Curve Finance, a decentralized lending protocol and exchange, notched record-breaking trading volumes of nearly $35 billion in the first quarter of 2025, a spokesperson for the protocol told Cointelegraph. 

Trading volumes increased more than 13% from the first quarter of 2024, largely due to a surge in transactions, from around 1.8 million to some 5.5 million in Q1 2025, Curve said. 

The strong Q1 volumes come amid overall declines in the cryptocurrency market, with the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies dropping by more than 20% in the year-to-date as of March 31, according to data from CoinGecko.

Curve’s total value locked (TVL) over time. Source: DefiLlama

Related: Curve Finance launches ‘Savings crvUSD’ yield-bearing stablecoin

Changing DeFi Landscape

Launched in 2020, Curve has taken numerous steps in the past year to keep pace with the changing decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape.

In June 2024, Curve adopted crvUSD, its stablecoin, for fee distribution to tokenholders, replacing an older model that paid holders in shares of the 3crv liquidity pool.

In November, Curve partnered with Elixir, a blockchain network, to help onboard BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, to DeFi. 

By the end of 2025, Curve plans to consolidate its lending markets into a single user interface and provide borrowers with more time to close positions before they are liquidated, it told Cointelegraph. 

Curve founder Michael Egorov said in March that he expects many decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to evolve into bespoke platforms for stablecoins pegged to various currency denominations. 

“Exchanges between stablecoins of different denominations like the euro, US dollar, and others are not yet properly solved. How to provide liquidity without losing money, but while earning a lot of money, is kind of an open question that I think will be solved soon,” Egorov said.

Despite the rise in transactions, the total value locked (TVL) on Curve’s platform is approximately $1.8 billion as of April 2, according to data from DefILlama, down from highs of roughly $2.5 billion at the start of the year.

Curve’s native token, Curve DAO (CRV), has a market capitalization of approximately $640 million at this writing, marking a more than 40% decline in the year-to-date, according to data from Cointelegraph.

Related: BTC miners adopted ‘treasury strategy,’ diversified business in 2024: Report

Curve Finance, a decentralized lending protocol and exchange, notched record-breaking trading volumes of nearly $35 billion in the first quarter of 2025, a spokesperson for the protocol told Cointelegraph. 

Trading volumes increased more than 13% from the first quarter of 2024, largely due to a surge in transactions, from around 1.8 million to some 5.5 million in Q1 2025, Curve said. 

The strong Q1 volumes come amid overall declines in the cryptocurrency market, with the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies dropping by more than 20% in the year-to-date as of March 31, according to data from CoinGecko.

Curve’s total value locked (TVL) over time. Source: DefiLlama

Related: Curve Finance launches ‘Savings crvUSD’ yield-bearing stablecoin

Changing DeFi Landscape

Launched in 2020, Curve has taken numerous steps in the past year to keep pace with the changing decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape.

In June 2024, Curve adopted crvUSD, its stablecoin, for fee distribution to tokenholders, replacing an older model that paid holders in shares of the 3crv liquidity pool.

In November, Curve partnered with Elixir, a blockchain network, to help onboard BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, to DeFi. 

By the end of 2025, Curve plans to consolidate its lending markets into a single user interface and provide borrowers with more time to close positions before they are liquidated, it told Cointelegraph. 

Curve founder Michael Egorov said in March that he expects many decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to evolve into bespoke platforms for stablecoins pegged to various currency denominations. 

“Exchanges between stablecoins of different denominations like the euro, US dollar, and others are not yet properly solved. How to provide liquidity without losing money, but while earning a lot of money, is kind of an open question that I think will be solved soon,” Egorov said.

Despite the rise in transactions, the total value locked (TVL) on Curve’s platform is approximately $1.8 billion as of April 2, according to data from DefILlama, down from highs of roughly $2.5 billion at the start of the year.

Curve’s native token, Curve DAO (CRV), has a market capitalization of approximately $640 million at this writing, marking a more than 40% decline in the year-to-date, according to data from Cointelegraph.

