Wall St, AI tokens, RWAs bring cheer to crypto market

Hola folks!

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

Last week, Bitcoin roared back to life, smashing through the $97K mark for the first time in over two months. Wall Street titans like Schwab, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley are diving in, and Japan’s Metaplanet isn’t far behind.

Coinbase launched a yield fund and Strategy plans to acquire more Bitcoin. But that’s not all—AI tokens surged, DeFi gained traction, and real-world asset tokenization stole the spotlight. Meanwhile, the Maldives signed a $9B deal to become a crypto hub. Let’s dive into the key highlights

BTC surged past the $97,000 mark last week for the first time in over 70 days, briefly touching $97,700, thanks to optimism around US-China trade negotiations and institutional momentum, with Wall Street giants Charles Schwab, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley announcing plans to offer crypto trading services. However, BTC struggled to maintain that level, slipping below $95,000 and is trading around $94,700. Japan’s Metaplanet disclosed a $24.8 million bond issuance to acquire more Bitcoin, while Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, announced plans to raise an additional $21 billion to fund further Bitcoin acquisition. 

In parallel, Coinbase’s institutional arm launched a new Bitcoin yield fund targeting in-kind returns between 4% and 8% annually, further reinforcing growing institutional confidence in BTC as a yield-generating asset.

Meanwhile, DeFi protocol Maple Finance announced a $500K incentive campaign following its $1B TVL milestone, aiming to drive further adoption. Tether added 7.7 tons of gold to back its XAUT token, and Deribit hinted at entering the US market, citing favorable regulatory prospects under the Trump administration.

Real-world asset tokenization also hit a major stride. Libre and the TON Foundation are collaborating to tokenize $500 million of Telegram’s corporate debt through the Telegram Bond Fund. In parallel, Securitize joined forces with Gauntlet to bring Apollo Global Management’s private credit on-chain, signaling increased DeFi integration with traditional finance. 

On the downside, the MOVE token dropped more than 20% following Coinbase’s delisting announcement and internal controversy at Movement Labs involving co-founder Rushi Manche and a questionable market maker deal. Elsewhere, the Maldives signed a $9B agreement with Dubai-based MBS Global Investments to develop a blockchain and crypto hub in Malé.

In the altcoin sector, AI Agents tokens gained momentum, with tokens like VIRTUAL and ChainGPT surging.

Weekly price movement: 

• BTC $94,599 ⏬ 0.26% (7d)

• ETH $1,826 ⏫ 1.10% (7d)

• VIRTUAL $1.82 ⏫ 44.35% (7d)

• ChainGPT $0.11 ⏫ 10.90% (7d)

(All data here as of 2:00 p.m., 5 May 2025)

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

• The BlackRock iShares Bitcoin (BTC) Trust ETF (IBIT) saw $970.9 million in inflows, marking its second-largest net inflow since launching in January 2024, according to Farside data. April 28th accounted for $591.2 million in new capital, which saw heavy outflows from competitors: Fidelity’s FBTC lost $86.9 million, Bitwise’s BITB dropped $21.1 million, and Ark’s ARKB saw $226.3 million in outflows, according to CoinDesk.

• The government of Maldives signed an agreement with MBS Global Investments, a Dubai-based family office, to develop a $9 billion crypto and blockchain hub in Male, the capital of the South Pacific archipelago nation. According to a report from the Financial Times, the agreement, which was signed on May 4, was done in the hopes of moving the Maldives away from reliance on tourism and fisheries by attracting FDI into blockchain and Web3 technologies, according to Cointelegraph.

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

See you later, folks! 👋

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