Tag: latest crypto news

Solana’s native token SOL (SOL) dropped by 9% between March 28 and April 4, but several key metrics grew during the same period. Despite SOL’s price downturn, the Solana network continues to outpace competitors, maintaining its second-place position in deposits and trading volume. Traders now wonder how long it will take for SOL’s price to reflect this onchain strength.

Solana outperforms rivals in TVL deposits and DEX volumes

Investor’s declining interest in SOL could be linked to the April 4 staking unlock of 1.79 million SOL, worth over $200 million. The selling pressure is clear, as these tokens were staked in April 2021, when SOL traded near $23. Another factor is the decline in interest for memecoins, which had been a major driver of new user adoption on Solana. With fewer speculative inflows, growth in activity may not translate to immediate price gains.

Several meme-themed cryptocurrencies, including WIF, PENGU, POPCAT, AI16Z, BOME, and ACT, saw declines of 20% or more over the past seven days. Yet, despite worsening market conditions, the Solana network outperformed some competitors. Its Total Value Locked (TVL) rose to the highest level since June 2022, while decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes showed notable resilience.

Deposits in Solana network’s DApps rose to 53.8 million SOL on April 2, marking a 14% increase from the previous month. In US dollar terms, the $6.5 billion total stands $780 million ahead of its closest competitor, BNB Chain. Solana’s top DApps by TVL include Jito (liquid staking), Jupiter (leading DEX), and Kamino (lending and liquidity platform).

Solana gains support for scalability, and Web3 focus despite MEV concerns

While not yet a direct threat to Ethereum’s $50 billion TVL, Solana’s onchain data shows greater resilience compared to BNB Chain, Tron, and Ethereum layer-2 networks like Base and Arbitrum. In decentralized exchange (DEX) volumes, Solana holds a 24% market share, while BNB Chain accounts for 12% and Base captures 10%, according to data from DefiLlama.

While Ethereum has regained the lead in DEX volumes, Solana has shown strong resilience following the memecoin bubble burst. For context, Raydium’s weekly volumes dropped 95% from the $42.9 billion all-time high reached in mid-January. Still, Solana has demonstrated that traders appreciate its focus on base layer scalability and integrated Web3 user experience despite ongoing criticism related to maximum extractable value (MEV).

In short, MEV occurs when validators reorder transactions for profit. This practice is not unique to Solana, but some market participants—such as user Cbb0fe, a self-proclaimed decentralized finance (DeFi) liquidity provider—have raised concerns about insider gatekeeping. While not stated directly, the criticism likely refers to incentives provided by Solana Labs to offset the high investment and maintenance costs required by certain validators.

Supporters of changing Solana’s token emissions argue that rewards earned through MEV already provide sufficient incentives for validators to secure the network, eliminating the need for further inflationary pressure on SOL. Meanwhile, Loring Harkness, a core contributor to Shutter Network, advocates for encrypting transactions before they enter the mempool as a way to prevent validators from manipulating their order.

Solana’s growth in TVL and resilience in DEX market share may not be enough for SOL to retest the $200 level seen in mid-February. However, it has firmly secured its second-place position behind Ethereum as a leading platform for decentralized applications, supported by consistent activity, infrastructure development, and growing interest from both developers and users.

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.

XRP (XRP) price has plunged more than 35% since reaching a multi-year high of $3.40 in January — and the downtrend may deepen in April as new bearish signals emerge.

Let’s examine these catalysts in detail.

XRP nears a classic technical breakdown

XRP’s recent price action is flashing a classic bearish reversal signal dubbed “inverse cup and handle formation.”

The inverse cup and handle is a bearish chart pattern that signals fading buyer momentum after an uptrend. It resembles an upside-down teacup, with the “cup” marking a rounded decline and the “handle” forming after a brief consolidation.

A break below the handle’s support typically confirms the pattern, often leading to a drop equal to the cup’s height.

In XRP’s case, the rounded “cup” topped around March 19 and completed its curved decline by the end of the month. The ongoing sideways price movement between $2.05 and $2.20 forms the “handle.”

A breakdown below this horizontal consolidation range could validate the bearish structure, opening the door for a potential move toward the $1.58 support area — as suggested by the measured move projection shown on the chart above.

In other words, XRP can decline by over 25% in April if the inverse cup and handle setup plays out as intended.

Adding to the sell-off risk is data from the volume profile visible range (VPVR) indicator, which shows the point of control (POC) around $2.10–$2.20 — a key support zone. A breakdown below this high-volume area could trigger a sharper drop, as lower volume levels below have offered little historical support in recent history.

