US-China trade deal, macro events drive gains across crypto

Hola folks!

Welcome back to your weekly dose of crypto insights, major trends, market moves, and must-know updates from the crypto world.

The bygone week in crypto was anything but ordinary. Bitcoin charged past the $104K mark and held its ground, fueled by steady Fed rates, trade optimism, and a flurry of institutional buying. Altcoins rode the wave, while memecoins like MOODENG and PNUT skyrocketed. From Web3 gaming’s $10M boost to Stripe diving into stablecoins, the space is evolving fast. 

Furthermore, ETH’s Pectra upgrade turned heads, and Coinbase dropped a $2.9B bombshell by acquiring Deribit. Let’s discuss the key highlights.

Bitcoin had a strong week, crossing the $104K mark and holding above $100K for the fourth consecutive day, currently trading near $103,900 with a weekly gain of 10.1%. The rally followed the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates steady and US tariff concessions that boosted investor sentiment. Further strengthening the markets was US President Trump’s announcement of a “total reset” in US-China trade relations after high-level talks in Geneva. 

Markets responded positively, as S&P 500 futures rose 1.2% and Nasdaq futures rose 1.4%. Institutional activity remained robust as MicroStrategy Chairman Michael Saylor revealed a fresh purchase of 1,895 BTC at $180.3M, and Tokyo-based Metaplanet added 1,241 bitcoins, bringing its total holdings to 6,796 BTC. Bitcoin ETFs also saw continued demand, recording $1 billion in inflows last week.

Ethereum’s long-anticipated Pectra upgrade went live, implementing 11 Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) that enhance account abstraction, validator experience, and blob scaling. PumpSwap, the DEX of Solana’s popular memecoin launchpad pump.fun, surpassed $100 million in TVL, thanks to the rise in memecoin trading. In Web3 gaming, Arbitrum Gaming Ventures committed $10 million to support development and publishing efforts for Web3 games. Notably, Citi and SIX Digital Exchange (SDX) announced a strategic collaboration to offer tokenised shares of late-stage private companies, broadening institutional access to private markets.

Speaking about stablecoins, Stripe entered the stablecoin space, enabling users to hold and send stablecoins alongside traditional fiat transactions. On the Sui Network, stablecoin supply hit an all-time high of $900 million, signaling growing adoption within emerging ecosystems. 

In a game-changing move in crypto M&A history, Coinbase announced its acquisition of Deribit, a leading crypto derivatives exchange, in a $2.9 billion deal. The acquisition, involving $700 million in cash and 11 million shares of Coinbase Class A stock, is expected to close by year-end and significantly boost Coinbase’s foothold in the global derivatives market.

Altcoins mirrored Bitcoin’s momentum, with notable weekly gains from ETH, SOL, ADA, and SUI. Meanwhile, memecoins had a breakout week, with PEPE and PNUT skyrocketing to new highs.

Weekly price movement: 

• ETH $2,557 ⏫ 40.01% (7d)

• SOL $177  ⏫ 20.94% (7d)

• ADA $0.83  ⏫ 20.85% (7d)

• SUI $4.23  ⏫ 23.15% (7d)

• PEPE $0.00001468  ⏫ 74.56% (7d)

• MOODENG $0.26  ⏫ 571.96% (7d)

(All data here as of 1:20 p.m., 12 May 2025)

Before we conclude, here’s a quick look at some important news from around the crypto world.

• Bitcoin made a decisive move above the psychologically crucial $100,000 level during the week, signaling that bulls are back in the game. Macro developments such as the US reaching a trade deal with China gave a boost to the world’s largest crypto. Buyers are trying to hold on to the 10% weekly gains over the weekend. BTC’s rally has also been backed by solid inflows into the BlackRock spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (IBIT). BTC was trading above $103k in the Asia morning hours on Monday, according to Cointelegraph.

• Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange in the US by trading volume, has agreed to acquire Deribit, one of the world’s largest crypto derivatives trading platforms. Coinbase Global will acquire Deribit for about $2.9 billion. The acquisition will allow Coinbase to expand into the profitable crypto derivatives market and continue scaling the platform’s global growth, according to Cointelegraph.

That’s it for now. Thanks for sticking around.

See you later, folks! 👋

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