Abstract

• This week, BTC price rebounded to a peak of approximately 87,500 USDT, while ETH price surged to around 2,050 USDT.
• The Ethereum Foundation plans to activate the Pectra upgrade on the Hoodi testnet on March 26.
• XRP’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) surpassed $25 billion, exceeding ETH’s.
• Bitcoin long-term holders accumulated over 182,000 BTC in the past month, valued at nearly $15 billion.
• The stablecoin market cap hit a new all-time high, with the Tether Treasury minting an additional 1 billion USDT on the Tron network.
• Jupiter’s revenue dropped below $6 million last week, marking its lowest weekly revenue since 2025.

Market Analysis

Review and Insights

• BTC — This week, BTC tested the support level near $81,000 and successfully broke through the previous resistance at $85,000. If BTC can maintain stability above this level, $85,000 will become a new support zone, potentially paving the way for a move toward $91,000 . Meanwhile, overall market trading volume has increased significantly, indicating a breakout with strong momentum. If BTC successfully breaks through the next resistance, a stronger upward trend could follow. [1]

• ETH — This week, ETH’s price fluctuated around $1,900 before breaking through resistance and reaching $2,028. Compared to BTC, ETH experienced a larger percentage increase, though its trading volume did not exhibit the same notable growth as BTC. [2]

• Altcoins — Over the past seven days, altcoins experienced mostly sideways movement, showing weaker overall performance with smaller gains compared to the previous week. Among sector leaders, Infrastructure, Real World Assets (RWA), and Automated Market Maker (AMM) performed the best, with seven-day market cap increases of approximately 35.7%, 33.3%, and 18.8%, respectively. [3]
• Option Market — As of 08:00 AM (UTC+8) on March 20, 2025, BTC options open interest stood at $33.004 billion, slightly down from $33.426 billion the previous week. Notably, the nominal value of BTC options expiring on March 21 increased to $1.863 billion. [4]
• Macro Data — On the evening of March 19, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced its interest rate decision, maintaining the rate at 4.5%, aligning with market expectations. As the data met expectations, its impact on the USD market was minimal, and most cryptocurrency assets experienced a rebound. [5]
• Stablecoins — The total stablecoin market cap increased by 0.83% this week, reaching $229.6 billion, signaling a continued inflow of off-market funds. [6]
• Gas Fees — Over the past seven days, Ethereum’s average Gas Fee rose to 0.64 Gwei, with network activity seeing a slight uptick. [7]

Trending Concepts

This week, Bitcoin’s price fluctuated between $81,500 and $86,000, while performance across altcoin sectors varied. According to CoinGecko data, the Infrastructure, Real World Assets (RWA), and Liquid Staked SOL sectors led the gains, with seven-day market cap increases of approximately 35.7%, 33.3%, and 21.2%, respectively. [8]

Infrastructure - The Infrastructure sector refers to the core systems and networks that support the operation and expansion of blockchain technology. Projects in this sector provide crucial support for blockchain ecosystems, facilitating the development of decentralized applications (dApps) and related services.

Over the past seven days, the infrastructure sector increased by 35.7%, reaching a total market cap of $29.96 billion with a 24-hour trading volume of $2.225 billion. Notably, within this sector, the token RSS3 surged 161.9% in the past week. [9]

Real World Assets (RWA) - Real World Assets (RWA) are tangible assets that hold value in the real world. Tokenization of RWA involves representing these assets digitally on the blockchain, enabling fractional ownership, enhanced liquidity, and more efficient asset management and trading.

Over the past seven days, the RWA sector rose by 33.3%, with a total market cap of $34.629 billion and a 24-hour trading volume of $2.23 billion. Within this sector, the token PLUME surged 69.9% over the past week. [10]

Automated Market Maker (AMM) - The Automated Market Maker (AMM) sector comprises tokens associated with AMM protocols. AMMs utilize liquidity pools containing two or more assets, and prices are determined based on the ratio of assets in the pool combined with mathematical formulas. Orders are executed automatically through smart contracts.

The AMM sector saw a 7-day market cap increase of 18.8%, reaching approximately $8.645 billion with a 24-hour trading volume of $1.644 billion. Within this sector, the token CAKE climbed 54.9% over the past week. [11]

Top Performers

According to CoinGecko data, the following are the top-performing tokens over the past 7 days: [12]

TON (The Open Network) — Up ~32.6%, Market Cap: $9.074 billion

The Open Network (TON) is a decentralized Layer 1 blockchain designed by Telegram, featuring scalability and sharding technology to enable fast, low-cost, and energy-efficient blockchain transactions.

