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The cryptocurrency sector maintained its rebound over the past week as the overall crypto market capitalization exceeded the $3 trillion threshold for the initial time since early March.
Bitcoin (BTC) ascended to a high of $97,300, not seen in over two months, just before the announcement of the “Liberation Day” tariffs in the United States, enhancing analyst forecasts for a surge powered by “structural” institutional and exchange-traded fund (ETF) investments into the premier cryptocurrency.
Investor risk appetite continued to rise as state-associated Chinese news organizations suggested that the Trump administration has discreetly contacted Beijing to negotiate tariff reductions.
In the broader crypto ecosystem, Ethereum developers introduced a new token standard aimed at enhancing the interoperability of the world’s second-largest blockchain network.
Bitcoin reaching $1 million by 2029 propelled by ETF and government interest — Bitwise executive
Bitcoin’s growing institutional acceptance might offer the “structural” inflows required to surpass gold’s market value and elevate its price above $1 million by 2029, as stated by Bitwise’s European research director, André Dragosch.
“Our internal forecast is $1 million by 2029, which would align Bitcoin’s market cap with gold’s total addressable market by that time,” he conveyed to Cointelegraph during the Chain Reaction daily X spaces show on April 30.
Gold currently stands as the world’s most significant asset, valued at over $21.7 trillion. In contrast, Bitcoin’s market capitalization is at $1.9 trillion, positioning it as the seventh-largest asset worldwide, according to CompaniesMarketCap data.
For the 2025 market cycle, Bitcoin could exceed $200,000 in the “base case” and rise to $500,000 with additional government engagement, Dragosch indicated.
Eric Trump: USD1 to be utilized for $2 billion MGX investment in Binance
MGX, an investment firm based in Abu Dhabi, will employ a stablecoin associated with US President Donald Trump’s family to finalize a $2 billion investment in Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange globally.
The World Liberty Financial USD (USD1), a US dollar-pegged stablecoin, was introduced by the Trump-related crypto platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI) in March 2025.
MGX intends to use the USD1 stablecoin for its $2 billion investment in Binance, as announced by Eric Trump during a panel at Token2049 in Dubai. Trump, who is the president’s son, holds the position of executive vice president of the Trump Organization.
MGX declared its investment in Binance on March 12, representing the first institutional funding into the exchange and one of the largest financing agreements in the Web3 sector.
At that time, Binance declined Cointelegraph’s request to disclose which stablecoin was employed in the deal.
This signifies the Abu Dhabi-based investment firm’s initial foray into the cryptocurrency landscape.
Ethereum to streamline crosschain transactions with new token standards
Developers for Ethereum are striving to enhance blockchain interoperability with two novel token standards: ERC-7930 and ERC-7828.
“There is currently no standard methodology for wallets, applications, or protocols to interpret or present this information,” decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem development organization Wonderland expressed in a May 1 X post. Wallets, decentralized applications (DApps), blockchain explorers, and smart contracts follow varying protocols.
“The outcome? A disorganized, inconsistent experience that disrupts crosschain user experience,” Wonderland pointed out.
Wonderland is a collective of developers, researchers, and data scientists focused on enhancing the Ethereum DeFi ecosystem. The organization collaborated with several DeFi protocols, including Optimism, Aztec, Connext, and Yearn.
In their post, the organization shared what was discussed in a recent Ethereum Foundation interoperability working group call. Teddy from Wonderland explained that they aim to finalize both token standards within the next two weeks. He added:
“We urgently require feedback on the ETH-Magicians forum.”
Crypto attackers targeted DeFi for $92 million in April as assaults doubled
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from March
Cryptocurrency cybercriminals took more than $90 million in April, striking another blow to the sector’s mainstream image despite sustained efforts to enhance cybersecurity.
Criminals made away with $92 million of digital assets across 15 incidents in April, as stated in an April 30 research report by blockchain security firm Immunefi.
This total signifies a 124% increase month-over-month from March, when criminals appropriated $41 million.
The most significant breach of the month occurred on the open-source platform UPCX, accounting for a majority of the losses in April, with over $70 million in damages, while KiloEx suffered a loss of $7.5 million as the second-largest breach in April.
The KiloEx exploiter returned the misappropriated funds just days following the incident.
All reported attacks in April targeted decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms. The report indicated that centralized exchanges reported no incidents during the month.
Immunefi, which claims to safeguard $190 billion in user assets, has disbursed over $116 million in rewards to white-hat hackers.
Crypto group urges Trump to cease prosecutions of crypto developers, Roman Storm
The cryptocurrency lobbying organization, the DeFi Education Fund, has formally requested the Trump administration to terminate what it described as the “unlawful prosecution” of open-source software engineers, including Roman Storm, a developer of the crypto mixing service Tornado Cash.
In an April 28 letter to the White House’s crypto chief David Sacks, the group urged President Donald Trump “to take swift measures to halt the Biden-era Department of Justice’s unlawful campaign to criminalize open-source software creation.”
The letter specifically pointed out Storm’s prosecution, who faced charges in August 2023 for allegedly laundering over $1 billion in crypto via Tornado Cash. His trial is still scheduled for July, and his co-founder, Roman Semenov, is currently at large and thought to be in Russia.
The DeFi Education Fund argued that in Storm’s case, the Department of Justice is attempting to hold software engineers criminally accountable for how others utilize their code, which is “not just ridiculous in theory, but it sets a precedent that could potentially inhibit all crypto development in the United States.”
The organization also called for acknowledgment that the prosecution contradicts the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidance from Trump’s initial term, which clarified that developers of self-custodial, peer-to-peer protocols are not classified as money transmitters.
“This type of legal atmosphere not only stifles innovation — it freezes it,” they contended. The letter added that it also “empowers enforcement driven by political motivation and places every open-source developer in jeopardy, regardless of sector.”
In January, a federal court in Texas concluded that the Treasury overstepped its jurisdiction by sanctioning Tornado Cash.
DeFi market analysis
Based on data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap finished the week positively.
The Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) token surged over 103%, marking the week’s largest gainer, followed by the Solayer (LAYER) token, which increased by over 29% during the past week.
Thank you for reading our recap of this week’s most significant DeFi updates. Join us next Friday for more news, insights, and education on this rapidly evolving landscape.
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