Aavegotchi, a non-fungible token (NFT) protocol focused on Web3 gaming, has opted to abandon blockchain network Polygon and “go all-in” on Base, an Ethereum layer-2 scaling chain, according to the results of an onchain vote. 

On April 8, Aavegotchi’s community members voted 93.5% in favor of a proposal to “Make Aavegotchi Based Again” by deprecating the protocol’s smart contracts on Polygon and re-deploying on Base, according to Aavegochti’s governance page. 

“Given our close relationship with the Base team, as well as recent developments in the Base ecosystem […] we believe the most +EV move for Aavegotchi (for this cycle, at least) is to sunset [its Polygon deployment] and go all-in on Base,” Aavegotchi founder Dan said in a February X post proposing the shift.

The migration reflects Aavegotchi’s efforts to adapt to 2025’s cryptocurrency market downturn, which was worsened last week by President Donald Trump’s plan to impose sweeping tariffs on most US imports. 

Aavegotchi’s developer, Pixelcraft Studios, has “recently made significant team cuts to reduce our burn and extend runway,” Dan said. Memecoins and NFTs have been among Web3’s hardest-hit segments so far this year.

Aavegotchi’s community voted overwhelmingly for the move. Source: Aavegotchi

Related: Crypto stocks down, IPOs punted amid tariff tumult

Polygon’s flat TVL

Aavegotchi’s decision also highlights Polygon’s ongoing challenges in maintaining users and total value locked (TVL) in the face of competition from Ethereum layer-2 chains, such as Arbitrum and Base. 

Polygon’s TVL has declined from highs of nearly $10 billion in 2021 to approximately $725 million as of April 8, according to data from DeFILlama. Both Base and Arbitrum each hold more than $2 billion in TVL, DefiLlama data shows. 

TVL is a key metric used in DeFi (decentralized finance) to measure the total amount of assets deposited in a protocol. It not only reflects user trust and adoption but also serves as an indicator of available liquidity.

According to Dan, Polygon hasn’t delivered any major updates or features for gaming protocols. “Polygon has not shipped any significant updates or features to PoS to enable better ecosystem coherence or discovery for gaming.”  

Polygon’s growth has been relatively flat in recent years. Source: Coder Dan

Meanwhile, “both Base and Arbitrum stand out as being both performant and ‘lindy’ – able to stand the test of time,” Dan said, adding he prefers Base because of the chain’s “stronger retail onboarding.”

Base is an optimistic rollup launched in 2023 by Coinbase, the US’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. 

Aavegotchi was created in a collaboration between Pixelcraft Studios and Aave, a decentralized lending protocol. 

It describes its NFTs as “digital collectibles” that can be “customized with various wearables, such as hats, glasses, and other accessories [and]can be bought, sold, and traded as NFTs,” according to its website. 

Magazine: XRP win leaves Ripple and industry with no crypto legal precedent set

Ether (ETH), the native token of Ethereum, is showing signs of bullish exhaustion after a steep 65% decline over the past three months. The pace of the downtrend and the oversold conditions shown by various ETH price metrics have investors wondering if a market bottom is approaching.

ETH fractals point to a drop to $1,000

Ether’s current price action mirrors a familiar fractal pattern seen in 2018 and 2022. In both instances, ETH price saw euphoric rallies that ended with sharp breakdowns and prolonged bear markets.

Each of these cycles shared the following key traits:

Higher price highs were accompanied by lower highs in the relative strength index, which is a classic sign of bearish divergence and weakening momentum.

ETH/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

After the price peak (cycle tops in the chart above), ETH retraced heavily, often falling through key Fibonacci levels.

Cycle bottoms typically formed once the RSI dipped into oversold territory (below 30), with price stabilizing near historical Fibonacci zones.

The current setup resembles this structure.

In December 2024, Ether formed a higher high near $4,095, while the RSI made a lower high—mirroring the bearish divergence seen in previous tops. This divergence marked the beginning of a sharp correction, much like the patterns seen in 2018 and 2022.

Currently, ETH’s price has closed below the 1.0 Fibonacci retracement level at around $1,550. Meanwhile, its weekly RSI is still above the oversold threshold of 30, suggesting room for further declines, at least until the reading drops below 30.

ETH/USD weekly RSI performance chart. Source: TradingView

The fractal suggests Ethereum could be in the final leg of its decline, with the next potential price targets inside the $990 – $1,240 price range, aligning with the 0.618-0.786 Fibonacci retracement area.