Related: BTC miners adopted ‘treasury strategy,’ diversified business in 2024: Report

Curve Finance, a decentralized lending protocol and exchange, notched record-breaking trading volumes of nearly $35 billion in the first quarter of 2025, a spokesperson for the protocol told Cointelegraph. 

Trading volumes increased more than 13% from the first quarter of 2024, largely due to a surge in transactions, from around 1.8 million to some 5.5 million in Q1 2025, Curve said. 

The strong Q1 volumes come amid overall declines in the cryptocurrency market, with the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies dropping by more than 20% in the year-to-date as of March 31, according to data from CoinGecko.

Curve’s total value locked (TVL) over time. Source: DefiLlama

Related: Curve Finance launches ‘Savings crvUSD’ yield-bearing stablecoin

Changing DeFi Landscape

Launched in 2020, Curve has taken numerous steps in the past year to keep pace with the changing decentralized finance (DeFi) landscape.

In June 2024, Curve adopted crvUSD, its stablecoin, for fee distribution to tokenholders, replacing an older model that paid holders in shares of the 3crv liquidity pool.

In November, Curve partnered with Elixir, a blockchain network, to help onboard BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund, BUIDL, to DeFi. 

By the end of 2025, Curve plans to consolidate its lending markets into a single user interface and provide borrowers with more time to close positions before they are liquidated, it told Cointelegraph. 

Curve founder Michael Egorov said in March that he expects many decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to evolve into bespoke platforms for stablecoins pegged to various currency denominations. 

“Exchanges between stablecoins of different denominations like the euro, US dollar, and others are not yet properly solved. How to provide liquidity without losing money, but while earning a lot of money, is kind of an open question that I think will be solved soon,” Egorov said.

Despite the rise in transactions, the total value locked (TVL) on Curve’s platform is approximately $1.8 billion as of April 2, according to data from DefILlama, down from highs of roughly $2.5 billion at the start of the year.

Curve’s native token, Curve DAO (CRV), has a market capitalization of approximately $640 million at this writing, marking a more than 40% decline in the year-to-date, according to data from Cointelegraph.

Related: BTC miners adopted ‘treasury strategy,’ diversified business in 2024: Report

Fidelity, a financial services company with $5.9 trillion in assets under management, has introduced new retirement accounts that will allow Americans to invest in crypto nearly fee-free.

The three accounts — a tax-deferred traditional IRA and two Roth IRAs (one is a rollover) — permit the buying and selling of Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Litecoin (LTC). While there are no fees to open or maintain the accounts, Fidelity charges a 1% spread on the execution price of crypto buy and sell transactions.

The crypto IRAs are offered by Fidelity Digital Assets, a subsidiary of Fidelity that has traditionally offered institutional investors the opportunity to buy and sell crypto.

The broadening of its client base may be another signal of the changing crypto landscape in the United States, which has seen the adoption of a strategic Bitcoin reserve and multiple companies, including stablecoin issuer Circle, filing for an initial public offering.

Fidelity states that, for security, it holds the majority of its crypto in cold storage, which consists of crypto wallets not connected to the internet.

Related: Bitcoin ETFs for retirement planning: A beginner’s guide

BTC and ETH exposure already offered for retirement accounts

While the direct purchase of cryptocurrencies in an IRA has never been strictly prohibited, few IRA providers have allowed such purchases, according to Investopedia. Therefore, Fidelity’s new IRAs may signal a change in the environment.

Still, for enthusiasts of BTC and ETH, there have been other options since 2024, such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of those corresponding coins.

Since the debut of those ETFs, investors in the US have been able to gain exposure to crypto markets from their retirement accounts — depending on the brokerage. There has also been the rise of Bitcoin IRAs, which are self-directed retirement accounts that offer tax advantages.

Some crypto companies offer digital-asset-specific IRAs like BitIRA, where individuals can add altcoins such as LTC to their retirement portfolios.

The move to allow more Americans to invest crypto into retirement accounts may be gaining momentum. On April 1, Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville announced the reintroduction of a bill to allow Americans to add cryptocurrency to their 401(k)s. The process would involve scaling back regulations issued by the Department of Labor.

