradicating a ten% blanket tariff on all imports.
Within the wider crypto area, Ethereum’s Pectra improve carried out much-needed enhancements for the crypto ecosystem. The improve was adopted by a 26% value surge for Ether (ETH), rising from $1,800 on Could 7 to over $2,300 on Could 9.
Bitcoin DeFi sees surge in mining participation regardless of drop in TVL
Messari’s “State of Rootstock” report for 2025 confirmed that merged mining participation surged to an all-time excessive of 81% in Q1 2025, up from 56.4% within the earlier quarter. The surge was attributed to onboarding main mining swimming pools SpiderPool and Foundry.
The inflow of mining assist boosted Rootstock’s hash energy above 740 exahashes per second. This surpassed Bitcoin’s complete community hashrate recorded in October 2024, marking a extra mature section for the platform’s merged mining development.
The surge in merged mining participation got here as Rootstock’s ecosystem confronted headwinds. In Q1 2025, Rootstock’s complete worth locked (TVL) declined. Its Bitcoin TVL dropped 7.2%, whereas the dollar-denominated TVL fell by over 20% quarter-on-quarter.
This mirrored a broader downward development throughout the DeFi sector, with Ethereum-based DeFi TVL exhibiting a 27% decline in the identical interval.
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Hacken CEO sees “no shift” in crypto safety as April hacks hit $357 million
Crypto hacks in April noticed almost $360 million in property stolen throughout 18 incidents. This represented an nearly 1,000% enhance over the quantity misplaced in March.
The most important loss got here from an unauthorized Bitcoin switch. On April 28, blockchain investigator ZachXBT reported a suspicious transaction of Bitcoin price $330 million. He later confirmed that it was a social engineering assault that focused an aged American.
In a Cointelegraph interview on the Token2049 occasion, Hacken CEO Dyma Budorin advised Cointelegraph that the business continues to depend on restricted safety measures even after the $1.4 billion Bybit hack incident. Budorin mentioned that the area implements restricted measures as an alternative of deploying complete methods.
“Many of the tasks assume, ‘Okay, we did pentests. That’s sufficient. Possibly bug bounty. That’s sufficient.’ It’s not sufficient,” Budorin advised Cointelegraph.
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AI decentralized apps are coming for the Web3 throne: DappRadar
Whereas gaming and DeFi held on to the highest spot within the decentralized functions (DApps) ecosystem, synthetic intelligence is slowly catching up.
Blockchain analytics platform DappRadar confirmed that Gaming and DeFi noticed 21% DApp dominance in April. Nevertheless, AI DApps climbed to 16%, up from the 11% recorded within the platform’s February information.
“As consumer curiosity in synthetic intelligence instruments grows throughout industries, AI-powered DApps are steadily carving out their place within the decentralized ecosystem,” DappRadar analyst Sara Gherghelas mentioned.
Gherghelas added that if the development continues, AI may problem the dominance of DeFi and gaming, signaling a “new period” within the DApp panorama.
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Bitcoin-backed loans “apparent” subsequent step — Xapo Financial institution CEO
Bitcoin holders have gotten extra assured in utilizing their BTC to borrow funds. In a Token2049 interview, Xapo Financial institution CEO Seamus Rocca advised Cointelegraph that traders’ moods have shifted from short-term hypothesis to a extra long-term outlook on Bitcoin.
Rocca mentioned that the boldness comes from broader institutional adoption and Bitcoin’s value ranges which might be “nowhere close to” liquidation.
Rocca mentioned Bitcoin-backed loans permit holders to remain uncovered to the asset when dealing with surprising bills. The chief mentioned the good factor to do shouldn’t be promote the asset when the worth will increase.
Nevertheless, when life will get in the way in which, Rocca mentioned traders can keep away from liquidating their Bitcoin by borrowing towards the asset and paying curiosity. This fashion, they’ll maintain on to the property regardless of needing liquidity for his or her bills.
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DeFi Market Overview
In response to information from Cointelegraph Markets Professional and TradingView, a lot of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week within the inexperienced.
The memecoin Pepe (PEPE) rose by over 53% because the week’s largest gainer, adopted by the Pudgy Penguins (PENGU) token, which was up by 47% through the previous week. Ether (ETH) was the third-biggest gainer, exhibiting a rise of 35%.
Thanks for studying our abstract of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Be a part of us subsequent Friday for extra tales, insights and training relating to this dynamically advancing area.