Source: Mike McGlone

Related: 3 reasons Ethereum could turn a corner: Kain Warwick, X Hall of Flame

Ethereum NUPL falls into ‘capitulation’ — Another bottom indicator

Ethereum’s Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) has entered the “capitulation” zone—an onchain phase where most investors are holding ETH at a loss. In previous cycles, similar moves into this zone occurred close to major market bottoms.

Ethereum NUPL vs. price chart. Source: Glassnode

In March 2020, the NUPL turned negative just before ETH rebounded sharply following the COVID-19 market crash. A similar pattern emerged in June 2022, when the metric fell into capitulation territory shortly before Ethereum established a bear market low of around $880.

Now that ETH is once again entering this zone, the current setup loosely echoes those prior bottoming phases—coinciding with key Fibonacci support levels near $1,000.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Ether (ETH), the native token of Ethereum, is showing signs of bullish exhaustion after a steep 65% decline over the past three months. The pace of the downtrend and the oversold conditions shown by various ETH price metrics have investors wondering if a market bottom is approaching.

ETH fractals point to a drop to $1,000

Ether’s current price action mirrors a familiar fractal pattern seen in 2018 and 2022. In both instances, ETH price saw euphoric rallies that ended with sharp breakdowns and prolonged bear markets.

Each of these cycles shared the following key traits:

Higher price highs were accompanied by lower highs in the relative strength index, which is a classic sign of bearish divergence and weakening momentum.

ETH/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingView

After the price peak (cycle tops in the chart above), ETH retraced heavily, often falling through key Fibonacci levels.

Cycle bottoms typically formed once the RSI dipped into oversold territory (below 30), with price stabilizing near historical Fibonacci zones.

The current setup resembles this structure.

In December 2024, Ether formed a higher high near $4,095, while the RSI made a lower high—mirroring the bearish divergence seen in previous tops. This divergence marked the beginning of a sharp correction, much like the patterns seen in 2018 and 2022.

Currently, ETH’s price has closed below the 1.0 Fibonacci retracement level at around $1,550. Meanwhile, its weekly RSI is still above the oversold threshold of 30, suggesting room for further declines, at least until the reading drops below 30.

ETH/USD weekly RSI performance chart. Source: TradingView

The fractal suggests Ethereum could be in the final leg of its decline, with the next potential price targets inside the $990 – $1,240 price range, aligning with the 0.618-0.786 Fibonacci retracement area.

Source: Mike McGlone

Related: 3 reasons Ethereum could turn a corner: Kain Warwick, X Hall of Flame

Ethereum NUPL falls into ‘capitulation’ — Another bottom indicator

Ethereum’s Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL) has entered the “capitulation” zone—an onchain phase where most investors are holding ETH at a loss. In previous cycles, similar moves into this zone occurred close to major market bottoms.

Ethereum NUPL vs. price chart. Source: Glassnode

In March 2020, the NUPL turned negative just before ETH rebounded sharply following the COVID-19 market crash. A similar pattern emerged in June 2022, when the metric fell into capitulation territory shortly before Ethereum established a bear market low of around $880.

Now that ETH is once again entering this zone, the current setup loosely echoes those prior bottoming phases—coinciding with key Fibonacci support levels near $1,000.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Bitcoin’s surprise rebound to $81,180 — which was influenced by fake news regarding a pause on US tariffs — has all but evaporated following White House confirmation that 104% tariffs on China will start on April 9.

S&P 500 drops intra-day gains follow White House tariff confirmation. Source: X / Kobeissi Letter

After dropping below the $75,000 level for the first time since Nov. 6, 2024, BTC retested a key demand zone that traders hope will provide a safe haven for the bulls.

The safe haven is a fair value gap located between $77,000 and $73,400, and this zone was created during the November 2024 Trump pump.

BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

MN Capital founder Michael van de Poppe had earlier asserted that Bitcoin needed to retest this zone “before going back upward.”

“Bitcoin attacking $80,000 is a strong sign,” said van de Poppe in another X post on April 8, adding:

“I don’t know whether we’ll be having another drop or whether we’ve seen it all.”

BTC/USD daily chart. Source: Michael van de Poppe

Fellow analyst Jelle shared similar sentiments, saying that Bitcoin’s close above $79,000 on April 7 after dropping as low as $74,400 was impressive compared to how equities performed.

“Waiting for the dust to settle – expecting the price to move higher once that happens.”