Magazine: X Hall of Flame: Bitcoin will ‘start ripping’ as Trump’s polls improve — Felix Hartmann 

Ether (ETH) price has risen 6.4% from its March 30 $1,768 low but the altcoin has struggled to regain the $2,000 level. Some traders believe that the downturn is partially connected to the deflating memecoin market, which, while not exclusive to the Ethereum network, significantly reduced activity across the decentralized applications (DApps) ecosystem and broader crypto space.

Ether is currently 44% down year-to-date, and derivatives metrics indicate that traders are far from bullish and show little confidence in a strong recovery in the near term. Proof of this can be found in the premium on Ether futures relative to spot markets. 

While the figure rose to 4% on April 2, up from 2% on March 31, it is still below the neutral 5% threshold. This data indicates that Ether investors remain far from turning bullish, despite the strengthening support at the $1,800 price level.

Ether 2-month futures annualized premium. Source: Laevitas.ch

To assess whether whales and market makers lack confidence in Ether’s performance, one should analyze the ETH options market. Under neutral conditions, the 25% delta skew should be balanced between call (buy) and put (sell) options, typically ranging from -6% to 6%.

Deribit ETH 30-day options 25% delta skew (put-call). Source: Laevitas.ch

The Ether delta skew metric has retreated from the 9% level seen on March 31, yet the current 7% reading suggests that risk-aversion sentiment remains strong. The rising cost of hedging indicates that whales fear further downside for ETH, suggesting it may take longer for traders to regain confidence.

Ethereum adoption remains strong despite DApps revenue drop

It’s easy to attribute much of Ether’s price decline to the 49% drop in Ethereum DApps revenue between January and March. However, while the reduced network activity limits the influx of new users and dampens overall demand for ETH, its advantages over traditional financial markets and its dominance in decentralized finance (DeFi) remain unchanged.

The stablecoin holdings on Ethereum are nearing an all-time high of $124.5 billion, and Ethereum is still the undisputed leader, with $49 billion in total value locked (TVL). This data suggests significant potential for ETH adoption, particularly as new use cases emerge, such as structured products and more complex DeFi applications leveraging synthetic assets.

Despite the early struggles of metaverse applications, declining interest in memecoins, and the sharp downturn in non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace activity, the Ethereum network continues to expand.

ETH funding rate neutral as ETFs dampen retail trading enthusiasm

Instead of focusing solely on how professional traders are positioned, it is also valuable to assess retail investors’ sentiment. Perpetual futures (inverse swaps) typically follow spot prices closely, as leverage imbalances are corrected through a fee known as the funding rate, which is charged every eight hours. In neutral markets, this rate fluctuates between 0.1% and 0.3% over a seven-day period.

Ether 8-hour perpetual futures funding rate. Source: Laevitas.ch

The ETH perpetual funding rate has been neutral since March 31, indicating that retail traders are not attempting to catch a falling knife. A key factor behind this lack of enthusiasm is the spot Ether exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which saw $37 million in net outflows over the past two weeks.

While derivatives data is often backward-looking and does not necessarily signal further ETH price declines, sentiment could shift quickly given the positive momentum from the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial investment in ETH and Eric Trump’s vocal support for Ether. For the time being, professional traders and retail investors remain cautious about ETH’s price outlook.

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.

Bitcoin price caught an unexpected bid by rallying to a session high at $88,500, but will the price gains be capped at a multimonth overhead resistance that is aligned with the 50-day moving average? 

Key points:

Bitcoin extended its April. 1 gains as news that the Trump administration had not finalized its “Liberation Day” tariffs emerged. 

Israel, Mexico and India have already rolled back their tariffs on US imports or suggested that they will not do “tit for tat” tariffs in response to the expected April 2 US tariffs. 

Bitcoin (BTC) trades slightly below a 3-month descending trendline resistance where the price has consistentlybeen rejected during past rallies. 

Total market liquidations over the past 12-hour trading period have reached $145 million, with $69.4 million of the figure being Bitcoin shorts.  

Data from Kingfisher, CoinGlass and Velo show short liquidations playing a role in today’s push above $88,500. 

