ChainCatcher news, according to the Coingecko quarterly report, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies fell by 18.6% to $2.8 trillion in the first quarter of 2025. Bitcoin further solidified its dominance in the market downturn, with its market share rising to 59.1% (a new high since 2021), while altcoins generally performed poorly. The shares of stablecoins USDT and USDC increased, while Ethereum's market share dropped to a five-year low of 7.9%.​1. Bitcoin outperforms traditional risk assetsBitcoin broke through $100,000 in January, reaching an all-time high, but ended the quarter at $82,514 (a decline of 11.8%). Its performance outpaced the Nasdaq index (down 10.3%), but lagged behind gold (up 18%) and U.S. Treasury bonds. Analysts pointed out that the strengthening of the yen and euro, adjustments in monetary policy, and geopolitical uncertainties have intensified market volatility.​2. Ethereum and altcoins under pressureEthereum's price plummeted 45.3% to $1,805, erasing all gains made in 2024, with daily trading volume shrinking to $2.44 billion. Leading altcoins like Solana (SOL), XRP, and BNB experienced smaller pullbacks, highlighting Ethereum's relative weakness. Meme coins suffered a significant setback due to the exit of Argentine President Javier Milei's related project LIBRA, with daily token deployment on the Pump.fun platform dropping by 56.3%.​3. Changes in exchange landscapeThe spot trading volume of centralized exchanges (CEX) decreased by 16.3% to $5.4 trillion, with Binance maintaining a market share of 40.7%; HTX became the only platform in the top ten to see growth (+11.4%), while Bybit's trading volume was halved due to a hacking incident in February. Among decentralized exchanges (DEX), Solana led Q1 with a 39.6% share, but Ethereum briefly reclaimed the top spot in March. The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi fell by 27.5% to $12.86 billion, while the new public chain Berachain's TVL rose against the trend to $5.2 billion.

ChainCatcher news, Swiss bank Sygnum stated that with the improvement of digital asset regulation and increased user participation, altcoins are expected to rebound in the second quarter of 2025. Although Bitcoin's market dominance reached a four-year high in April, Sygnum believes that regulatory progress in the U.S., such as President Trump's establishment of a digital asset reserve and the advancement of stablecoin regulation, could drive broader cryptocurrency adoption. Sygnum expects that protocols that successfully engage users will outperform the market, while Bitcoin's dominance may decline. The market's increased focus on economic value has intensified competition, driving better product development, which will ultimately benefit consumers. The report noted that while high-performance blockchains address the limitations of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, they still face challenges in achieving widespread adoption and revenue.

ChainCatcher news, Matrixport weekly report points out that since the launch of the Ethereum spot ETF in the U.S., Ethereum's dominance has decreased by nearly 50%. The report states that various altcoin narratives have emerged and quickly disappeared over the past year, all showing a "rapid rise followed by a crash" pyramid price structure.Analysis suggests that Bitcoin may maintain a range of $80,000 to $90,000 in the short term, while the probability of a large-scale rise in altcoins is low, unless three liquidity catalysts occur: the Federal Reserve signals a dovish stance, stablecoin growth, or an increase in macro liquidity. The report also notes that, unlike previous bear markets, the regulatory risk for Bitcoin has significantly decreased, which explains why its current adjustment period is performing better than in the past.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the US Dollar Index (DXY) has fallen below the psychological level of 100 and is hovering near multi-year lows.Trader BitBull stated that the DXY is declining at the fastest rate since 2023. BitBull compared the current market trend to the performance of Bitcoin at that time, noting that at the beginning of 2023, Bitcoin and altcoins were rebounding from the lows of the 2022 bear market. At that time, BTC had already bottomed out in the fourth quarter of 2022 and rose over 200% within a year.Meanwhile, Andre Dragosch, the European research director at asset management firm Bitwise, pointed out that Goldman Sachs' research still indicates that the DXY has further downside potential in the future.

ChainCatcher news, crypto analyst Eugene stated that due to the shift in price drivers from industry-specific to macroeconomic factors, his market judgments over the past month have not been effective. He once believed he had a keen insight into market trends, but recently feels he has deviated. Since March, his trading volume has decreased by 60-70% compared to the average, essentially breaking even. Eugene plans to continue maintaining low trading volume and tight stop-losses until market trends become favorable for him again. He emphasized that the macro trend of the crypto market remains unchanged and is still in a bear market. He tends to look for shorting opportunities in non-BTC altcoins during bear market rallies, as these coins have not yet reached deep value ranges.

According to ChainCatcher's message and CoinShares' latest weekly report, last week the inflow of funds into digital asset investment products reached $226 million, with Bitcoin inflows of $195 million and a total inflow of $33 million for altcoins. This follows a total outflow of $1.7 billion over the previous four weeks, with the main beneficiaries being Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Sui, which saw inflows of $14.5 million, $7.8 million, $4.8 million, and $4 million, respectively.Regional data shows that all major regions experienced inflows last week, with the most notable being the United States, Switzerland, and Germany, which saw inflows of $204 million, $14.7 million, and $9.2 million, respectively. Hong Kong ($2.1 million) and Brazil ($1.3 million) experienced slight outflows.The recent price decline has caused the total assets under management of global Bitcoin ETPs to drop to their lowest level since the U.S. elections, standing at $114 billion.