Related: Bitcoin may rival gold as inflation hedge over next decade — Adam Back

Bitcoin’s long-term holders’ activity spells doom for BTC price

Data from onchain analytics platform CryptoQuant now shows that the long-term holders (LTHs) — individuals and entities who have held Bitcoin for more than 155 days — could be preparing to sell their coins, particularly after the latest crash.

The Exchange Inflow Coin Days Destroyed (CDD) metric measures the volume of Bitcoin moved to exchanges, weighted by how long those coins were held dormant, indicating potential selling pressure from long-term holders.

There was a massive spike in this metric on April 7, signaling that the old coins are waking up, which is historically a bearish sign. 

A chart posted by a CryptoQuant contributor, IT Tech, in one of its “Quicktake” blog posts showed that when the metric spiked on April 2, Bitcoin price dropped from $88,000 to $81,000.

A similar spike was seen on March 27, preceding a 7% drop in price over two days.

Spotting a similar spike on April 7, the analyst wondered if Bitcoin’s long-term holders were “preparing to sell again?”

Bitcoin: Exchange Inflow CDD. Source: CryptoQuant

If history repeats itself, Bitcoin’s sell-off could continue for a few more days, with the March 2024 all-time high near $74,000 presenting the first line of defense.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Binance is planning to delist 14 tokens from its platform on April 16 in a move designed to purge low-quality projects that do not adhere to the crypto exchange’s tighter listing requirements. 

The tokens are being delisted following a “comprehensive evaluation of multiple factors,” including the exchange’s first “vote to delist” results, where community members nominated projects with less than stellar metrics, Binance announced on April 8.

Other factors included the team’s commitment to the project, development activity, trading volume and liquidity, network stability, responsiveness to Binance’s due diligence requests and new regulatory requirements. 

The tokens selected for delisting are Badger (BADGER), Balancer (BAL), Beta Finance (BETA), Cream Finance (CREAM), Cortex (CTXF), Aaelf (ELF), Firo (FIRO), Kava Lend (HARD), NULS (NULS), Prosper (PROS), Status (SNT), TROY (TROY), UniLend (UFT) and VIDT DAO (VIDT).

Source: Binance

Binance has tightened its listing requirements over the past year in an attempt to boost investor protections. In March 2024, the company extended its so-called “cliff period” — or the length of time listed tokens can’t be sold — to at least one year, according to Bloomberg. 

Related: Binance co-founder clarifies asset listing policies, dispels FUD

As tokens proliferate, listing requirements tighten across the board

Binance isn’t the only cryptocurrency exchange to tighten its listing requirements amid increased regulatory scrutiny. Last October, Bitget announced an overhaul of its token listing process, prioritizing factors such as fully diluted valuation, investor lock-up periods and project business plans. 

In South Korea, crypto exchanges have also beefed up their listing requirements due to new regulations, which included limitations on tokens that have been traded domestically for less than two years.

Stringent listing requirements are also needed to weed out the flood of new tokens that are hitting the market every day.

In the wake of the memecoin mania, platforms like CoinMarketCap track a staggering 13.24 million cryptocurrencies. The actual number of cryptocurrencies far exceeds that level. 

Some analysts have argued that the oversupply of tokens partly explains why the long-awaited “altseason” never really took off this cycle. 

The surge in the number of cryptocurrencies may have diluted altseason. Source: Ali Martinez

“Today, there are over 36.4 million altcoins, compared to fewer than 3,000 during the 2017-2018 alt season and even fewer than 500 altcoins in 2013-2014,” crypto analyst Ali Martinez wrote on social media.

Magazine: 3 reasons Ethereum could turn a corner: Kain Warwick, X Hall of Flame

Binance is planning to delist 14 tokens from its platform on April 16 in a move designed to purge low-quality projects that do not adhere to the crypto exchange’s tighter listing requirements. 

The tokens are being delisted following a “comprehensive evaluation of multiple factors,” including the exchange’s first “vote to delist” results, where community members nominated projects with less than stellar metrics, Binance announced on April 8.

Other factors included the team’s commitment to the project, development activity, trading volume and liquidity, network stability, responsiveness to Binance’s due diligence requests and new regulatory requirements. 

The tokens selected for delisting are Badger (BADGER), Balancer (BAL), Beta Finance (BETA), Cream Finance (CREAM), Cortex (CTXF), Aaelf (ELF), Firo (FIRO), Kava Lend (HARD), NULS (NULS), Prosper (PROS), Status (SNT), TROY (TROY), UniLend (UFT) and VIDT DAO (VIDT).

