Cryptocurrency markets saw a limited recovery this week as investor liquidity gradually returned after the holidays.
Bitcoin (BTC) breached a weekly high of $94,458 on Monday, before falling to around $90,937 at the time of writing on Friday.
Demand for U.S. spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) took a sharp turn after $1.1 billion in inflows in the first two trading days of the new year. ETFs have since recorded three consecutive days of outflows, with a cumulative $398 million sold on Thursday, according to according to data from Farside Investors.
In the broader cryptocurrency space, there has been concern over the future of the privacy-preserving token Zcash (ZEC) after the main company behind the protocol, the Electric Coin Company, decided to split from Bootstrap, the non-profit organization that supports its development.
2025 is the year of the “re-pricing” crypto bear market for institutional equity
The sharp decline in altcoins over the past year may reflect a broader reassessment of which blockchain networks are likely to attract long-term capital, as institutional investors begin a gradual, multi-year entry into the market, analysts say.
Excluding Bitcoin, 2025 proved to be a bear market for the broader cryptocurrency market. Decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens fell 67%, while cryptocurrencies linked to smart contract blockchains posted a negative average return of 66%, according to to blockchain data shared by Jamie Coutts, Chief Crypto Analyst at Real Vision.
The poor performance last year was a “recalculation” of leading crypto projects as institutional capital sought to gain more exposure, Coutts wrote in an X post on Wednesday.
“The highest quality protocol/L1 re-pricing (network adoption, fundamentally sound) just as the multi-year rollout of institutional capital begins,” he said.
Coutts is the latest analyst to highlight the continued repricing in how cryptocurrencies are valued as maturing digital asset investors seek exposure to tokens that power protocols with organic usage and revenue, rather than just general altcoins.
Looking at last year, Solana was the leading blockchain by fees, with $585 million generated, while Tron was second with $576 million in revenue, according to the crypto intelligence platform Nansen.
Institutional and large investors tend to gravitate to the top five cryptocurrencies, according to Nicolai Sondergaard, a research analyst at Nansen.
“Solana ETFs are still seeing inflows, but the same can’t be fully said on-chain. ETH, on the other hand, has seen some players rotate out of BTC,” the analyst told Cointelegraph, adding:
“Many expect that with the return of liquidity, the big players will prepare by accumulating, and this appears to be correct based on onchain and offchain data.”
Continue reading
Zcash’s backer, Bootstrap, says they parted ways due to conflict over the non-profit organization Zashi
Bootstrap, the nonprofit that backs privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash, said a recent governance dispute that led to the departure of key board members stemmed from legal restrictions nonprofits face when seeking outside investment.
The comments follow the decision by Electric Coin Company, the main development team behind Zcash, to split from Bootstrap and form a new company. ECC cited concerns over what it described as “malicious governance actions,” Cointelegraph reported on Thursday.
In its official response, Bootstrap said board members engaged in discussions about “external investments and alternative structures for privatization” of Zashi, a self-monitored crypto wallet built for private Zcash transactions.
The board discussed “external investments and alternative structures for the privatization of Zashi, working with legal counsel to ensure that any path forward would comply with US nonprofit law, remain consistent with Zcash’s long-term mission, and not jeopardize the broader Zcash community,” according to to a post shared by board member Zaki Manian on Thursday.
ECC was developed by Zashi and launched on mobile platforms in early 2024. Its source code is publicly available availablereflecting Zcash’s open source model whereby no single entity owns or controls the protocol.
Bootstrap said the underlying disagreement stems from its fiduciary and statutory obligations as a nonprofit organization registered under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code.
The proposed deal could introduce “new vulnerabilities for politically motivated attacks on Zcash,” including a potential donor lawsuit that would lead to transaction reversals, meaning Zashi would be “moved back to ECC,” the statement said.
Bootstrap added that these factors “threaten the entire Zcash ecosystem” and that such transactions must be conducted “carefully” to ensure that these assets “serve the public good” and are not “captured for private gain.”