ChainCatcher message, Bloomberg Intelligence commodity strategist Mike McGlone posted on the X platform analyzing whether Ethereum might drop to the $1000 level like it did in 2020. He believes that the market should now focus on ETH price trends, as there is a clear correlation between the price of ETH and other risk assets in the market. If stocks in the S&P 500 continue to be weak, ETH may decline further.At the same time, Mike McGlone believes that a return to the $2000 level for ETH could indicate the direction for risk assets. However, if Bitcoin fails to stabilize its price growth, it may exacerbate losses for altcoins, especially leading altcoins, which will continue to weaken, potentially causing ETH to fall back to the $1000 price level later this year.

ChainCatcher message, according to on-chain analyst Yu Jin's monitoring, "60,800 ETH on the verge of liquidation whales" sold some fragmented altcoins from their addresses 5 hours ago to convert into 980,000 DAI for repayment, reducing the liquidation price from $1805 to $1781.Now, these two whale addresses on the edge of liquidation have liquidation prices around $1780.

ChainCatcher message, trader Eugene posted a graphic in his personal channel indicating that he believes the current market has entered the fifth phase shown in the image (bullish losses, price consolidation, shrinking volume and volatility). In this phase, some stronger altcoins have reached their bottoms, but it is still uncertain whether the global bottom for most assets has arrived.Eugene explains that this phase is the one in which he participates the least, mainly because volatility is very low whether the market is rising or falling. He will only attempt to pick one or two assets that he believes are more defensive than ordinary altcoins, hoping that if he is wrong in his bearish judgment, they can perform better, but that's about it.The tricky part of the fifth phase is that it can last for any length of time. In my view, considering the lack of structural damage (no company or project failures), I don't think we will stay in this phase as long as we did in the last cycle, but that's just my guess. Cryptocurrencies may continue to follow the stock market trends for a while.

ChainCatcher news, according to CoinDesk, Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies fell more than 3% during the early Asian trading session on Friday, in line with market expectations, primarily due to profit-taking. Sean Dawson, research director at the on-chain options platform derive.xyz, stated: "In the past 24 hours, the probability of Bitcoin breaking above $100,000 before June 30 has increased from 20% to nearly 30%. Meanwhile, the probability of Ethereum staying above $2,000 before June 30 is now a toss-up—previously at 40%."Alex Kuptsikevich from FxPro remains cautious, focusing on the $80,000 support level for Bitcoin as a key observation area: "The crypto market has yet to break its 200-day moving average, currently close to $2.9 trillion. A strong breakout above this level could trigger a positive buying phase, but there is also the risk of a short setup trap, as they have done multiple times before.""It is crucial for Bitcoin to maintain momentum by staying above this key level. If this can be achieved, it may rekindle market interest in a range of tokens that have been in a correction phase for some time," he added, referring to the broader altcoin and meme coin market.

ChainCatcher news, according to The Block, Bitwise's alpha strategy head Jeff Park stated on the Castle Island Ventures podcast, "I think MicroStrategy is essentially a clone of traditional finance."Jeff Park mentioned that another unique aspect of Strategy is that it has demand, as some retail investors are still not allowed to purchase spot Bitcoin ETFs.

ChainCatcher news, Matrixport report reveals that despite the recent weakening of the dollar driving a rebound in global liquidity indicators and a slight improvement in inflation data, the meme coin sector in the cryptocurrency market remains sluggish, showing no signs of recovery.The report points out that the altcoin market peaked in early December 2024 before starting to decline, with the meme coin bubble bursting in January of this year, leading to a decrease in the total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market from $3.6 trillion to $2.6 trillion.Although the Solana-based Pump.fun platform generated over $582 million in revenue over the past 12 months, recent revenue growth has rapidly declined. The report also mentions that hedge funds closing arbitrage positions are the main driving force behind the recent selling pressure on Bitcoin, and this sell-off may be approaching its maximum intensity.

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, the ETH/BTC ratio has dropped to its lowest level since mid-2020. Economist and cryptocurrency trader Alex Kruger stated, "If you still hold ETH, now might be a good time to switch to high beta altcoins. If the market goes down, the losses in both cases could be similar, but if the market goes up, you could see significant outperformance, and then you can switch back to BTC."Many in the crypto industry view the "bottoming" of the ETH/BTC ratio as a signal that altcoin season may be starting. Benjamin Cowen, founder of Into The Cryptoverse, stated that for altcoin season to arrive, "ETH/BTC needs to bottom and start an upward trend."However, other indicators suggest that altcoin season may not arrive soon, and Bitcoin may continue to maintain its market share in the short term. CoinMarketCap's altcoin season index shows a score of 13/100, leaning more towards Bitcoin season. Crypto trader Hansolar mentioned that this year will be "an all-year Bitcoin season." According to TradingView data, Bitcoin's market dominance currently stands at 62.15%, while when Ethereum reached its all-time high of $4,800 in November 2021, Bitcoin's market dominance was around 42%.