Source: Binance

Binance has tightened its listing requirements over the past year in an attempt to boost investor protections. In March 2024, the company extended its so-called “cliff period” — or the length of time listed tokens can’t be sold — to at least one year, according to Bloomberg. 

Related: Binance co-founder clarifies asset listing policies, dispels FUD

As tokens proliferate, listing requirements tighten across the board

Binance isn’t the only cryptocurrency exchange to tighten its listing requirements amid increased regulatory scrutiny. Last October, Bitget announced an overhaul of its token listing process, prioritizing factors such as fully diluted valuation, investor lock-up periods and project business plans. 

In South Korea, crypto exchanges have also beefed up their listing requirements due to new regulations, which included limitations on tokens that have been traded domestically for less than two years.

Stringent listing requirements are also needed to weed out the flood of new tokens that are hitting the market every day.

In the wake of the memecoin mania, platforms like CoinMarketCap track a staggering 13.24 million cryptocurrencies. The actual number of cryptocurrencies far exceeds that level. 

Some analysts have argued that the oversupply of tokens partly explains why the long-awaited “altseason” never really took off this cycle. 

The surge in the number of cryptocurrencies may have diluted altseason. Source: Ali Martinez

“Today, there are over 36.4 million altcoins, compared to fewer than 3,000 during the 2017-2018 alt season and even fewer than 500 altcoins in 2013-2014,” crypto analyst Ali Martinez wrote on social media.

Magazine: 3 reasons Ethereum could turn a corner: Kain Warwick, X Hall of Flame

Ripple’s $1.25 billion acquisition of prime broker Hidden Road is a “defining moment” for the blockchain payments company, potentially unlocking more use cases for the XRP Ledger among institutions, said David Schwartz, Ripple’s chief technology officer. 

“Ripple’s acquisition of Hidden Road is a defining moment for the XRP Ledger and XRP,” Schwartz said on social media on April 8. 

Hidden Road is a prime brokerage and credit network with more than 300 institutional customers. On a typical day, it clears more than $10 billion and processes more than 50 million transactions across traditional rails. 

“Now imagine even a portion of that activity on the XRP Ledger — and that’s exactly what Hidden Road plans on doing — not to mention future use of collateral and real-world assets tokenized on the XRPL,” said Schwartz. 

Source: Ripple

Ripple has long touted the XRP Ledger as a scalable platform for real-world assets (RWAs), having partnered with crypto exchange Archax to launch a tokenized money market fund in November. 

However, until now, tokenization on the XRP Ledger has been minimal. Industry data tracks only two RWAs on the XRP Ledger valued at roughly $50 million. 

The XRP Ledger has yet to take off as a tokenization platform. Source: RWA.xyz

Related: VC Roundup: 8-figure funding deals suggest crypto bull market far from over

RWA market continues to scale

The value of onchain RWAs has grown by 9.2% over the past 30 days, bucking a general downtrend in the cryptocurrency market tied to global growth fears and tighter financial conditions. Over that period, the number of asset holders increased by 6.2%, according to RWA.xyz. 

Analysts across the traditional finance industry expect tokenized RWAs to become a multi-trillion-dollar market by 2030 due to large addressable markets across bonds, commodities, equities, real estate and the M2 money supply. 

According to various estimates, the value of tokenized securities could reach at least $2 trillion by 2030. Source: Tokenized Asset Coalition

Some of the world’s largest companies are already experimenting with asset tokenization, with CME Group and Google recently partnering to explore how the Google Cloud Universal Ledger could improve capital market efficiency. 

Prometheum CEO Aaron Kaplan recently told Cointelegraph that regulatory conditions in the United States are ripe for tokenization to really take off. The biggest gap to adoption is a lack of secondary markets for buying and selling tokenized assets. However, this could soon change as crypto-native companies and traditional brokerages compete for market share.

Magazine: Block by block: Blockchain technology is transforming the real estate market

Opinion by: Jay Jog, co-founder of Sei Labs 

When CryptoKitties crashed the Ethereum network in 2017, the industry learned a hard lesson about blockchain scalability. Today, with over $100 billion locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) and millions of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) being traded, that lesson is more relevant than ever. The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) — the engine that powers this activity — is reaching its limits.

So far, the crypto community’s answer has been layer 2 solutions — separate chains that process transactions and report back to Ethereum. But what if the community’s been looking for answers in the wrong place?

