There’s never a dull moment on the blockchain. Here’s what you need to know this week:

MARKET BYTES

BTC approached all-time high as trade deals boosted markets

After months of volatility, crypto and stock markets both revved up in a major way over the last few weeks as the Trump administration announced trade deals with the U.K. and China that would reduce many of the tariffs set last month. 

On Monday, Bitcoin approached $106,000 — just shy of the all-time high set in January — before receding slightly. A wide range of altcoins also saw spikes. 

“Momentum is strong and could persist,” Valentin Fournier, lead research analyst at BRN, told Bloomberg. “The new breakout and policy support are likely to draw in new buyers.”

Meanwhile, Tuesday’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) report showed lower-than-expected annual inflation of 2.3% in April, the lowest level since February 2021. But as CNBC notes, “tariffs remain a wild card in the inflation picture.”

Here are three more stories you should know about… 

ETH leads rally with biggest weekly gain since 2021

Over the last year, as crypto markets have soared to new heights, ether’s price has lagged behind, with several analysts offering gloomy outlooks. But this week, ETH hodlers finally had news to cheer about, as the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap had its best week since 2021.

As of Wednesday, ETH was up more than 40% for the week to around $2,550, compared to gains of around 7% for BTC. 

What’s behind the surge? Analysts point to a combination of factors including the market-boosting impact of the trade deals and last week’s successful Pectra upgrade, which could help Ethereum better compete with networks like Solana.

“The changes are designed to reduce transaction fees, improve network efficiency, and enable more complex wallet functionalities,” Bloomberg explained regarding Pectra. “Moves seen as necessary to fend off competition from faster-growing rivals.”

• Up next… The next major upgrade on ETH’s roadmap, Fusaka, is scheduled to roll out by the end of 2025. According to CoinDesk, a major goal is increasing the amount of data layer 2 networks like Base and Arbitrum can process, which could make transactions faster and cheaper.

Crypto ETFs are on a four-week winning streak

CoinShares reported that another $882 million flowed into digital asset investment products last week, with the vast majority going to BTC ETFs. Last week’s inflows marked the fourth straight week of gains, bringing 2025’s year-to-date inflows to $6.7 billion. 

Meanwhile, the SEC is considering at least 70 applications for new crypto ETFs that would hold a wide range of tokens. SEC commissioner Hester Peirce noted that the reviews process is “complex” and that the agency has limited staff. “People have to be patient,” Peirce told Bloomberg.

• New rules… SEC Chair Paul Atkins has also begun to lay out his vision for crypto regulation, with plans to clarify the rules around issuing new cryptocurrencies and the custody of existing tokens. “I believe the commission has broad discretion under the Securities Acts to accommodate the crypto industry, and I intend to get that done,” Atkins said.

Coinbase to become first crypto firm to join the S&P 500 

On Monday, the S&P 500 announced that Coinbase will be the latest company to join the index of the U.S.’s leading 500 public companies, making it the first crypto firm to do so. (Coinbase will replace Discover Financial Services, which is being acquired by Capital One.)

“This is a major milestone, not just for Coinbase, but also for the entire crypto industry,” said Coinbase Chief Financial Officer Alesia Haas. “Joining this prestigious index reflects how far Coinbase and the industry have come and is a signal of where the world is heading.”

Inclusion in the S&P 500 is seen as a big step for the crypto industry in part because a huge variety of funds (including many that are part of investors’ retirement savings) hold the index’s component stocks. Or as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong put it: “Crypto is about to be in everyone’s 401k.”

• Analysts agree… “It is a watershed moment for Coinbase and the industry,” said Oppenheimer analyst Owen Lau. “It sets an example for other crypto companies to go public and earn a seat in the S&P 500.”

STABLECOIN ROUNDUP

Stablecoins gain momentum as one of crypto’s fastest growing sectors

The impressive rebound in crypto prices might be garnering the most eye-catching headlines right now, but a major part of the crypto market has been quietly having a pivotal 2025: stablecoins (digital tokens pegged to the price of another asset — typically a fiat currency like the U.S. dollar).

