In Markets
A 90-day ceasefire in the trade war between China and the US saw the tech-focused Nasdaq surge 4.4 per cent and the S&P 500 up 3.3 per cent overnight. The crypto market cap is also up A$660 billion (US$420B) in the past week. While the news helps alleviate one of the big macro factors weighing on markets, Bitcoin has been acting like a counter trade, so it didn’t get as big a boost as some may have been expecting. Gold futures also fell 3%. Positive signs that there could be a resolution in the Ukraine/Russia war and India/Pakistan conflict have also buoyed markets.
Meanwhile, Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade appears to have finally fixed its failing ‘Number Go Up’ technology, with ETH shooting up 44% in three days. Searches for the misspelled “etherium” have also surged, suggesting retail may be getting interested. Ethereum is now worth more than Coca-Cola or Alibaba, and is ranked the 39th largest asset by market cap.
In other market news, there’s growing speculation that Bitcoin dominance may have topped at 65% last week (it’s currently at 63%). Bitcoin finishes the week up 8% to trade around A$161,459 (US$102,929) while Ethereum is 36% higher than seven days ago and is trading around A$3,909 (US$2,491). XRP gained 18%, Solana gained 18%, Dogecoin (35%), and Cardano (23%) are also up. The Crypto Fear and Greed Index is at 70, or Greed.
In Headlines
Ethereum finally catches a bid
Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade went off without a hitch, making it 16 hard forks in a row now with 100% uptime. The upgrade doubled the amount of data blobs to help L2s scale, and the effect was immediately noticeable with Base, Optimism, Unichain, World, Soneium and Fraxtal hitting all-time highs for throughput. ETH has also been deflationary since the fork. The much-discussed “pivot” to scaling the L1 under the new leadership of the Ethereum Foundation and the fact that three-quarters of the fast-growing US$22 billion (A$34.5B) Real World Asset sector is tokenised in the ecosystem has also helped boost the price. Ethereum actually added an entire Solana market cap worth of value this week, and some ETH Maxis even started talking about the Flippening again, despite the ETH/BTC chart still looking very unhealthy. That said, even veteran trader and ETH bear Peter Brandt posted a chart and said the “congestion pattern could support a moon shot”.
GENIUS stablecoin act flounders
The GENIUS stablecoin bill has been blocked by Democrats in the US Senate, with a narrow 48-49 cloture vote preventing a debate on the bill. The Democrats are deeply unhappy with Trump making huge profits off his crypto ventures, with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) saying it was a “crypto bill that will help Donald Trump make hundreds of millions, maybe billions of dollars through his crypto corruption.” There are negotiations on a path forward, such as adding AML protections, provisions on foreign issuers, and national security.
Facebook seeks to add stablecoins
Three years after Facebook abandoned plans to issue its own cryptocurrency, Meta is reportedly considering adding stablecoin payments. Fortune reports five unnamed sources saying the initiative is led by VP of product Ginger Baker, who is also on the board of the Stellar Development Foundation. The plans are still at a very early stage, but one source said stablecoins might be a low-cost way to facilitate small-value payouts around US$100 (A$157) to creators worldwide. Meta is said to be agnostic to the type of stablecoin and unlikely to choose a single provider like Circle. Meanwhile, crypto project Sui, which was spun out of Meta’s abandoned project, is shaping up as one of the top-performing L1s this cycle.
SEC chair’s “new day”
New SEC chair Paul Atkins has repudiated predecessor Gary Gensler’s “head in the sand” approach and promised “a new day at the SEC… policymaking will no longer result from ad hoc enforcement actions. Instead, the Commission will utilise its existing rulemaking, interpretive, and exemptive authorities to set fit-for-purpose standards for market participants.” Atkins plans to work with lawmakers to create a supportive regulatory framework for crypto and intends to draft guidelines for determining which assets are securities. He suggested that funds and advisors may be able to self-custody under certain conditions and will revisit the broker-dealer framework.
Solana: decentralised Nasdaq
Solana founder Anatoly Yakovenko has long dreamed of making the chain a decentralised Nasdaq and has teamed up with former Ethereum researcher Max Rensick to create a proposal for doing so. The plan involves redesigning Solana’s consensus to tighten order book spreads and implement multiple concurrent leaders to prevent block builders from censoring, delaying, or inspecting transactions. Robert Sags, co-founder of rival Layer-1 SVM blockchain, however, argues that no blockchain with consensus can surpass centralised Nasdaq execution environments.
Goldman Sachs is Hodler No.1
Goldman Sachs increased its BlackRock IBIT Bitcoin ETF holdings by 28% in the first quarter of 2025, making it the largest single holder. IBIT has now seen a 20-day streak of positive inflows, taking in US$5.1 billion (A$8B) over that period. All up, the Bitcoin ETFs collectively hold US$121 billion (A$190B), the highest value since January. Meanwhile, the ETH ETFs saw a net outflow of US$38.15 million (A$59.8M) last week, with the total net assets hitting US$8.03 billion (A$12.6B).
Celsius boss jailed for 12 years
Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky has been sentenced to 12 years in prison, after previously pleading guilty to organising a fraudulent scheme that misled investors, and to manipulating the market value of the CEL token while selling millions of his personal holdings. Prosecutors had pushed for a 20-year term, saying he was unrepentant and made US$48M from the scheme.
Donald Trump and the XRP lobbyist
President Donald Trump was reportedly manipulated by a lobbyist working for Ripple into wrongly announcing XRP would be part of a national cryptocurrency reserve. According to Politico, an employee of lobbyist Brian Ballard gave the president the text of his incorrect post announcing the reserve would include XRP, Solana and Cardano. Trump then learned Ripple was one of Ballard’s clients, infuriating the President, who felt he’d been used. “He is not welcome in anything anymore,” Trump reportedly said. Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance will speak at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas at the end of the month.
Singapore Gulf Bank adds to its advisory board
Singapore Gulf Bank has named former US Federal Reserve vice chair Randal Quarles to its new global advisory board, chaired by Whampoa Group founder Amy Lee. The board brings together key names from finance and tech, including Trip.com Group co-founder Fan Min (formerly known as Ctrip) and Matrixport chairman Wu Jihan, to help steer the bank’s international growth. Backed by Bahrain’s Mumtalakat and Singapore’s Whampoa Group, the bank is the first fully licensed digital bank in the MENA region, offering global digital onboarding and integrated crypto services.
Taiwan lawmaker proposes Bitcoin in national reserves
Taiwanese legislator Dr. Ju-Chun Ko has proposed adding Bitcoin to the country’s US$577 billion in foreign reserves, 92% of which are currently held in US Treasury bonds. Citing rising inflation and geopolitical uncertainty, the proposal aims to enhance financial resilience through strategic diversification. Dr. Ko highlighted Bitcoin’s fixed supply and decentralised nature as key attributes, aligning Taiwan with a growing global trend toward digital asset integration in sovereign reserve strategies.
South Korea expands crypto payment options
South Korea has seen the introduction of crypto-enabled debit cards that allow real-time transactions using Bitcoin, Ether, and major stablecoins. The rollout reflects a broader shift toward integrating digital assets into everyday payments and comes amid increasing political support for crypto-friendly regulation ahead of the 2025 presidential election.
Indonesia pushes for crypto tax rethink
Indonesia’s crypto industry is calling for a tax overhaul, warning that the current setup is pushing traders to offshore platforms. Local exchanges are taxed more heavily and charge higher fees than global competitors. With oversight moving from Bappebti to the Financial Services Authority OJK in January, industry groups are urging VAT reform to help level the playing field with markets like Thailand and Japan.
Until next week, happy trading!