Layer 2s are not the solution

Layer 2 blockchains have long been touted as the solution to the EVM’s performance challenges, given their ability to offload the computational work from Ethereum to a secondary chain. Layer-2 solutions have proven to be nothing more than a “quick fix” instead of a permanent solution, as many hoped for. As Gemini reported, a new layer 2 appeared every 19 days in 2024, indicating that the competitive landscape is creating more problems instead of solving them.

Layer 2 solutions come with their own challenges, primarily tied to centralization and interoperability. Many of today’s layer 2 blockchains run with centralized sequencers that could expose the network to transaction censorship, transaction reordering and more. Additionally, Vitalik Buterin stated in a recent blog post that layer 2s are struggling to maintain interoperability. This called attention to the disorganized state of layer 2s, further contributing to liquidity fragmentation and a complex user experience. 

Recent: L2 gaming activity spikes in February, but wallets decline — Report

Advanced rollup designs have tried to fix these pain points. Recently, there has been a new design called native rollups that is trying to tackle layer 2’s centralization issues. Native rollups take value away from projects, which will significantly deter adoption. Consequently, it is doubtful that native rollups are the answer to all of Ethereum’s urgent problems. 

With just as many challenges as the EVM itself, why rely on layer 2s instead of looking elsewhere? Could there be a better solution? According to L2BEAT, it costs around $95.53 million annually to run all the major L2s. Instead of spending more money on building and running more L2s and interoperability solutions, why not focus on refining the existing foundational layer? 

A more accurate alternative to TPS

To create the most performant layer 1s, the industry must first reevaluate the approach to track blockchain performance. Most blockchains focus on throughput, using transactions per second (TPS) to compare chain performance. While many argue that reaching the most significant transactions per second is the way to enable mainstream adoption for crypto, TPS unfortunately doesn’t allow for apples-to-apples comparisons since different types of transactions require different amounts of compute. 

For example, an Ether (ETH) transfer requires 21,000 units of gas, whereas an ERC-20 transfer needs 65,000, confirming that TPS conveys zero value when tracking mass transactions and network throughput.

A new standardized performance metric that better reflects network computing capability must be developed to understand a blockchain’s full potential. This is where an alternative performance metric called “gas per second” emerges — a measure that evaluates the gas fees required to process transactions, better reflecting different transaction types. While TPS is best served to assess simple ETH transfers, gas per second shows the bigger picture by considering all computational efforts, even for complex transactions. 

Given the novelty of this metric, measuring gas per second across all chains will be a long process but a crucial step in blockchain’s evolution. 

Going back to the basics: Layer 1s

The capability of layer 1s has historically been overlooked, as many Ethereum researchers focused on a rollup-centric roadmap. As the backbone of the entire crypto ecosystem, layer 1s are the key to scaling the EVM. To solve EVM’s scalability challenge, layer 1s must start rebuilding the EVM from scratch with performance in mind above anything else. 

The EVM faces severe network congestion and high gas prices as volume increases. It’s time for layer 1s to scale to onboard the next generation of users. Approaches such as parallelization will help improve throughput and, combined with transforming the EVM’s consensus mechanism and storage solutions, will set a new performance standard for the industry and establish a more developer-friendly environment for projects.

The proper solution to scaling the EVM 

For the past few years, Layer 2s have been presented as the answer to providing the cheapest and fastest way to execute transactions. Layer 2s are not what the EVM truly needs. From day one, Layer 1s have always been the true solution to the EVM’s scalability problem. 

It is time to be open to adopting more accurate performance metrics and divert attention to improving network performance. These changes will pave the way for the EVM to achieve its highest potential, introducing levels of scalability and efficiency never seen before. The EVM is here to stay, but its future depends on the industry to build. 

Opinion by: Jay Jog, co-founder of Sei Labs.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Despite the ongoing market meltdown on US trade tariffs, executives at major cryptocurrency firms Messari and Sygnum are bullish on institutional Bitcoin adoption later in 2025.

Speaking on a panel at Paris Blockchain Week on April 8, Messari CEO Eric Turner and Sygnum Bank’s chief strategy officer Thomas Eichenberger said they expect a significant shift in the banking sector’s involvement with crypto in the second half of the year.

According to the executives, the global banking push into Bitcoin (BTC) services has great potential to happen in the second half of 2025 as regulators embrace crypto, including stablecoins and crypto services by banks.