Recently, Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, was permitted to temporarily leave France and return to Dubai. This development was interpreted by the market as a positive signal indicating a reduction in his personal risks. Additionally, several projects within the TON ecosystem, such as To the MOO, have recently secured funding, demonstrating ongoing growth. The combination of these factors contributed to the recent surge in TON’s price. [13]

ATOM (Cosmos Hub) — Up ~22%, Market Cap: $2.093 billion

Cosmos is a parallel network where individual chains are supported by consensus mechanisms like Tendermint. Within the Cosmos ecosystem, various zones can communicate, transact, and interoperate with each other. Cosmos aims to break the barriers between blockchains, creating an “Internet of Blockchains” and positioning itself as the preferred platform for diverse real-world use cases.

On March 18, Cosmos announced that the Interchain Foundation (ICF) has officially funded evmOS, an innovative Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 solution. This advancement enhances the Cosmos ecosystem by providing expanded functionality for Ethereum-native users, protocols, and infrastructure providers, boosting Cosmos’ appeal and driving its recent price surge. [14]

S (Sonic (prev. FTM)) — Up ~7.1%, Market Cap: $1.75 billion

Sonic is an EVM-compatible Layer 1 blockchain designed to provide robust infrastructure and incentives for DeFi applications. Sonic offers high throughput with 10,000 TPS (transactions per second) and sub-second transaction finality. The introduction of Sonic Gateway, a secure bridge connecting to Ethereum, further strengthens liquidity and asset security.

Recently, the launch of Sonic Pay and the deployment of major DeFi platforms like AAVE have pushed Sonic’s Total Value Locked (TVL) to $800 million, drawing increased investor attention and contributing to its price increase. [15]

Weekly Spotlights

Hot Topic Review

Ethereum Foundation to Activate Pectra Upgrade on Hoodi Testnet

On March 18, 2025, the Ethereum Foundation announced that it will activate the Pectra network upgrade on the newly launched Hoodi testnet on March 26, 2025. This decision was made in response to issues encountered on the existing Holesky testnet, which experienced significant inactivity leaks during its recovery process. Although Holesky has since regained finality, it is estimated that validator exits will take approximately one year to fully complete, making it impractical to test the full validator lifecycle within a reasonable timeframe.

To address this challenge, the Ethereum Foundation introduced the Hoodi testnet, which was scheduled to launch on March 17. The Pectra upgrade activation is set for March 26 at 15:37:12 UTC (Epoch 2048). While Holesky will continue to be supported until September 2025, all Pectra functionalities — except for validator exits — can still be tested on Holesky during this period.

By introducing the Hoodi testnet and advancing the Pectra upgrade, Ethereum reaffirms its commitment to improving blockchain performance. This strategic move aims to ensure the upgrade is thoroughly tested, enhancing wallet functionality and network scalability to improve user experience and strengthen Ethereum’s long-term competitiveness. This development also sets a benchmark for competitors such as Solana and Polygon, potentially motivating them to accelerate the development of similar features. Additionally, the introduction of the Hoodi testnet may prompt ecosystem partners, such as staking service providers, to transition to the new testnet.

From an industry perspective, the Pectra upgrade’s scalability improvements — such as the increase in blob capacity — are expected to enhance transaction throughput, addressing scalability challenges. This move may also encourage the industry to place greater emphasis on testnet stability and upgrade efficiency. [16]

XRP’s Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) Surpasses $250 Billion, Overtaking ETH’s FDV

XRP’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) has surpassed $250 billion, exceeding ETH’s FDV. As of March 19, 21:00 (UTC +8), data shows that XRP rose 10.6% to $2.55, pushing its FDV to $254.87 billion, overtaking ETH’s $244.24 billion. FDV is calculated based on the maximum supply of tokens, representing the potential market value. XRP’s achievement is particularly notable amid ongoing market volatility.

The surge in XRP’s price and its FDV surpassing ETH can be attributed to two key developments: the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropping its appeal in the Ripple case, which significantly boosted market confidence, and Ripple’s recent regulatory approval in Dubai, which has enabled the company to expand its cross-border payments presence in the Middle East while attracting increased institutional interest.

