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Institutional capital continued to shape crypto market dynamics this week, with Bitcoin ETFs attracting around $1.4 billion in inflows — one of the largest weekly totals in months — suggesting sustained demand from large investors even as broader sentiment stays cautious. Meanwhile, XRP-linked ETFs crossed about $1.37 billion in cumulative inflows, reflecting growing institutional appetite beyond just Bitcoin and Ethereum products.

In Washington, U.S. lawmakers introduced long-awaited draft legislation to define clear crypto market rules, aiming to settle long-running regulatory ambiguity over which tokens are securities and how stablecoin firms should be supervised — including giving the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) greater oversight of spot markets. At the same time, Coinbase’s withdrawal of support for a key market-structure bill (the Clarity Act) prompted headlines and industry discussion about the challenges of securing broad consensus on regulation.

Beyond regulation and flows, layer-1 and application-layer ecosystems showed pockets of renewed activity: Quant (QNT) saw its trading volume more than triple with a strong short-term rally, highlighting selective momentum in non-blue-chip assets.

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What is DeFi?

DefiLlama’s leaderboards show that while centralized exchanges (CEXs) still dominate in volume terms, decentralized finance (DeFi) continues to grow in importance.

DeFi is a blockchain-based financial system that is permissionless and transparent and non-custodial, meaning that anyone with an internet connection can participate and users control their own assets, without intermediaries. The DeFi market includes numerous different services, including decentralized exchanges like Uniswap, stablecoins like DAI, lending protocols like Aave, and more.

While DeFi TVL (total value locked) declined in Q1 of 2025, the Trump administration shows a generally favourable outlook for the sector.

In April 2025, President Trump signed legislation overturning an IRS rule that would have classified DeFi platforms as brokers, requiring them to report user transactions. This move was seen as a significant victory for the DeFi industry, alleviating concerns about privacy and operational feasibility.

Tokens by market cap

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Why we are highlighting these token categories

While memecoins have been a huge story in crypto for the last year, AI Agents, Real-World Assets (RWA), and DePIN are reshaping the token economy in profound ways — each opening new frontiers for utility, scalability, and real-world impact. As the crypto space matures beyond speculation, these technologies are driving a more grounded and interoperable future for blockchain.

AI agents are increasingly being integrated into decentralized platforms, where they can execute smart contracts, optimize yield strategies, or help users navigate DeFi ecosystems.

RWAs refer to the tokenization of tangible or off-chain assets — such as real estate, bonds, invoices, and commodities — on blockchain networks. This bridges the gap between traditional finance and DeFi by bringing the value of trillions of dollars of real-world capital onto decentralized rails.

DePIN, or Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks, involve the use of blockchain tokens to coordinate and incentivize the deployment and maintenance of physical infrastructure. These systems rely on crypto economics to reward contributors for building out infrastructure in a decentralized, permissionless manner.

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