Weekly Crypto Update: April 28 - May 4
📊Market Movements
- Bitcoin is up 0.06% over the last 7 days, currently at $94,700
- Ethereum is sitting at $1,800 with a 0.85% increase from the previous week
- Last week’s top 3 gainers were VIRTUAL (+37%), LAYER (+20%), and FLR (+19%), while the top 3 losers were TRUMP (-27%), PENGU (-19%), and ENA (-17%)
- The crypto market’s Fear & Greed Index is at 49 Neutral today
- Crypto market capitalization is at $2.95 trillion, down 1.1% since yesterday
- Stablecoins market capitalization is up 0.55% in the last 7 days, currently at $234 billion, with USDT dominance at 61.8%
- NFT sales volume decreased by 84% over the previous 7 days and total sales decreased by 20%, with 133,283 sales
- Bitcoin's market cap dominance is currently at 63.7%, Ethereum at 7.4%, and other cryptocurrencies at 28.9%
💰Investments & Partnerships
- MultiBank, MAG, and Mavryk sign a $3 billion RWA tokenization deal whereby MAG’s luxury real estate will be tokenized on MultiBank’s platform on Mavryk’s blockchain
- MEXC launches a $300 million ecosystem development fund to help projects on an invitation-only basis
- Ethena partnered with TON to integrate its USDe and sUSDe stablecoins within the TON blockchain for Telegram users
- Blockchain R&D firm Unto Labs raised $14.4 million to continue development of its layer-1 network Thru
- Miden, a zero-knowledge blockchain, raised $25 million in funding to aid development and mainnet launch in Q4 2025
- Blockchain infrastructure developer Optimum received $11 million in seed round funding to build a high-performance memory layer for the blockchain
- Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ, First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), and International Holding Company (IHC) team up to launch a dirham-pegged stablecoin regulated by the Central Bank of the UAE and issued by FAB
🌐Blockchain Tech & Gaming
- Ethereum developers propose 2 new token standards, ERC-7930 and ERC-7828, to simplify cross-chain transactions and improve multichain UX
- FIFA is launching a new EVM-compatible blockchain network, FIFA Blockchain, to host its NFT collection, with migration happening on May 20th
- Solana developers patched a zk vulnerability that could have allowed unauthorized token mints and withdrawals
📃Regulatory Developments
- Europe to ban anonymous crypto accounts and privacy coins by 2027 under new AML regulations
- A Texas lawmaker proposed installing cryptocurrency ATMs in federal buildings across the U.S.
- Japanese company Metaplanet to open a US-based subsidiary and expand its Bitcoin accumulation strategy, planning to raise $250M
- US Treasury predicts in its April 30 report that the stablecoin market cap could reach $2 trillion by 2028
- The Government of the Maldives signed a $8.8 billion deal with Dubai’s MBS Global Investments to develop a crypto hub in their capital, Malé, and attract foreign investors
- Apple softens crypto-related app rules, with no “commission or any fee on purchases that consumers make outside an app” meaning that external payments and NFT links are allowed again
🛡️Crypto Security
- According to CertiK, crypto losses increased by 1,165% in April, with the largest sum coming from a $330 million hack of an elderly US individual’s wallet
- Kraken experienced a North Korean hacker attempting to apply for a job; industry partners quickly helped identify a network of fake identities
- DeFi protocol Loopscale experienced a $5.7 million exploit, and almost half of the funds have now been recovered in negotiations with the hacker
- Hackers infiltrated the New York Post’s X account to send scam DMs and direct users to connect via Telegram
🗞️Miscellaneous
- Europe’s 2nd largest neobank, Bunq, to enable users to invest in more than 300 cryptocurrencies, citing growing retail investor demand
- Most merchants in Cannes, France, will start accepting crypto payments by summer 2025
- BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF had almost $1 billion in inflows on April 29th, 2nd largest amount since the start of the ETF January 2024
- Investment firm MGX from Abu Dhabi will use Trump’s World Liberty Financial USD (USD1) for its $2 billion investment into Binance
- Sam Altman’s World (formerly Worldcoin) launched in 6 U.S. cities
Have a successful week ahead!
- Swapin Team
