The final stretch of May 2025 is upon us, with Bitcoin holding above $62,000 and Ethereum dipping slightly below $3,109. According to CoinGecko, the world’s leading digital asset was trading at $63,905 at the time of writing—down over the past 24 hours—while Ether changed hands at $3,109. This relative calm in price action follows last week’s unexpected rally fueled by Ripple’s favorable court ruling against the SEC.
While bullish momentum lifted many altcoins, analysts anticipate a period of consolidation. Joe DiPasquale, CEO of crypto fund manager BitBull Capital, noted in a recent report that any correction is “unlikely to keep Bitcoin below $60,000 for an extended period.” He added that markets may currently be settling into a range-bound phase near current levels.
This week has been quieter on the macroeconomic front compared to last week’s flurry of data releases and XRP-driven momentum. As such, price movements may hinge more on open interest (OI) trends across major derivatives markets.
Data from Coinglass shows total OI rose 0.52% to $28.14 billion. Bitcoin dominates with $14.15 billion in open contracts, followed by Ethereum at $6.14 billion. Notably, bearish positions are gaining ground and have been steadily increasing.
Meanwhile, investor interest continues to flow into the world’s first spot Bitcoin ETF—Purpose Investments’ BTCC in Canada. In April and May alone, BTCC saw inflows totaling 5,638 BTC. With $852.5 million in assets under management (AUM), BTCC remains primarily retail-driven, with institutional ownership accounting for just 0.03%.
This momentum has been further amplified by traditional financial giants like BlackRock and Fidelity filing for their own spot Bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. BTCC’s early-mover advantage remains evident: its AUM sits around $1 billion, far ahead of second-place products despite minimal time gaps between launches.
Exchange Expansion: Binance Integrates Lightning Network
In a significant infrastructure upgrade, Binance—the world’s largest crypto exchange—has integrated the Lightning Network, Bitcoin’s Layer-2 scaling solution. This allows users to deposit BTC via a new “BTC-Lightning” option, enabling faster and cheaper off-chain transactions.
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The move aligns with broader industry efforts to scale Bitcoin beyond its base-layer limitations. Lightning Labs, the team behind the protocol, recently launched developer tools that enable AI applications to process Bitcoin payments both on-chain and over the Lightning Network—an innovation that could redefine how decentralized systems interact with artificial intelligence.
Stablecoins and Regulatory Developments
Despite positive market sentiment, the total market cap of stablecoins has declined steadily since December 2022, now standing at $128.83 billion. Tether (USDT) maintains dominance with approximately $83.65 billion in circulation and a 65% market share.
Tether’s supply grew 27% since early 2023, driven by high yields from U.S. Treasury reserves. In contrast, Circle’s USDC supply dropped 38% over the same period, reducing its market share to 21%, with $27.24 billion in circulation. Together, these two issuers control 87% of the stablecoin market.
On the decentralized front, Aave launched its native overcollateralized, dollar-pegged stablecoin GHO on Ethereum—similar in design to MakerDAO’s DAI. Over $2.2 million worth of GHO has already been minted.
As Ignas, a DeFi researcher, observed: “Native stablecoins improve capital efficiency, reduce reliance on token emissions for liquidity mining, and strengthen the value proposition of governance tokens.”
However, regulatory scrutiny is intensifying. The Financial Stability Board (FSB), acting on G20 directives, updated its recommendations for regulating crypto asset firms. The FSB emphasized that increased integration between crypto and traditional finance could amplify spillover risks.
“All jurisdictions should implement these standards—even non-member countries,” the FSB stated. “Global consensus leaves no room for firms to avoid basic safeguards after failures like FTX.”
FSB Secretary John Schindler reinforced this stance: “Crypto participants must cease operating outside regulatory frameworks or ignoring existing rules. Regulatory clarity is no longer an excuse—the framework defines exactly what applies.”
Top Weekend Performers: 1inch (1INCH) Shines
Last week was largely green across the crypto landscape, with total market capitalization rising from $1.224 trillion to $1.295 trillion before settling around $1.25 trillion on Monday. XRP surged as high as $0.95, posting a 56.5% weekly gain. Other strong performers included Kaspa, Solana, Stellar, Optimism, Compound, and Arbitrum.
Among the top 100 assets, 1inch (1INCH) emerged as the weekend’s standout gainer.
What Is 1inch (1INCH)?
With a market cap of $416.6 million, 1INCH traded around $0.325 on Saturday before spiking to $0.569—a 75% surge. Though it pulled back to $0.430 by Monday, it still posted a 3.7% gain against the dollar and over 5% against BTC and ETH. Volatility drove its 24-hour trading volume up 161.4%, reaching $636 million.