Zcash’s code is also public and open source, and no single company or entity owns the protocol.
Continue reading
Fake MetaMask 2FA security checks trick users into sharing recovery phrases
Crypto investors are being targeted by a new phishing campaign that mimics MetaMask and tricks users into handing over their wallet recovery phrases, according to blockchain security firm SlowMist.
Attackers mimic the security verification flow with two-factor authentication (2FA), which redirects users to fake domains via fake security alerts that ask for user passphrases.
When the user shares the wallet recovery phrase, the wallet funds are stolen, warned SlowMist’s head of security, 23pds, on Monday X publish.
This new wave of scams serves as a reminder that decentralized wallet protocols would never ask users for their recovery passphrase, which allows anyone to take control of the wallet.
The phishing email redirects users to fake domains posing as MetaMask, urging them to enable 2FA in a short period of time, claiming that they may lose access to key wallet features.
The last step of the fake process asks the user for their 12-word initial phrase to complete the “security setup”.
Crypto phishing scams involve hackers sharing fake links with victims to steal sensitive data, such as crypto wallet private keys.
Phishing scams have long been a problem in the cryptocurrency space, but the declining number of incidents signals that investors are becoming wiser to the threat.
Continue reading
Aave founder plans bigger future for DeFi lending giant
Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov outlined a broader strategic vision for the protocol following a contentious governance vote that rejected a proposal to transfer control of Aave’s brand assets and intellectual property to its Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
The failed vote sparked renewed debate within the Aave community about the protocol’s long-term direction and governance structure, an issue Kulechov addressed.
ua publish published on Friday at the Aave Governance Forum, Kulechov argued that the protocol needs to evolve beyond its core decentralized finance (DeFi) lending business to take advantage of opportunities in real assets (RWA), institutional lending and consumer-facing financial products.
He described the community as “at a crossroads,” noting that DeFi’s future growth trajectory remains uncertain without broader market expansion.
Notably, Kulechov said Aave Labs plans to distribute non-protocol revenue to Aave (AAVE) token holders, a move that could expand the way the token collects value beyond participation in governance. He added that Aave Labs plans to present a new governance proposal to address the issue of intellectual property ownership and brand rights, following community pushback against the previous initiative.
Kulechov’s post appears to be aimed at redirecting the community from short-term management disputes to a more cohesive long-term strategy. He singled out RWA, describing the sector as a potential $500 trillion opportunity based on the estimated value of global financial assets.
Aave is one of the largest DeFi protocols, with total locked value exceeding $45 billion in October, according to the industry data.
Continue reading
Perp DEX almost triples volume in 2025 as onchain derivatives mature
Permanent decentralized exchanges close out 2025 with cumulative trading volume reaching $12.09 trillion, up from $4.1 trillion at the start of the year.
DefiLlama data shows that around $7.9 trillion of this lifetime total volume was generated in 2025. This means that 65% of the total perp DEX trading volume occurred in one calendar year. This concentration highlights how fast onchain derivatives grew in 2025.
In December alone, the volume of standing trades reached $1 trillion, carrying the momentum that began in October, when monthly volumes reached $1 trillion for the first time.
The increase reflects a sharp acceleration in the use of onchain derivatives over the past 12 months, as permanent DEXs have absorbed an increasing share of leveraged crypto trading activity.
Perpetuals DEXs started appearing around 2021, and dYdX and Perpetual Protocol are widely considered to be among the earliest platforms to offer decentralized on-chain perpetual futures.
The growth of the sector accelerated sharply in 2023, when the emergence of Hyperliquid marked a turning point.
Continue reading
DeFi Market Overview
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the black.
Token Render (RENDER) rose 56% as the biggest gainer last week, followed by Internet of Things (IoT) provider Jasmy Corporation’s JasmyCoin (JASMY), up over 52% over the past week.
Thanks for reading our roundup of this week’s most influential DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education about this dynamically advancing space.
About the Author