XRP’s maximum supply of 100 billion tokens significantly exceeds ETH’s approximately 120 million tokens, which is another factor contributing to XRP’s FDV surpassing ETH. Recent regulatory progress and business expansion have strengthened Ripple’s position. As institutional involvement grows and the cross-border payments market expands, XRP is expected to play an increasingly influential role in global payments and digital asset ecosystems. [17]

USDT Dominates Crypto Payments in the EU, with 70% Spent on Retail Food and Beverages

On March 20, 2025, Oobit published a report indicating that 70% of crypto payments in the EU are used for retail food and beverages, with 92% of these transactions conducted using the USDT stablecoin. The report analyzed over 100,000 transactions, with an average payment amount of $8.36 and an average deposit amount of $85. In addition, 26% of crypto payments were spent on travel, while 1.5% was allocated to government, healthcare, and entertainment sectors. The report also highlighted that crypto adoption in Central, Northern, and Western Europe has grown at an annual rate of 44%.

Despite potential regulatory adjustments under the MiCA framework, which may introduce new compliance requirements for USDT, the growing popularity of crypto in EU retail payments is likely to encourage wider adoption among merchants. USDT’s dominance may restrict the market share of other stablecoins, while retailers and payment processors are expected to accelerate the integration of crypto payment systems. [18]

Security Incident

Four.Meme Suffers Hack, Losing Approximately $130,000

On March 18, blockchain security firm PeckShield reported that Four.Meme had been hacked, resulting in losses of approximately $130,000, with the stolen funds transferred to FixedFloat. The attack occurred due to leaked transaction details when Four.Meme added liquidity on PancakeSwap. The hacker exploited the leaked data through a sandwich attack by leveraging privacy transaction bundling techniques. The root cause of the breach was a flaw in Four.Meme’s transmission functionality, which allowed unrestricted movement of inactive tokens.

Three days prior to the attack, the hacker withdrew 69 BNB from FixedFloat and deployed multiple contracts in preparation for the exploit. During execution, the hacker bypassed the MODE_TRANSFER_RESTRICTED restriction, stole the funds, and subsequently laundered them via PancakeSwap. This incident highlights the persistent risks associated with smart contract vulnerabilities, particularly in areas such as multi-owner variable management and function access control. [19]

Project Highlights

Peapods Finance Officially Launches on Sonic Blockchain

Peapods Finance is set to launch on the Sonic blockchain on March 19, introducing its Leverage Volatility DeFi Platform (LVF). Peapods Finance is a decentralized and permissionless protocol designed to help users generate profits through volatility-driven DeFi strategies. By creating Pods and utilizing advanced strategies such as Leverage Volatility DeFi (LVF), Peapods Finance offers users unique opportunities to capitalize on price fluctuations for real returns. [20][21]

The launch of the Leverage Volatility DeFi Platform (LVF) on the Sonic blockchain introduces a new profit model for users. Through the creation of Pods and strategies that exploit market volatility, users can potentially earn significant returns. The project’s decentralized and permissionless nature reduces participation barriers, ensuring broader accessibility.

By leveraging Sonic’s high throughput and low transaction costs, Peapods Finance aims to enhance transaction efficiency and improve user experience. Additionally, amid rising market volatility, demand for volatility arbitrage strategies has increased. Peapods Finance’s entry into this trend positions it as a potential high-yield opportunity for investors, making it a noteworthy project in the evolving DeFi landscape.

Data Highlights

Bitcoin Long-Term Holders Accumulate Over 182,000 BTC Worth Nearly $15 Billion in the Past Month

According to the latest data from Glassnode, long-term Bitcoin holders (typically defined as addresses holding BTC for at least 155 days) accumulated over 182,000 BTC in the past month, valued at nearly $15 billion. This accumulation indicates that seasoned investors continue to have strong confidence in Bitcoin’s long-term potential despite market volatility.

Long-term holders are often characterized by higher risk tolerance and a longer investment horizon. They tend to accumulate Bitcoin during price dips, driven by their belief in Bitcoin’s long-term growth potential. In periods of market uncertainty and volatility, long-term holders are more focused on Bitcoin’s fundamentals and intrinsic value rather than short-term price fluctuations. Consequently, their buying behavior may signal the formation of a market bottom, laying the groundwork for a potential price rebound. [22]

Stablecoin Market Cap Hits New ATH as Tether Treasury Mints 1 Billion USDT on the Tron Network

The stablecoin market cap has reached a new all-time high of $230 billion, reflecting a 0.83% increase over the past seven days, with USDT accounting for 62.75% of the total stablecoin market cap. On March 19, on-chain data revealed that the Tether Treasury minted an additional 1 billion USDT (approximately 1.001 billion USDT) on the Tron Network.

