Crypto Markets Defy Gravity in Week 20 – Memecoins Outperform While Traders Yawn at ’Stable’ Assets
Bitcoin hovers near $66K as institutional inflows hit 3-month high—just as Wall Street analysts predicted (wrongly, again).
Solana-based memecoins steal the show with 40% weekly gains, proving once more that fundamentals are overrated.
Meanwhile, ETH staking yields drop to 3.2%, turning ’passive income’ into a sad joke for bagholders.
Bonus jab: Goldman Sachs quietly launches another ’blockchain initiative’—this time with 200% more buzzwords and 0% more utility.
JPMorgan leaves the “walled garden”
In the past, the US banking giant JPMorgan conducted various blockchain tests. However, these pilot transactions always took place on private, proprietary networks. As a result, the numerous benefits of public blockchains – transparency, decentralization, security, and liquidity – were largely absent. Now, the bank is taking a further step. Through the public ONDO Chain testnet, JPMorgan traded a tokenized US Treasury bond fund. The payment processing was handled by the new JPM unit, Kinexys Digital Payments. The symbolic significance of the test is high: it shows that Wall Street is serious about integrating DeFi elements into the real financial world.
What is the state of the Crypto Valley?
The region of Switzerland and Liechtenstein ranks as the “Crypto Valley” among the most attractive locations for blockchain companies. Even last year, the number of established firms rose by 14% to 1,749. This is according to a report by Zug-based venture capitalist CV VC. Recently, however, industry representatives have struck a different tone. Associations are warning about increasing international competition. Countries in Asia and the Middle East are catching up rapidly and are providing increasingly attractive conditions for blockchain companies. The sharp policy shift of the TRUMP administration has sparked a fire. At the same time, lengthy processes, regulatory uncertainties, and new international requirements are perceived as obstacles in Switzerland. Therefore, the results for the ongoing year will be interesting. It is likely that Switzerland will not be able to maintain its lead.
Solana becomes an “Ethereum killer”
Solana is one of the leading smart-contract blockchains and directly competes with Ethereum. Fundamentally, the network differs through a combination of high transaction speed (transactions per second, TPS), low fees, and a monolithic architecture. Unlike ethereum and its Layer-2 networks, everything on Solana runs on a single layer – from DeFi to NFTs – without bridges or fragmentation. This allows users to interact with minimal friction while developers can access a unified environment. In the first quarter of 2025, Solana dominated nearly all key metrics – from active wallets to NFT trading to mobile applications. Only in the Decentralized Finance (“DeFi”) space does Ethereum remain the leader.
CryptoPunks change owners again
In addition: The NFT collection CryptoPunks, created in 2017 by Larva Labs and later acquired by Yuga Labs, is considered a pioneer of the digital art culture. The collection consists of 10,000 unique, algorithmically generated characters and has generated a trading volume of over 3 billion US dollars since its creation. With a floor price of 46 Ethereum – over 120,000 USD – Punks are the most valuable NFT collection by market capitalization. However, they have so far remained largely untouched by the established art world. The Infinite Node Foundation aims to change this through the strategic acquisition of the IP rights. The organization has also provided a foundation capital of 25 million US dollars to promote exhibitions, research, and educational projects related to CryptoPunks.
