Tag: latest crypto news

Opinion by: Matt Mudano, CEO of Arch Labs 

Ethereum is struggling, and decentralized finance (DeFi) is suffering as a result. Layer-2 (L2) solutions have fractured liquidity, making capital inefficient. In search of greener pastures, the community has turned to Solana — only to find a memecoin-driven ecosystem fueled by pump-and-dump schemes, attracting liquidity extractors, and turning the chain into a playground for speculation and fraud.

DeFi needs a reset that returns to first principles and aligns with Satoshi’s original vision of a decentralized financial system. The only network capable of sustaining the next evolution of DeFi isn’t Ethereum or Solana. It’s Bitcoin.

DeFi is struggling on Ethereum 

Ethereum was once the undisputed home of DeFi, but today, it’s clear that the ecosystem is struggling. The network’s roadmap constantly changes, with no clear path toward long-term sustainability.

L2 solutions were supposed to scale Ethereum. Instead, they’ve fractured DeFi into isolated liquidity silos. While L2s have lowered transaction fees, they now compete for liquidity rather than contributing to a unified financial system. The result? A fragmented landscape that makes capital inefficient and DeFi protocols harder to scale.

Ethereum’s proposed solution — chain abstraction — sounds promising in theory but fails in practice. The fundamental issue is a structural misalignment of incentives, and as a result, Ethereum is gradually losing its competitive edge in DeFi.

It’s time to ask: Can DeFi’s future lie in a fragmented Ethereum?

Solana isn’t the answer

With Ethereum losing its competitive edge, many developers and users have turned to Solana. The blockchain has seen an 83% increase in developer activity year-over-year, and its decentralized exchanges (DEXs) have outperformed Ethereum’s for five consecutive months. 

There’s a fundamental problem: Solana’s DeFi growth isn’t built on sustainable financial applications — a memecoin frenzy fuels it.

The recent surge in activity isn’t driven by innovation in decentralized finance but by speculative trades. Following the TRUMP memecoin craze, the total extracted value from Solana’s memecoins ranged between $3.6 billion and $6.6 billion. This isn’t DeFi growth — it’s a liquidity extraction engine where short-term speculators cash in and move on.

Solana has real strengths. Its speed and low transaction costs make it ideal for high-frequency trading, and its ecosystem has made meaningful strides in decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePINs), AI and decentralized science, or DeSci. But the dominance of memecoin speculation has turned the chain into a playground for fraud and pump-and-dump schemes. That’s not the foundation DeFi needs.

Solana isn’t the answer if the goal is to build a lasting financial system.

Bitcoin DeFi is thriving

It’s time to return to first principles and build DeFi on the original blockchain: Bitcoin — the most trusted, decentralized network backed by the soundest money in the digital economy.

This is not just theoretical. Bitcoin DeFi is already experiencing explosive growth. Consider the numbers: Total value locked (TVL) in Bitcoin DeFi surged from $300 million in early 2024 to $5.4 billion as of Feb. 28, 2025 — a staggering 1,700% increase. The Bitcoin staking sector is dominating, with protocols like Babylon ($4.68 billion TVL), Lombard ($1.59 billion) and SolvBTC ($715 million) leading the charge. This demonstrates the growing demand for Bitcoin to become a productive asset rather than a passive store of value.

Recent: Bitcoin DeFi takes center stage

Bitcoin-native DeFi isn’t simply copying Ethereum’s playbook — it’s pioneering new financial models. Advancements in the space have introduced dual staking, allowing users to stake Bitcoin (BTC) alongside native tokens to enhance security and earn yields. Meanwhile, novel approaches to tokenizing Bitcoin’s hashrate turn mining power into collateral for lending, borrowing and staking, further expanding Bitcoin’s financial utility.

In addition, Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens have driven record-high transaction activity, with inscriptions reaching 66.7 million and generating $420 million in fees — highlighting the growing demand for tokenized assets on Bitcoin.

It is clear that Bitcoin is no longer just digital gold — it’s becoming the foundation for the next phase of decentralized finance.