“I think we’re probably looking at a muted Q2, but I’m really excited for Q3 and Q4,” Messari’s Turner said during the panel discussion moderated by Cointelegraph CEO Yana Prikhodchenko, forecasting “really interesting” things coming to the crypto market in 2025.

Crypto adoption is not just about Trump

While some investors focus on the pro-crypto stance of US President Donald Trump, Turner emphasized that broader regulatory momentum is what matters most.

“When you look at the potential of having market structure regulation in the US, stablecoin regulation, and just the fact that across the board, not just President Trump himself, but the SEC and all these regulatory industries are really embracing crypto,” Turner said.

Paris Blockchain Week’s panel with Cointelegraph CEO Yana Prikhodchenko, Bancor co-founder Eyal Hertzog, Sygnum’s CSO Thomas Eichenberger, Messari CEO Eric Turner, AWS fintech leader Alex Matsuo and Near chief operating officer Chris Donovan. Source: Cointelegraph

Sygnum’s CSO Thomas Eichenberger said international banks with US branches are also poised to enter the market once the legal landscape becomes clearer:

“I think it’s a matter of fact that US banks are preparing to be able to offer crypto custody and at least crypto spot trading services anytime soon.”

“I think by then I would agree with you, Eric,” he continued, projecting a continued phase of market uncertainty until the US establishes a clear regulatory framework.

Related: Ripple acquires crypto-friendly prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25B

Banks are no longer afraid of Bitcoin regulators

With the establishment of clear crypto rules for banks in the US, there will be a rush for crypto services by large international banks that are incorporated outside of the US but have a US-based presence, Eichenberger said.

“Some of them may have had their strategic plans in their cupboard to offer crypto-related services, but have been afraid that at some point they will be gone after by any of the  US regulatory authorities,” he said, adding:

“Now I think there’s no one to be afraid of anymore in terms of regulatory authorities worldwide. So I think many of the large international banks will launch this year.”

Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again

Despite the ongoing market meltdown on US trade tariffs, executives at major cryptocurrency firms Messari and Sygnum are bullish on institutional Bitcoin adoption later in 2025.

Speaking on a panel at Paris Blockchain Week on April 8, Messari CEO Eric Turner and Sygnum Bank co-founder Thomas Eichenberger said they expect a significant shift in the banking sector’s involvement with crypto in the second half of the year.

According to the executives, the global banking push into Bitcoin (BTC) services has great potential to happen in the second half of 2025 as regulators embrace crypto, including stablecoins and crypto services by banks.

“I think we’re probably looking at a muted Q2, but I’m really excited for Q3 and Q4,” Messari’s Turner said during the panel discussion moderated by Cointelegraph CEO Yana Prikhodchenko, forecasting “really interesting” things coming to the crypto market in 2025.

Crypto adoption is not just about Trump

While some investors focus on the pro-crypto stance of US President Donald Trump, Turner emphasized that broader regulatory momentum is what matters most.

“When you look at the potential of having market structure regulation in the US, stablecoin regulation, and just the fact that across the board, not just President Trump himself, but the SEC and all these regulatory industries are really embracing crypto,” Turner said.

Paris Blockchain Week’s panel with Cointelegraph CEO Yana Prikhodchenko, Bancor co-founder Eyal Hertzog, Sygnum co-founder Thomas Eichenberger, Messari CEO Eric Turner, AWS fintech leader Alex Matsuo and Near chief operating officer Chris Donovan. Source: Cointelegraph

Sygnum co-founder Thomas Eichenberger said international banks with US branches are also poised to enter the market once the legal landscape becomes clearer:

“I think it’s a matter of fact that US banks are preparing to be able to offer crypto custody and at least crypto spot trading services anytime soon.”

“I think by then I would agree with you, Eric,” he continued, projecting a continued phase of market uncertainty until the US establishes a clear regulatory framework.

Related: Ripple acquires crypto-friendly prime broker Hidden Road for $1.25B

Banks are no longer afraid of Bitcoin regulators

With the establishment of clear crypto rules for banks in the US, there will be a rush for crypto services by large international banks that are incorporated outside of the US but have a US-based presence, Eichenberger said.

“Some of them may have had their strategic plans in their cupboard to offer crypto-related services, but have been afraid that at some point they will be gone after by any of the  US regulatory authorities,” he said, adding:

“Now I think there’s no one to be afraid of anymore in terms of regulatory authorities worldwide. So I think many of the large international banks will launch this year.”

Magazine: Financial nihilism in crypto is over — It’s time to dream big again