Cryptocurrency markets experienced a limited recovery this week as investor liquidity gradually returned after the holidays.
Bitcoin (BTC) topped a weekly high of $94,458 on Monday, before declining to about $90,937 at the time of writing on Friday.
US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) demand saw a sharp reversal after $1.1 billion in inflows on the first two trading days of the new year. The ETFs have since logged three consecutive days of outflows, with a cumulative $398 million sold on Thursday, according to Farside Investors data.
In the broader cryptocurrency space, concerns arose over the future of privacy-preserving token Zcash (ZEC) after the main company behind the protocol, the Electric Coin Company, decided to separate from Bootstrap, the nonprofit that supports its development.
2025 crypto bear market “repricing” year for institutional capital
The steep decline in altcoins over the past year may reflect a broader reassessment of which blockchain networks are likely to attract long-term capital, as institutional investors begin a gradual, multiyear entry into the market, analysts said.
Excluding Bitcoin, 2025 turned out to be a bear market for the wider cryptocurrency market. Decentralized finance (DeFi) tokens fell 67%, while cryptocurrencies associated with smart contract blockchains delivered a negative average return of 66%, according to blockchain data shared by Jamie Coutts, chief crypto analyst at Real Vision.
The past year’s poor performance was a “repricing” of the leading crypto projects as institutional capital was seeking to gain more exposure, Coutts wrote in a Wednesday X post.
“Repricing the highest quality (network adoption, fundamentally sound) protocols/L1s, just as the multi-year onboarding of institutional capital commences,” he said.
Coutts is the latest analyst to highlight an ongoing repricing in how cryptocurrencies are valued as maturing digital asset investors seek exposure to tokens powering protocols with organic usage and revenue, not just general altcoins.
Looking at the past year, Solana was the leading blockchain by fees, with $585 million generated, while second was Tron with $576 million in revenue, according to crypto intelligence platform Nansen.
Institutional and large investors tend to gravitate to the five leading cryptocurrencies, according to Nicolai Sondergaard, research analyst at Nansen.
“Solana ETFs are still seeing inflows, but the same can’t fully be said onchain. ETH, on the other hand, has seen some players rotate from BTC,” the analyst told Cointelegraph, adding:
“Many expect that with liquidity coming back, big players prepare by accumulating, and this seems to be accurate based on onchain and offchain data.”
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Zcash backer Bootstrap says split due to clash over nonprofit, Zashi
Bootstrap, the nonprofit that supports the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash, said a recent governance dispute that led to the departure of key board members stemmed from the legal limits nonprofits face when seeking outside investment.
The comments follow the decision by the Electric Coin Company, the main development team behind Zcash, to separate from Bootstrap and form a new company. ECC cited concerns over what it described as “malicious governance actions,” Cointelegraph reported Thursday.
In its official response, Bootstrap said the board members engaged in discussions regarding “external investment and alternative structures to privatize” Zashi, the self-custodial crypto wallet built for private Zcash transactions.
The board discussed “external investment and alternative structures to privatize Zashi, while working with legal counsel to ensure any path forward would comply with U.S. nonprofit law, remain consistent with the long-term mission of Zcash, and not jeopardize the broader Zcash community,” according to an announcement shared by board member Zaki Manian on Thursday.
Zashi was developed by ECC and launched on mobile platforms in early 2024. Its source code is publicly available, reflecting Zcash’s open-source model, under which no single entity owns or controls the protocol.
Bootstrap said the core disagreement stems from its fiduciary and legal obligations as a nonprofit organization registered under section 501(c)(3) of the US tax code.
The proposed deal could bring “new vulnerabilities for politically-motivated attacks on Zcash,” including a potential lawsuit from donors leading to unwinding the transactions, meaning that Zashi would be “transferred back to ECC,” the statement says.
Bootstrap added that these factors “jeopardize the entire Zcash ecosystem” and such transactions must be done “carefully” to ensure these assets will “serve the public good,” and not be “captured for private benefit.”
