Cryptocurrency markets experienced one other week of declines as investors eagerly awaited the ultimate Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of the yr.
Bitcoin (BTC) rose to a weekly high of $94,330 on Tuesday as investor sentiment was boosted by Strategy's $962 million Bitcoin acquisition, the corporate's largest investment since July 2025.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve delivered a widely expected 25 basis point rate of interest cut. Crypto markets saw a brief boost as lower rates of interest and cheaper borrowing costs typically increase risk appetite and capital inflows into dangerous assets like crypto.
However, the market's uptick was temporary because the Fed's recent rate of interest cut was “widely expected and largely priced in,” Jeff Ko, chief analyst at CoinEx exchange, told Cointelegraph.
Despite the dearth of investor interest, fundamental developments akin to the increasing variety of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the improved usability of on-chain products herald a possible “Netscape” moment for the crypto industry, analysts told Cointelegraph.
Historical sentiment and price patterns follow Fed rate cuts. Source: Santiment
Crypto is nearing its “Netscape” moment because the industry nears an inflection point
According to Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang, the cryptocurrency industry is approaching its “Netscape” moment as regular progress in blockchain infrastructure and the rise of regulated investment products spark a brand new wave of institutional adoption.
The crypto sector “is facing its 'Netscape' or 'iPhone' moment,” Huang wrote in a post on X on Sunday. “It's functioning greater than ever, far beyond our wildest dreams. Both the institutional parts and the cypherpunk parts.”
Netscape launched the primary easy-to-use web browser for mainstream users in 1994 before going public with a successful initial public offering in August 1995, marking the primary constructing block that sparked the mass adoption of the Internet.
However, Microsoft recognized the high level of interest and capitalized on it by bundling Internet Explorer without spending a dime as a pre-installed component of the Windows operating system, surpassing Netscape to turn into essentially the most widely used Internet browser.
Source: Matt Huang
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Bubblemaps questions PEPE's fair launch, claiming that 30% of Genesis' offering is bundled
Blockchain data casts doubt on Memecoin Pepe’s “for the people” launch narrative. New evaluation suggests that just about a 3rd of the initial offering was held by a single company, contributing to strong early selling pressure.
About 30% of the Pepe (PEPE) token supply was pooled at launch in April 2023, blockchain data visualization platform Bubblemaps claimed in a post on X on Wednesday, adding that investors were “lied to.”
According to Bubblemaps, the identical wallet cluster sold $2 million value of PEPE tokens the day after the launch, leading to significant selling pressure that prevented the token from surpassing the $12 billion mark.
This concentration of the Genesis offering stands in contrast to Pepe's original brand as a “coin for the people.” The project's website said the token was launched “secretly” with none pre-sale allocations.
Source: Bubblemaps
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“Elite” Traders Hunt Dopamine-Addicted Retailers in Prediction Markets: 10x Research
Prediction markets are emerging as a brand new battleground within the crypto economy, with essentially the most informed traders competing with casual bettors for profits.
According to a report from market research firm 10x Research on Tuesday, most users behave more like sports bettors than disciplined traders. It says they trade “dopamine and narratives for discipline and edge.” It added: “Accuracy and profit are determined not by the masses, but by a small, informed elite who assess probability, hedge risk and extract premium from retail-driven longshots.”
Rising liquidity and retail participation are prompting skilled trading desks to extend their forecast market activity and make the most of the spreads and “misinformation asymmetries” that arise from this market structure, based on 10x.
Active Polymarket users, weekly, Bitcoin price on the left, year-to-date chart. Source: 10x Research
The report is a worrying sign for casual traders seeking to make easy money in prediction markets, as blockchain data suggests that almost all users are losing their initial investment.
Polymarket, positive/negative wallet balances. Source: Dune.com
According to blockchain data from Dune, only about 16.7% of wallets on Polymarket are making profits, while the remaining 83% have suffered losses.
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Coinbase opens Solana DEX access as CeFi and DeFi converge
Coinbase is moving deeper into the Solana ecosystem, allowing users to trade native Solana tokens through a decentralized exchange integration moderately than traditional listings.
Andrew Allen, Coinbase protocol specialist, said in an
“If your token has sufficient liquidity, this implies for issuers and builders that you could be accessible to the hundreds of thousands of users on Coinbase without being listed,” Allen said.
The announcement follows Coinbase's integration of tokens from the Base blockchain through an analogous DEX integration in early August. The announcement states that the exchange plans to “expand DEX support to additional networks, starting with Solana.”
Source: Andrew Allen/Solana
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Mantra CEO urges OM holders to withdraw from OKX attributable to “inaccurate” migration plan
Tensions are rising between blockchain platform Mantra and crypto exchange OKX after Mantra accused the exchange of publishing false details about its token migration.
In a post on Monday
“Users should consider withdrawing their OM tokens from OKX[…]. Avoid dependency on OKX Exchange: Complete the migration without counting on potentially negligent or malicious intermediaries,” said Mullin.
His warning got here in response to an announcement from OKX on Friday about supporting inbound OM token migration.
Source: JP Mullin
According to Mullin, the OKX post contained several inaccuracies, including incorrect migration and deployment dates.
OKX stated that the migration would happen between December twenty second and twenty fifth. Mantra's governance proposal, alternatively, states that the migration will only happen after the elimination of the Ethereum-based ERC-20 OM token on January fifteenth.
Mullin also said that OKX’s post referred to “arbitrary dates in December 2025,” while Mantra has not yet announced an official implementation date.
He claimed that OKX had not communicated with Mantra since “the events” of April 13, while Mantra had done so “helpfully.” [been] Communicate with all other major exchanges regarding our migration.”
OKX's OM crypto migration post. Source: okx.com
During the upcoming migration, the OM token will migrate from an Ethereum native ERC-20 token to a Mantra Chain native token.
Cointelegraph reached out to OKX for comment but didn’t receive a response on the time of publication.
OKX has since contacted Mantra and corrected the inaccuracies within the announcement, the exchange wrote in a post on Wednesday
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Overview of the DeFi market
Most of the highest 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week within the red, based on data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView.
The Kaspa (KAS) token fell over 13%, marking the most important decline in the highest 100, followed by the Story (IP) token, which also fell 13% last week.
Total value locked in DeFi. Source: DefiLlama
Thank you for reading our roundup of essentially the most influential DeFi developments this week. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights and knowledge on this dynamically evolving field.