Recently, regulatory stances on stablecoins have become clearer in regions such as the United States, strengthening market confidence. Additionally, amid increased market volatility, demand for stablecoins as a safe-haven asset has grown. The expanding use of stablecoins in cross-border payments, decentralized finance (DeFi), and other applications has further driven the continuous growth of the stablecoin market cap. [23]

Jupiter’s Weekly Revenue Falls Below $6 Million, Marking Its Lowest Weekly Revenue in 2025

Jupiter’s revenue fell below $6 million last week, totaling approximately $5.94 million, representing an over 85% decline from its all-time high of $43.57 million. Additionally, Jupiter’s token price has dropped by over 60% since the end of January. Although Jupiter achieved a record-high revenue of $124 million in February 2025, both its revenue and token price have seen sharp declines in recent weeks.

The downturn is largely attributed to the overall decline in the crypto market, particularly the meme coin market crash, which had a significant impact on Jupiter. As a major participant in the meme coin sector, Jupiter’s weekly revenue suffered notably. Moreover, Jupiter DAO’s plan to distribute substantial compensation to team members sparked investor dissatisfaction, further exerting downward pressure on the token’s price. [24]

Market Opportunities

Project Airdrops

Sleepagotchi

Sleepagotchi is a mobile application that combines sleep tracking with blockchain technology to encourage users to develop better sleep habits. The platform utilizes a “Sleep-to-Earn” mechanism, where users set their bedtime and wake-up goals and earn rewards based on their consistency in meeting these targets and their overall sleep quality.

Currently, Sleepagotchi is conducting a pre-TGE (Token Generation Event) airdrop campaign through its Telegram mini-program, Sleepagotchi LITE. This campaign allows early adopters to accumulate airdrop points, which will be converted into SLEEP tokens once the official token is launched. [25]

How to Participate:

• Earn points by using the Sleepagotchi LITE mini-program.
• Pre-register on the official website. [26]
• Join Discord and stay active in the community.
• Invite friends to join and participate in the campaign.

Note:
The airdrop program and participation methods are subject to change. Users are advised to follow Sleepagotchi’s official channels for the latest updates. Additionally, users should exercise caution, be aware of potential risks, and conduct thorough research before participating. Gate.io does not guarantee the distribution of future airdrop rewards.

Weekly Fundraising Report

This week, several projects successfully completed fundraising rounds, covering a range of sectors including security infrastructure, DeFi, and blockchain infrastructure. According to RootData, between March 15 and March 21, a total of 18 projects announced fundraising deals, raising over $140 million. Below are the top three fundraising highlights: [27]

Via Science - On March 18, Via Science completed a $28 million Series B funding round to accelerate the launch of its high-security, easy-to-implement data and identity protection platform for governments and enterprises. The round was led by Bosch Ventures, with participation from BMW i Ventures, MassMutual Ventures, Sentinel Global, and Westly Group. Via Science is a Web3 data protection platform that employs a decentralized, zero-trust architecture. Its key technological features include decentralized identity management, end-to-end quantum-resistant encryption, and passwordless solutions, effectively addressing traditional cybersecurity challenges such as social engineering attacks and administrator-targeted attacks.

Crossmint - On March 18, Crossmint secured $23.6 million in funding, with participation from Ribbit Capital, Faction, and others. Crossmint is a platform designed to assist developers in seamlessly integrating cryptocurrency functionality into their applications. By providing APIs and related tools, Crossmint enables developers to add crypto-related features — such as stablecoin transactions and Bitcoin wallets — without requiring extensive blockchain knowledge. The raised funds will be used to enhance its developer platform and expand its adoption across technology companies.

Utila - On March 19, Utila completed an $18 million Series A funding round to expand its multi-party computation (MPC) wallet solution, addressing the growing demand for institutional digital asset management. The round was led by Nyca Partners, with participation from Wing VC, NFX, Haymaker Ventures, Gaingels, and Cerca Partners. Utila is an institutional digital asset management platform. Its highly secure, blockchain-agnostic wallet infrastructure enables payment companies and financial institutions to efficiently manage and build digital asset solutions.