The future of DeFi is on Bitcoin

The future of DeFi lies with Bitcoin, where incentives align with long-term value creation. Unlike Ethereum’s fragmented model and Solana’s speculative economy, Bitcoin-based DeFi is built on institutional-grade liquidity and sustainable growth.

As the largest and most liquid crypto asset, Bitcoin boasts a $1.7 trillion market cap and $94 billion in exchange-traded fund (ETF) holdings. Even a fraction of this liquidity migrating into DeFi would be a game-changer. Bitcoin holds over $1 trillion in untapped liquidity and continues to attract strong interest from institutional investors and sovereign wealth funds, with governments already exploring it as a potential reserve asset.

Several projects are already building on Bitcoin, building a sustainable ecosystem where users can hold the most trusted digital asset while making it productive through DeFi mechanisms. 

Ethereum had its moment. Solana had its hype. It’s Bitcoin’s turn to actualize Satoshi’s original vision of a decentralized financial system.

Opinion by: Matt Mudano, CEO of Arch Labs.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Bitcoin (BTC) price dodged the chaotic volatility that crushed equities markets on the April 4 Wall Street open by holding above the $82,000 level.

US stocks notch record losses as analysts predict “long trade war”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed erratic moves on Bitcoin’s lower timeframes as the daily high near $84,700 evaporated as BTC price dropped by $2,500 at the start of the US trading session.

Fears over a prolonged US trade war and subsequent recession fueled market downside, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index both falling another 3.5% after the open.

In ongoing market coverage, trading resource The Kobeissi Letter described the tariffs as the start of the “World War 3” of trade wars.”

BREAKING: President Trump just now, “WE CAN’T LOSE!!!”

A long trade war is ahead of us. https://t.co/babI1cf5wi pic.twitter.com/6KCsHp0a8v

— The Kobeissi Letter (@KobeissiLetter) April 4, 2025

“Two-day losses in the S&P 500 surpass -8% for a total of -$3.5 trillion in market cap. This is the largest 2-day drop since the pandemic in 2020,” it reported.

The Nasdaq 100 made history the day prior, recording its biggest single-day points loss ever.

The latest US jobs data in the form of the March nonfarm payrolls print, which beat expectations, faded into insignificance with markets already panicking.

Market expectations of interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve nonetheless edged higher, with the odds for such a move coming at the Fed’s May meeting hitting 40%, per data from CME Group’s FedWatch Tool.

Bitcoin clings to support above $80,000

As Bitcoin managed to avoid a major collapse, market commentators sought confirmation of underlying BTC price strength.

Related: Bitcoin sellers ‘dry up’ as weekly exchange inflows near 2-year low

For popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital, longer-timeframe cues remained encouraging.

#BTC

Bitcoin is already recovering and on the cusp of filling this recently formed CME Gap$BTC #Crypto #Bitcoin https://t.co/ZDvsF6ldCz pic.twitter.com/PSbAESmqnY

— Rekt Capital (@rektcapital) April 4, 2025

“Bitcoin is also potentially forming the very early signs of a brand new Exaggerated Bullish Divergence,” he continued, looking at relative strength index (RSI) behavior on the daily chart.

“Double bottom on the price action meanwhile the RSI develops Higher Lows. $82,400 needs to continue holding as support.”

Fellow trader Cas Abbe likewise observed comparatively resilient trading on Bitcoin amid the risk-asset rout.

“It didn’t hit a new low yesterday despite stock market having their worst day in 5 years,” he noted to X followers. 

“Historically, BTC always bottoms first before the stock market so expecting $76.5K was the bottom. Now, I’m waiting for a reclaim above $86.5K level for more upward continuation.”

Earlier, Cointelegraph reported on BTC price bottom targets now including old all-time highs of $69,000 from 2021.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Earlier this week, Bitcoin mining giant Hut 8 revealed a partnership that includes two members of the Trump family — Donald Jr. and Eric — and its plans to launch a new mining venture, American Bitcoin. 

In an exclusive interview on Decentralize with Cointelegraph’s Byte-Sized Insight series, Hut 8 CEO Asher Genoot shared new details about the venture’s vision, why the timing was right and how the company plans to scale.