Conversely, a strong close above the 50-period 4-hour EMA (red line) near $2.14 could invalidate the inverse cup-and-handle pattern. Such a breakout may shift momentum in favor of the bulls, potentially paving the way for a rally toward the 200-period 4-hour EMA (blue line) around $2.28.

Related: Investor demand for XRP falls as the bull market stalls — Will traders defend the $2 support?

XRP whale flow point to more sell pressure

As of April 5, CryptoQuant’s 90-day moving average whale flow chart was showing sustained net outflows from XRP’s largest holders since late 2024.

During XRP’s sharp price boom in Q4 2024, whale activity flipped deeply negative, indicating large entities were distributing into strength and selling the local tops. The trend has continued into 2025, with the total whale flow remaining firmly below zero.

This divergence between rising prices and declining whale support suggests weakening institutional conviction and raises concerns over XRP’s near-term price stability unless accumulation resumes.

US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs and the Federal Reserve’s slightly hawkish response to them have furthered dampened risk sentiment, which may weigh XRP and the broader crypto market down in the coming quarters.

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.

Mixed-martial arts (MMA) champion Conor McGregor launched a memecoin called “REAL” on April 5, which will reportedly feature staking rewards and voting rights for token holders.

The token was launched through a sealed-bid auction to eliminate snipers and bots hijacking the token launch and occurred in collaboration with the Real World Gaming decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

The auction will take place from April 5-6. In a statement shared with Cointelegraph, McGregor touted the launch as a fair memecoin offering:

“This is not some celebrity-endorsed bullshit token, it is a REAL game changer that will change the crypto ecosystem as well as make REAL change in the world. The sealed-bid auction is the new way of launching a token to prevent rug pulls and snipers.

“This is about transparency — we are showing the world how it is done with integrity,” McGregor continued.

The memecoin narrative peaked following the launch of the TRUMP memecoin by US President Donald Trump. However, savvy traders continue hunting memecoins, keeping the market alive.

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.

Related: Ghibli memecoins surge as internet flooded with Studio Ghibli-style AI images

Opinion by: James Newman, chief corporate affairs officer at Chiliz

The perception of blockchain, especially for those outside the industry, has often been driven primarily by stories of extreme volatility, bad actors and speculation. 

In past months, the industry has been dominated by the narratives around the rise and subsequent fall of memecoins like HAWK, Fartcoin and LIBRA. Rewind to 2021, and lacking a genuine use case, the massive hype around non-fungible tokens (NFTs) failed to translate to long-term success, with the average NFT project today having a lifespan 2.5 times shorter than the average crypto project. 

For many, however, the appeal of these assets lies in their volatility, turning a few dollars into a fortune overnight. While NFTs and memecoins are undeniably part of Web3 culture, what sustains projects, keeps users engaged, and drives the industry forward is not volatility but providing genuine solutions to real-world problems. Ultimately, it’s about utility. 

Utility drives stability 

Many blockchain projects fail because they are solutions searching for a problem rather than solving an existing one. Assets that offer no utility at all are unlikely to be more than a flash-in-the-pan moment of volatile speculation. While digital assets continue pushing technological innovation’s boundaries, human needs for utility and tangible value remain constant. Moreover, a digital asset’s utility promotes stability by shifting focus away from short-term speculation to meaningful engagement.

 When assessing the stability of a digital asset, its longevity is far more telling than short-term price swings. Volatility is inherent in crypto, but the accurate measure of resilience is whether a project can endure across market cycles. Fan tokens have demonstrated this stability, whereas NFTs — despite their initial boom — have struggled mainly to maintain long-term value beyond speculative hype. 

While memecoins certainly generate hype, their longevity is fleeting. 97% of memecoins launched in 2024 have already failed. There are exceptions, of course, but the overwhelming majority don’t stand the test of time.

In contrast, sports clubs have been issuing fan tokens since 2018, weathering both bull and bear markets. Their resilience comes from utility — fan tokens continuously evolve to reimagine fan engagement, bringing fans and clubs closer together. 

Solve problems, create value, establish longevity 

The connection between utility and stability is clear. Digital assets that solve real-world problems foster sustainable adoption. Instead of attracting speculators hoping for quick profits, utility-driven assets bring in users with a genuine need for or interest in the project.

The rise of stablecoins underscores the importance of utility. 

Recent: Fan tokens offer stability — NFTs have not

Over the past six months, stablecoin market capitalization has grown from $160 billion to $230 billion. According to DeSpread Research, in 2021, there were 27 stablecoins. By July 2024, there were 182, representing a 574% growth rate over three years. The reason? Stablecoins provide users real utility, whether you’re a small business owner looking to transact across borders or a developer looking for liquidity for your decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol.

