Bitcoin Slides, Ethereum Surges, and DeFi Evolves: Your Weekly Crypto Roundup with Crypto Willy

The Blockchain Revolution: Cryptocurrency & DeFi Insights podcast.

What a week it’s been in the blockchain universe—Crypto Willy here, ready to break it all down for you as your dedicated crypto confidant. Let’s kick things off with the big headline: **Bitcoin just had a rough ride**. After kicking off the week at around $115,000, the world’s no. 1 crypto slid hard, dropping close to $108,400 by Friday. This dip coincided with the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong, where big names like Eric Trump, Binance’s CZ, Adam Back, and Balaji Srinivasan took the stage. Bitcoin conferences are notorious for “sell the news” pressure; markets overheat in anticipation, only to cool off after the hype. River’s latest research painted a fascinating picture: businesses and funds are snatching up roughly 1,755 Bitcoin each day—4x more than what miners are adding to the supply—showing long-term conviction beneath the short-term turbulence.

Now, **Bitcoin’s market dominance slipped below 60%** for the first time since early 2021. Where’s that capital flowing? Straight into **Ethereum and a dynamic pack of altcoins**—especially as US spot ETF inflows into ETH hit a monster $3 billion. Ethereum’s network saw a transaction volume surge to $320 billion—its third-highest month ever—fueled by institutional hunger and record active addresses. With ETH trading near $4,400 and analysts calling it undervalued, eyes are on whether it can smash through the $4,700 resistance and start a fresh rally.

Let’s talk **DeFi**, where the action is just as electric. Major platforms like **Aave** turned heads—its token soared around 19% in just 24 hours after Aave deployed on the Aptos blockchain. Founder Stani Kulechov called it “an incredible milestone,” marking Aave’s first leap outside Ethereum and underscoring the sector’s push toward cross-chain interoperability. The DeFi sector isn’t just rallying—it’s evolving, with fresh regulatory clarity coming into focus. Governments are beginning to roll out clearer guidelines, promising to drive more institutional money in and boost user confidence.

Meanwhile, TradFi and DeFi are rubbing elbows more than ever. Institutional giants like Galaxy Digital, Jump Crypto, and Pantera Capital are pouring billions into treasuries on Solana, with the DeFi Development Corp’s $125 million equity raise turbocharging Solana’s treasury growth. Not to be outdone, Google Cloud made waves by unveiling plans for the Universal Ledger, a Python-friendly Layer-1 blockchain aimed at institutional finance—a nod to crypto’s march into mainstream enterprise.

On the AI and trading front, Swiss outfit Neuronomics AG—part of DeFi Technologies—launched its SmartCrypto algorithmic trading strategy, using AI muscle to hunt for risk-adjusted gains and locking in a coveted validator node on the Canton Network alongside names like Nasdaq and Citadel.

If you’re tracking the next trends, keep your radar up for decentralized derivatives (think options and futures trading without Wall Street middlemen) and ever-smarter cross-chain bridges that’ll make swapping assets between blockchains as easy as sending a text.

That’s it for this wild week in crypto! Thanks for tuning in to The Blockchain Revolution: Cryptocurrency & DeFi Insights. Come back next week for more must-know updates—this has been a Quiet Please production. For more from me, Crypto Willy, check out Quiet Please Dot A I. See you on the chain, friends!

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