What to Watch Next Week

Token Unlock

According to Tokenomist data, several significant token unlock events are scheduled for the upcoming week (March 21 – 27, 2025), with a total unlocked value exceeding $274 million. [28]

Here are the top 3 unlocks.

MRS — Approximately 10 million MRS tokens are scheduled to be unlocked on March 23, 2025, at 12:00 AM (UTC+0), accounting for 11.87% of its circulating supply, with an estimated value of $241 million. Recently, MRS’s average daily trading volume has been around $100,000, and this unlock could have a significant impact on its price.

IMX — Approximately 24.52 million IMX tokens are scheduled to be unlocked on March 21, 2025, at 12:00 AM (UTC+0), accounting for 1.39% of its circulating supply, with an estimated value of $14.63 million. Recently, IMX’s average daily trading volume has been around $30 million, and this unlock may have a moderate impact.

MURA — Approximately 10 million MURA tokens are scheduled to be unlocked on March 23, 2025, at 12:00 AM (UTC+0), accounting for 1.00% of its circulating supply, with an estimated value of $7.1 million. Recently, MURA’s average daily trading volume has been around $10,000, and this unlock could have a significant impact on its price.

Crypto Calendar

Next week (March 21-27, 2025) will bring several significant events that are expected to have a significant impact on the cryptocurrency market, the global economy, and the energy market. On March 24, Omni Network will launch its first staking upgrade functionality [29][30]. On March 26, Celo will activate its hard fork for transitioning to Ethereum L2 [31]. On March 21, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will host a cryptocurrency asset roundtable in Washington [32]. On March 26, 2025, the US will release EIA crude oil inventory data (in 10,000 barrels) for the week ending March 21 [32]. On March 26, 2025, the US will release initial jobless claims data (in 10,000 people) for the week ending March 22 [33].

References

1. Gate.io,https://www.gate.io/trade/BTC_USDT
2. Gate.io,https://www.gate.io/trade/ETH_USDT
3. Coingecko,https://www.coingecko.com/en/categories
4. Coinglass,https://www.coinglass.com/pro/options/OIExpiry
5. Cryptocraft,https://www.cryptocraft.com/calendar?day=mar20.2025
6. Defillama,https://defillama.com/stablecoins
7. Ethscan,https://etherscan.io/gastracker#chart_gasprice
8. Coingecko,https://www.coingecko.com/categories
9. Coingecko,https://www.coingecko.com/categories/infrastructure
10. Coingecko,https://www.coingecko.com/categories/real-world-assets-rwa
11. Coingecko,https://www.coingecko.com/categories/modular-blockchain
12. Coingedcko,https://www.coingecko.com
13. Gate.io,https://www.gate.io/trade/TON_USDT
14. Gate.io,https://www.gate.io/trade/ATOM_USDT
15. Gate.io,https://www.gate.io/trade/S_USDT
16. Ethereum,https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/03/18/hoodi-holesky
17. Coingecko,https://www.coingecko.com/coins/xrp
18. Cointelegraph,https://cointelegraph.com/news/70-percent-eu-crypto-payments-retail-food-beverages-oobit?ref=onepagecrypto.com
19. X,https://x.com/PeckShieldAlert/status/1901875929904971861
20. X,https://x.com/PeapodsFinance/status/1899496848894669169
21. Peapods Finance,https://docs.peapods.finance/
22. Gassnode,https://studio.glassnode.com/charts/supply.LthNetChange?a=BTC&s=1734659140&u=1742435140&zoom=90
23. Defillama,https://defillama.com/?tvl=false&stables=true
24. Defillama,https://defillama.com/protocol/jupiter?tvl=false&fees=true&events=false&groupBy=weekly
25. X,https://x.com/sleepagotchi/status/1901593182837641603
26. Sleepagotchi,https://www.sleepagotchi.com/
27. Rootdata,https://www.rootdata.com/Fundraising
28. Tokenomist ,https://tokenomist.ai/
29. X,https://x.com/OmniFDN/status/1901981755042902490
30. Gate.io,https://www.gate.io/calendar
31. X,https://x.com/cLabs/status/1902021020183142642
32. Jin10,https://rili.jin10.com/
33. Jin10,https://rili.jin10.com/

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