Another indicator of an asset’s utility is institutional adoption. To put it bluntly, BlackRock invests in Bitcoin (BTC). It offers BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) — not Fartcoin — because institutions prioritize assets with a proven track record of creating tangible value for their customers over short-lived, hype-filled speculation.

For sports fans, emotional connections to their teams run deep — even if they’ve never set foot in their team’s stadium. Fan tokens fill this gap and tap into this emotional connection by offering more ways for fans to engage with their teams through direct participation and rewards — no matter where they are in the world. 

Whether voting on team decisions, accessing exclusive deals, staking fan tokens for additional perks or simply owning a piece of their team’s digital identity, fan tokens provide utility through their lifecycle. 

The future of digital assets

To bring it full circle, Satoshi Nakamoto’s original vision for Bitcoin was to solve a problem: an unfair financial system. 16 years later, despite the many applications of blockchain technology, this remains the reality of the asset.

The future of digital assets will be defined by their ability to solve real-world problems, which is recognized by the clubs themselves. This is why they don’t just issue fan tokens — they actively grant their IP rights to strengthen trust and credibility in the asset. When some of the world’s most iconic sports brands embrace blockchain technology this way, it’s a clear signal that the next era of fan engagement isn’t on the horizon — it’s already here. And we’re only just getting started.

Beyond fan tokens, blockchain is transforming the sports industry across multiple dimensions, with each use case becoming increasingly interconnected. Take Tether’s recent investment in Juventus. The surge in the price of Juventus’ fan token underscores how deeply blockchain and crypto intersect across investment, sponsorship and fan engagement. With crypto sponsorships in sports surging in 2024, this convergence will only accelerate as clubs, leagues and brands explore new ways to harness Web3 technology — creating richer, more interactive fan experiences while unlocking new revenue streams.

Opinion by: James Newman, chief corporate affairs officer at Chiliz.

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.

US President Donald Trump’s trade policies will create worldwide macroeconomic turmoil and short-term financial crises that will ultimately lead to greater adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) as a store of value asset, according to Bitwise analyst Jeff Park.

Economic instability from the trade war will cause governments to adopt inflationary fiscal and monetary policies, which will further debase currencies and lead to a worldwide flight to safety in alternative stores of value, like Bitcoin, Park argued.

This increased demand for BTC will drive prices much higher in the long term, the analyst concluded. In an X post on Feb. 2, Park predicted the immediate impact of a trade war:

“The tariff costs, most likely through higher inflation, will be shared by both the US and trading partners, but the relative impact will be much heavier on foreigners. These countries will then have to find a way to fend off their weak growth issues.”

Despite the Increased demand for Bitcoin as a store of value against rapidly depreciating fiat currencies driving BTC prices higher in the long term, global financial markets would feel the short-term pain and wealth destruction of the trade war, according to Park.

Related: Trump ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs create chaos in markets, recession concerns

Global markets feeling the short-term shock

Tariffs are “stagflationary for the world as a whole,” economist and hedge fund manager Ray Dalio wrote in an April 2 X post. Tariffs tend to be more deflationary for the levied goods producers and more inflationary for the importing country, Dalio added.

He concluded that the level of debt and trade imbalances will ultimately lead to a global financial shift that changes the established monetary order.

“If these trade tariffs do lead to a massive trade war, it is going to be very ugly for the whole world,” Coin Bureau founder and market analyst Nic Puckrin told Cointelegraph in an interview.

The analyst said the US economy has a 40% chance of a recession in 2025 amid fears of a lengthy trade war and the macroeconomic uncertainty brought on by protectionist trade policies.

No pain, no gain: Short-term shock to drive asset prices higher long-term?

Asset manager Anthony Pompliano recently speculated that the US president is deliberately crashing capital markets to force interest rate cuts and lower the costs of servicing the US national debt.

The interest rate on 10-year US Treasury bonds declined from approximately 4.66% in January to the current rate of 4.00%.

Pompliano also concluded that while the current US administration’s policies will create short-term pain, the effect of lower interest rates will encourage borrowing and drive risk-on asset prices higher in the long term.

Magazine: Bitcoin dominance will fall in 2025: Benjamin Cowen, X Hall of Flame

The most successful cryptocurrency traders are still chasing quick profits in memecoins, despite signs that the broader “supercycle” for the speculative assets may be winding down. The shift follows recent disappointment tied to memecoin launches associated with US President Donald Trump.

The industry’s most successful cryptocurrency traders by returns — tracked as “smart money” traders on Nansen’s blockchain intelligence platform — continue hunting for quick memecoin returns.

While growing stablecoin holdings show increased caution, smart money remains open to speculative plays, according to Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at Nansen.

“There was the recent meme surge and smart money is always happy to capitulate on that. But they’re also happy to rotate out of these quickly as well,” he said during Cointelegraph’s Chainreaction live show on X.