ChainCatcher news, Matrixport released today's chart showing that Bitcoin's dominance has surged to a new high for this cycle, breaking the previous peak to reach 61.2%, clearly indicating that the altcoin rebound was extremely brief. Data shows that this round of altcoin market lasted only about a month, starting from Trump's election in November 2024, and abruptly ending in early December.The report pointed out that a better-than-expected U.S. employment data quickly shifted the market focus, and the Federal Reserve's more hawkish stance increased downward pressure on risk assets. Although Bitcoin's price has pulled back, its performance still significantly outperformed the market, and seasoned traders have rotated back from altcoins to Bitcoin. Despite Bitcoin's own price pullback, its performance remains significantly better than the market.Analysts believe that the current market hopes to rely on a recovery in liquidity to push Bitcoin further up, but under the backdrop of the Federal Reserve's unchanged hawkish tone, the next round of increases may still require more patience.

ChainCatcher news, according to TradingView data, Bitcoin's market dominance (BTC.D) has remained above 60% for most of the past month since it returned to 60% on February 2, currently reported at 61.25%, and the market seems to be at a standstill.According to analyst ai_9684xtpa sharing historical data, when Bitcoin's market dominance surged above 60% last November, altcoins entered a small bull market. In 2019 and 2021, Bitcoin's market dominance also reached highs of over 70%, followed by a general market rally.

ChainCatcher news, according to the Financial Times of the UK, the cryptocurrency executive order ultimately signed by the Trump administration differs significantly from its previous social media messaging. According to the latest executive order, the U.S. will establish a "strategic Bitcoin reserve" and a "digital asset repository," but the source of funds is limited to tokens obtained through "criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings," rather than market purchases.The report points out that Bitcoin "will be held as a reserve asset," meaning it will be permanently retained, while other tokens (including Ethereum and possibly XRP, SOL, and ADA) can be sold but not purchased. This is in stark contrast to the image previously suggested by Trump of a "Congress-approved, well-funded last buyer."The Financial Times analysis believes that this plan will convert about 200,000 Bitcoins from temporary freezes to permanent freezes, while creating selling pressure on all other tokens like Ethereum. Compared to last year's discussions of a "crypto sovereign wealth fund capable of repaying national debt," this resembles more of a "bait-and-switch."

ChainCatcher news, according to Cointelegraph, Professor Yu Xiong, Dean of the School of Blockchain and Metaverse Applications at Surrey University, conducted an in-depth analysis of the inclusion of cryptocurrencies in national-backed reserves, calling it a "double-edged sword" with clear advantages and disadvantages.Xiong pointed out that the main advantage of a multi-asset reserve is the provision of more diverse options, reducing over-reliance on Bitcoin, which currently accounts for about half of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization. "The DeFi ecosystem of Ethereum (with a total locked value of about $50 billion) and the high-speed transactions of Solana (65,000 TPS) represent technological diversity." He added that the inclusion of altcoins also acknowledges the broader application scenarios of blockchain, such as Ukraine raising $135 million in crypto donations through coins like ETH and SOL after being invaded by Russia in 2022.However, Xiong emphasized several potential risks. The first is regulatory uncertainty, as the SEC is still in litigation with Ripple, "the government holding these tokens may face opposition." The second is liquidity risk; due to the low trading volumes of these coins, government purchases or sales could lead to significant price surges or drops. In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin's trading volume was $54.8 billion, while ETH was $23.4 billion, XRP was $5.5 billion, SOL was $5.4 billion, and ADA was $3.6 billion, which may indicate that some altcoins "lack the depth for large-scale reserves."Regarding concerns about market manipulation, Xiong stated, "The market disruption caused by the U.S. Treasury's sale of 30,000 Silk Road Bitcoins in 2014 was minimal, but today, selling 3% of the Bitcoin supply (about $5.5 billion) could lead to a 15% price drop."On the potential impact of U.S. crypto reserves, Xiong believes it will provide strong support for the crypto and blockchain industry, marking an increase in institutional acceptance and accelerating the adoption of traditional financial companies, similar to how BlackRock attracted $18 billion in assets under management within six months after launching a Bitcoin ETF. He stated, "U.S. reserves may mimic the role of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in energy security, positioning cryptocurrencies as geopolitical tools."Xiong also warned that the crypto market remains fragile, with Bitcoin's annualized volatility fluctuating between 30% and 60% over the past year, while oil volatility is below 35%. Higher volatility raises concerns about manipulation or unintended market distortions.Regarding the impact of U.S. crypto reserves on the crypto and blockchain industry, Xiong summarized it as "short-term optimism, long-term caution," believing it could provide "cover" for institutional investors like pension funds. "If the U.S. government deems it appropriate, then corporate treasuries and institutional investors may also find it appropriate. The $50 trillion managed by pension funds and insurance companies globally may increase their allocation to cryptocurrencies," Xiong stated, similar to the situation after the approval of Bitcoin ETFs in early 2024.