This recent rally pushed 1INCH up 30% over the past 55 days but it remains down 33.6% year-on-year and nearly 86% from its all-time high of $6.95.
1INCH is the utility and governance token of 1inch Network, a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator that sources liquidity from multiple protocols to deliver fast, secure, and profitable trades across DeFi.
Launched in December 2019 by Sergej Kunz and Anton Bukov, the network expanded to Ethereum, Arbitrum, Optimism, Polygon, and zkSync Era. The token launched in August 2020 and can be staked in liquidity pools for yield rewards.
Holders use Fusion, the platform’s staking mechanism, to participate in governance and manage the DAO treasury. During a recent protocol upgrade, 1inch sold about 11,000 ETH to test new features—demonstrating active development.
User growth has been strong: Q2 saw DEX aggregator users jump from 330,000 to 1 million, while limit order protocol users surged from 45 to over 200. However, total trading volume dipped 37% to just over $28 billion during the quarter. Meanwhile, Fusion Resolvers facilitated over $1 billion in trades.
Unlike competitors, 1inch holds a dominant 38% share of direct user trade volume among aggregators.
The DAO treasury declined 16.3% to $10.8 million by Q2’s end due to halted swap fee collection and reinvestment into hardware wallet development and community initiatives. Still, V1 staking grew over 2%, with total staked supply reaching 184 million 1INCH through voting incentives and delegation programs.
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Weekend Losers: Lido DAO (LDO) Dips Amid Volatility
Despite broad gains, some tokens posted losses. Bitcoin Cash fell 9% over seven consecutive days, followed by Kava, Litecoin, and KuCoin. COMP dropped the most—down 10%—while Pepe, Injective, Chainlink, and Fantom declined between 4% and 5%.
The biggest weekend loser was Lido DAO (LDO)—a leading liquid staking provider.
Understanding Lido DAO (LDO)
LDO, valued at a $1.85 billion market cap, experienced wild swings: rising from $1.88 on Thursday to $2.43 on Friday, then dropping to $2.20 before briefly hitting $2.45—settling at $2.11 by week’s end. The token lost 11% over the weekend but saw trading volume spike 14% to $509 million.
Although down 24% from its peak hours earlier, LDO remains up 11.1% weekly, 33.7% yearly, and 70% year-to-date in 2025—despite falling nearly 77% from its ATH of $9.30.
LDO governs Lido, a liquid staking protocol allowing users to stake ETH (and other assets) without lockups or minimums while receiving stETH tokens representing their stake—usable across DeFi.
Lido controls 32% of all staked ETH, surpassing centralized exchanges like Coinbase and Binance combined. However, Kaiko recently reported limited off-chain liquidity for stETH despite rising CEX volumes—though DeFi platforms like Pendle Finance support seven stETH pools.
Grayscale Investments added LDO to its DeFi Fund earlier this month—now holding it as its second-largest position at 19.04%, behind only Uniswap (45.46%). Other holdings include AAVE (11.53%), MKR (10.82%), CRV (7.03%), and SNX (6.12%).
Per DeFi Llama, Lido’s Total Value Locked (TVL) stands near **$15 billion**, up from $5.5 billion in May 2022—reflecting sustained confidence despite fluctuating active addresses (down per Token Terminal). Protocol revenue continues to grow steadily.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: What factors contributed to 1INCH’s recent price surge?
A: The rally was likely driven by increased user activity on the 1inch platform, governance updates involving ETH sales for testing new features, and broader market optimism following Ripple’s legal win.
Q: Why did LDO drop despite strong fundamentals?
A: Short-term price drops can result from profit-taking after rallies or macro-level market corrections—even when long-term metrics like TVL and revenue remain healthy.
Q: How does liquid staking benefit ETH holders?
A: It allows users to earn staking rewards while retaining liquidity through tradeable tokens like stETH—unlocking yield opportunities across lending markets and DeFi protocols.
Q: Are native protocol stablecoins like GHO a threat to USDT or USDC?
A: Not immediately—they serve different niches. While centralized stablecoins dominate volume and trust in CeFi, native stablecoins enhance capital efficiency within their ecosystems.
Q: What role does open interest play in crypto price movements?
A: Rising OI often signals growing trader engagement; when paired with price increases, it confirms bullish sentiment—but if prices fall amid high OI, liquidations may accelerate declines.
Q: Why is regulatory clarity important for crypto adoption?
A: Clear rules reduce systemic risk, protect investors, and encourage institutional participation—key for mainstream integration without repeating past failures like FTX.
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