“The recent meme frenzy was just a fun play they worked on, while the broader market is sorting out the direction because memecoins aren’t necessarily affected by the same macroeconomy as Bitcoin and Ethereum,” he added.

Related: Bitcoin holds firm as stocks lose $5T in record Trump tariff sell-off

The analyst’s insights came a week after a savvy trader turned an initial investment of just $2,000 into $43 million with the popular Pepe (PEPE) cryptocurrency, Cointelegraph reported on March 30.

However, the trader didn’t manage to sell the top but still made a realized profit of over $10 million, despite Pepe’s over 70% decline from its all-time high.

Related: Trump family memecoins may trigger increased SEC scrutiny on crypto

Trump token launch may have ended memecoin “supercycle”

The launch of the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin on Jan. 18 may have signaled the end of the memecoin “supercycle.”

“Pump.fun has been synonymous with the “memecoin supercycle,” as it accounts for over 70% of tokens launched on Solana, according to a Binance research report shared with Cointelegraph.

The memecoin launchpad’s weekly usage metrics peaked on the week of Trump’s inauguration and have since declined. Total active wallets on Pump.fun fell from 2.85 million on the week of Jan. 20 to just 1.44 million as of March 31.

The decline is mainly attributed to a decay in investor sentiment, a Binance spokesperson told Cointelegraph, adding:

“Market sentiment also appears to have shifted amid unverified reports of insider trading linked to subsequent high-profile tokens such as $MELANIA and $LIBRA.”

“Broader macroeconomic uncertainty, including volatility driven by global tariff policies, may have further dampened speculative appetite for memecoins more generally,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the TRUMP token is down more than 87% from its peak of $75.35, reached on Jan. 19. The token fell over 8% in the past week, CoinMarketCap data shows.

Magazine: BTC’s ‘reasonable’ $180K target, NFTs plunge in 2024, and more: Hodler’s Digest Jan 12–18

Bitcoin is gaining renewed attention as a hedge against financial instability after holding relatively steady during a record-breaking stock market downturn that saw $5 trillion wiped from the S&P 500.

The S&P 500 posted a $5 trillion loss in market capitalization over two days, its largest drop on record, surpassing the $3.3 trillion decline in March 2020 during the initial wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an April 5 report by Reuters.

The record sell-off occurred after US President Donald Trump announced his reciprocal import tariffs on April 2. The measures aim to shrink the country’s estimated trade deficit of $1.2 trillion in goods and boost domestic manufacturing.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) dip after the tariff announcement was significantly smaller than traditional markets, proving Bitcoin’s growing maturity as a global asset, according to Marcin Kazmierczak, co-founder and chief operating officer of RedStone blockchain oracle firm.

“What we’re potentially witnessing is an evolution in Bitcoin’s market positioning,” the co-founder told Cointelegraph, adding:

“Historically, Bitcoin has been strongly correlated with risk assets during macro shocks, but this divergence might signal an emerging perception shift among investors.”

“Bitcoin’s fixed supply architecture inherently contrasts with fiat currencies that may face inflationary pressure under tariff-driven economic changes,” he added.

Related: 70% chance of crypto bottoming before June amid trade fears: Nansen

While stocks plunged, Bitcoin dipped just 3.7% over the same two-day period, trading at around $83,600 as of April 5, according to TradingView data.

Despite the $5 trillion sell-off in traditional markets, “BTC shows its worth, staying above its $82,000 key support level — a sign that structural demand remains intact even amid forced selling and elevated volatility,” Nexo dispatch analyst Iliya Kalchev told Cointelegraph.

Related: Michael Saylor’s Strategy buys Bitcoin dip with $1.9B purchase

Bitcoin may emerge as “digital gold” amid Trump tariff talks

Despite Bitcoin’s decoupling from traditional stocks, its initial plunge in price signals that some investors still see Bitcoin as a risk asset, according to James Wo, the founder and CEO of venture capital firm DFG.

“With Bitcoin ETFs enabling greater institutional exposure, it is now even more influenced by macroeconomic trends,” Wo told Cointelegraph, adding:

“However, if Bitcoin remains resilient amid ongoing uncertainty, its hard-capped supply and decentralized nature could not only strengthen its ‘digital gold’ narrative but also position it as an even more reliable store of value.”

Despite the current lack of momentum, analysts are confident in Bitcoin’s upside potential for the rest of 2025.

The growing money supply could push Bitcoin’s price above $132,000 before the end of 2025, according to estimates from Jamie Coutts, chief crypto analyst at Real Vision.

Magazine: Bitcoin ATH sooner than expected? XRP may drop 40%, and more: Hodler’s Digest, March 23 – 29