Zcash’s code is also public and open-source, and no single company or entity owns the protocol.
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Fake MetaMask 2FA security checks lure users into sharing recovery phrases
Crypto investors are being targeted by a new phishing campaign that impersonates MetaMask and tricks users into handing over their wallet recovery phrases, according to the blockchain security firm SlowMist.
The attackers are impersonating a two-factor authentication (2FA) security verification flow, which redirects users to fraudulent domains through fake security warnings that request users’ seed phrases.
When a user shares a wallet recovery phrase, the funds from the wallet are stolen, warned SlowMist’s chief security officer, 23pds, in a Monday X post.
This new wave of scams serves as a reminder that decentralized wallet protocols would never ask users for their secret recovery phrase, which enables anyone to take control of the wallet.
The phishing email redirects users to fake domains impersonating MetaMask, urging them to enable 2FA within a short period, claiming they may lose access to key wallet features.
The final step of the fraudulent process asks users for their 12-word seed phrase to complete the “security setup.”
Crypto phishing scams involve hackers sharing fraudulent links with victims to steal sensitive information, such as crypto wallet private keys.
Phishing scams have been a long-standing issue in the cryptocurrency space, but a decreasing number of incidents signals that investors are becoming wiser to this threat.
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Aave founder pitches bigger future for DeFi lending giant
Aave founder and CEO Stani Kulechov outlined a broader strategic vision for the protocol following a contentious governance vote that rejected a proposal to transfer control of Aave’s brand assets and intellectual property to its decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).
The failed vote prompted renewed debate within the Aave community over the protocol’s long-term direction and governance structure, an issue Kulechov addressed.
In a post published Friday on the Aave governance forum, Kulechov argued that the protocol must evolve beyond its core decentralized finance (DeFi) lending business to pursue opportunities in real-world assets (RWAs), institutional lending and consumer-facing financial products.
He described the community as being “at a crossroads,” noting that DeFi’s future growth trajectory remains uncertain without broader market expansion.
Significantly, Kulechov said Aave Labs plans to distribute non-protocol revenue to Aave (AAVE) tokenholders, a move that could expand how the token captures value beyond governance participation. He added that Aave Labs plans to introduce a new governance proposal to address intellectual property ownership and brand-related rights, following community pushback against the earlier initiative.
Kulechov’s post appears aimed at refocusing the community away from short-term governance disputes and toward a more cohesive long-term strategy. He highlighted RWAs in particular, describing the sector as a potential $500 trillion opportunity based on the estimated value of global financial assets.
Aave is one of the largest DeFi protocols, with its total value locked exceeding $45 billion in October, according to industry data.
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Perp DEXs almost triple volume in 2025 as onchain derivatives mature
Perpetuals decentralized exchanges are closing 2025 with cumulative trading volume reaching $12.09 trillion, up from $4.1 trillion at the start of the year.
DefiLlama data shows that about $7.9 trillion of this lifetime total volume was generated in 2025. This means that 65% of all perp DEX trading volume occurred in a single calendar year. This concentration highlights how rapidly onchain derivatives scaled in 2025.
In December alone, perpetuals trading volume reached $1 trillion, carrying momentum that started in October, when monthly volumes first reached $1 trillion.
The increase reflects a sharp acceleration in onchain derivatives usage in the last 12 months, as perpetuals DEXs absorbed a growing share of leveraged crypto trading activity.
Perpetuals DEXs began to emerge around 2021, with dYdX and Perpetual Protocol widely credited as among the earliest platforms to offer decentralized perpetual futures onchain.
The sector’s growth accelerated sharply in 2023, when the emergence of Hyperliquid marked a turning point.
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DeFi market overview
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the green.
The Render (RENDER) token rose 56% as the biggest gainer of the past week, followed by the Internet of Things (IoT) provider Jasmy Corporation’s JasmyCoin (JASMY), up over 52% during the past week.
Thanks for reading our summary of this week’s most impactful DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and education regarding this dynamically advancing space.