And in the past few weeks, a growing number of major financial institutions and fintechs have started to embrace stablecoins in a big way — a16z crypto even declared that this was  “the month fintechs embraced stablecoins.”

Here’s a look at the latest developments. 

Citi sees stablecoins becoming “mainstream”

In a new report, the Wall Street giant predicts that stablecoins could grow from their current $242 billion market cap to as much as $3.7 trillion by 2030, with the sector’s growth fueled by a variety of payments use cases, including cross-border transfers, remittances, and merchant settlements.

Citi also believes that stablecoins could partially replace international and domestic U.S. dollar holdings, and notes that stablecoins could even be used in money market funds — a nearly $3 trillion dollar market — if yield-bearing stablecoins are legalized.

“We're looking at the integration of stablecoins into what you call the mainstream economy,” said Citi Institute exec Ronit Ghose.

Meta is considering a major stablecoin integration 

More than three years after Meta ended its first crypto project, Diem, Facebook’s parent firm is, per a Fortune report, exploring a major foray into stablecoins, which could be used for payments across the company’s social apps. 

Meta has reportedly held meetings with multiple crypto firms seeking to forge a partnership that would likely involve several stablecoins. 

Because stablecoins can facilitate low-cost global payments with near-instantaneous settlement times, they could be used for scenarios like sending payments to creators on Instagram. A cross-border payment of $100 to a creator who lives abroad could cost as much as $50 in wire transfer fees. But stablecoins could cut those costs by more than 99%, and would settle nearly instantly (as opposed to days in the current system). 

The company has not commented on the reports, but it has said that it has no plans to launch a stablecoin of its own. 

Stripe just launched stablecoin business accounts

Stripe, which processes more than $1 trillion in payments annually, has already bet big on stablecoins, having spent $1.1 billion to acquire the stablecoin infrastructure firm Bridge earlier this year. 

Now, the fintech giant is launching a new product that will allow companies in more than 100 countries to have “stablecoin powered” accounts, which will enable them to hold balances in stablecoins and allow payments via crypto and fiat. The company says these accounts can be especially useful for entrepreneurs in regions with volatile currencies, allowing them to hedge against inflation and more easily participate in the global economy. 

Bridge also partnered with Visa last week to issue a card that will make it possible to spend stablecoins at more than 150 million merchants globally. (Mastercard also recently announced a partnership with a crypto exchange to launch a similarly-styled card.)

The bottom line… 

Much of the projected growth for stablecoins is reliant upon the U.S. passing comprehensive stablecoin regulations that provide clear rules of the road for the industry. Though a key procedural vote on the GENIUS Act (a stablecoin bill) did not pass in the Senate last week, analysts at Deutsche Bank, alongside many inside the crypto industry, still expect to see progress toward stablecoin regulation this year.

NUMBERS TO KNOW

$40.3 billion

Net deposits on DeFi lending protocol Aave as of Monday, a new all-time high. The rise in activity on Aave — which, as the Defiant notes, operates primarily on the Ethereum blockchain — coincided with ETH’s 40% surge over the last week.

$2.9 billion

Size of Coinbase’s recent deal to acquire leading crypto derivatives platform Deribit — the largest-ever acquisition in the crypto industry. Coinbase noted in an announcement that “this strategic acquisition significantly advances Coinbase’s derivatives business, establishing us as the premier global platform for crypto derivatives.”

13,390 BTC

Amount of bitcoin (worth roughly $1.34 billion) that Strategy purchased throughout the last week, bringing the company’s total bitcoin holdings to 568,840 BTC ($58.2 billion). As the top corporate holder of BTC, Strategy currently holds 2.7% of Bitcoin’s total 21 million supply.

2

The number of U.S. states that have passed cryptocurrency reserve laws, after Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs last week signed a bill creating a “Bitcoin and Digital Assets Reserve Fund.” (The legislation also updated Arizona's “unclaimed property laws for cryptocurrency,” reports Axios.) Earlier in May, New Hampshire became the first U.S. state to create its own crypto reserve.

TOKEN TRIVIA

Which of the following is a decentralized exchange?

Find the answer below.

Trivia Answer