The right team and the right time

“We’ve thought about splitting out our Bitcoin mining and energy infrastructure businesses for some time,” Genoot said. “Meeting Eric and Don Jr., and seeing their deep passion for Bitcoin and infrastructure, was the perfect catalyst.”

According to Genoot, the goal is clear: to build one of the world’s largest and most efficient Bitcoin mining platforms, rooted in American soil and aligned with pro-Bitcoin sentiment growing under President Donald Trump’s administration. “Eric told me, ‘I don’t want to get involved in anything that isn’t the biggest and the best,’” he said.

The move comes at a pivotal moment for US-based mining. With China out of the picture post-2021 crackdown, and Washington now openly exploring the idea of a strategic Bitcoin reserve, America’s place in the global mining ecosystem is under transformation.

Still, size isn’t everything. Genoot emphasized that efficiency and cost-effectiveness are core to the strategy.

 “We don’t want to just be the biggest. We want to be the most efficient and cost-effective miner. If our cost basis isn’t low, we might as well just buy Bitcoin.”

Related: Bitcoin miner Hut 8 argues to toss ‘short and distort’ shareholder suit

Mining and accumulating BTC

American Bitcoin’s structure allows it to mine BTC at low cost, accumulate more when the market allows, and potentially expand into other Bitcoin ecosystem services. Hut 8 currently holds over 10,000 BTC on its balance sheet, worth up to $1 billion depending on market conditions. American Bitcoin aims to surpass that.

And the company isn’t just bullish on Bitcoin; it’s bullish on power consumption. Genoot pushed back on criticism that mining wastes energy: 

“Power consumption has only increased with every tech revolution. Cheap, excess energy is what drives Bitcoin mining — and a lot of that energy is renewable.”

Looking ahead, Hut 8’s mining spinoff has big ambitions. “Our focus is scaling. Our focus is taking this company public on a US exchange,” Genoot said. “You’ll hear more from us soon.”

Listen to the full episode of Byte-Sized Insight for the complete interview on Cointelegraph’s Podcasts page, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. And don’t forget to check out Cointelegraph’s full lineup of other shows! 

Got thoughts? Join the conversation on X or email us at [email protected].

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

Solana whales have offloaded their tokens to cash in on gains from a staking play that began four years ago. 

In April 2021, four whale addresses staked 1.79 million Solana (SOL) tokens, then worth about $37.7 million. The stake was unlocked on April 4, in what Arkham Intelligence called “the largest single-day unlock of staked SOL.” The firm noted that the next similar unlock is not expected until 2028.

At the time of the unlock, the tokens were valued at roughly $206 million, representing a 446% gain from the initial staking period.

Solana whales sold nearly $50 million

After the tokens were unlocked, the whales started to dump their holdings. Arkham data shows that over 420,000 SOL tokens, worth about $50 million, had been unstaked by the four Solana wallets at the time of writing. 

Following the unlock, blockchain analytics firm Lookonchain said the whales had started offloading their funds. One wallet address dumped nearly 260,000 SOL tokens worth over $30 million. Three other wallets sold about $16 million in SOL. 

Arkham data shows that the four wallets still hold about 1.38 million SOL tokens worth roughly $160 million. 

The SOL unlock follows a significant decrease in SOL token prices since April 2. CoinGecko data shows that on April 2, SOL hit a high of $131.11. At the time of writing, Solana was trading at $114.66, a 12% decrease in two days. 

Related: Babylon users unstake $21M in Bitcoin following token airdrop

FTX wallets unstaked $431 million in SOL

The unstaking event by four whale wallets follows another large unlock, by bankrupt crypto exchange FTX and its trading arm, Alameda Research. 

On March 4, FTX and Alameda wallets unstaked over 3 million Solana tokens worth about $431 million. The event was FTX’s largest SOL unlock since it started selling its tokens in November 2023. 

Data from the analysis platform Spot On Chain shows that since November 2023, the bankrupt crypto exchange has unstaked 7.83 million SOL tokens. The assets were sold for $986 million at an average price of $125.80 per SOL.

Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple a ‘bad actor’ with no crypto legal precedent set