Crypto market liquidations in the past 12-hours. Source. CoinGlass 

For the past few months, Bitcoin price has struggled to hold the gains accrued from rallies driven by leverage. Looking beyond futures markets, there are some positives that suggest that the market structure is slowly transitioning from bearish to bullish. 

As shown in the chart below, recent rallies were accompanied by a strong bid in the spot market and the return of the Coinbase Pro premium, leading some analysts to speculate that the shift was influenced by buying from Strategy and other companies focused on building Bitcoin reserves. 

Coinbase premium index. Source: CryptoQuant

Over the last two weeks, GameStop, MARA, Metaplanet and Strategy all announced plans to buy more Bitcoin, with GameStop being on the verge of purchasing and Strategy actively adding to its BTC position. 

GameStop secures $1.5B for possible BTC purchase. Source: Arkham

In the short-term, sustained spot buy volumes at Binance and Coinbase Pro, and the crypto and equities markets’ response to President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are likely to be the most impactful factors that will influence the current bullish momentum seen in Bitcoin price.  

Related: Bitcoin price on verge of breaking 10-week downtrend — Is $90K BTC next?

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 price caught an unexpected bid by rallying to a session high at $88,500, but will the price gains be capped at a multimonth overhead resistance that is aligned with the 50-day moving average? 

Key points:

Bitcoin extended its April. 1 gains as news that the Trump administration had not finalized its “Liberation Day” tariffs emerged. 

Israel, Mexico and India have already rolled back their tariffs on US imports or suggested that they will not do “tit for tat” tariffs in response to the expected April 2 US tariffs. 

Bitcoin (BTC) trades slightly below a 3-month descending trendline resistance where the price has consistentlybeen rejected during past rallies. 

Total market liquidations over the past 12-hour trading period have reached $145 million, with $69.4 million of the figure being Bitcoin shorts.  

Data from Kingfisher, CoinGlass and Velo show short liquidations playing a role in today’s push above $88,500. 

Crypto market liquidations in the past 12-hours. Source. CoinGlass 

For the past few months, Bitcoin price has struggled to hold the gains accrued from rallies driven by leverage. Looking beyond futures markets, there are some positives that suggest that the market structure is slowly transitioning from bearish to bullish. 

As shown in the chart below, recent rallies were accompanied by a strong bid in the spot market and the return of the Coinbase Pro premium, leading some analysts to speculate that the shift was influenced by buying from Strategy and other companies focused on building Bitcoin reserves. 

Coinbase premium index. Source: CryptoQuant

Over the last two weeks, GameStop, MARA, Metaplanet and Strategy all announced plans to buy more Bitcoin, with GameStop being on the verge of purchasing and Strategy actively adding to its BTC position. 

GameStop secures $1.5B for possible BTC purchase. Source: Arkham

In the short-term, sustained spot buy volumes at Binance and Coinbase Pro, and the crypto and equities markets’ response to President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs are likely to be the most impactful factors that will influence the current bullish momentum seen in Bitcoin price.  

Related: Bitcoin price on verge of breaking 10-week downtrend — Is $90K BTC next?

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.

West Virginia’s Bitcoin (BTC) strategic reserve bill would give the state more sovereignty from the federal government and freedom from a potential central bank digital currency (CBDC), State Senator Chris Rose told Cointelegraph in an exclusive interview.

“You hear these rumors that there are people at the federal government that will want to have a central bank digital currency,” Rose said. “And people don’t want that. People want decentralized currency. They want freedom.”

The bill, introduced in February, seeks to allow the state treasury to invest up to 10% of public funds in precious metals like gold and silver, stablecoins, or any digital asset that has had a $750 million market capitalization or higher over the last 12 months. Currently, the only digital asset with such a market cap is Bitcoin.

West Virginia State Senator Chris Rose. Source: Cointelegraph

Rose, the bill’s sponsor, said that the reason they decided on the market cap requirement was to allow the state to have exposure to cryptocurrency, but not to get trapped “in any things like memecoins.”

Adopting Bitcoin on the state level would “give us a little more state sovereignty,” Rose added. “And I think that’s one reason why you see a lot of people who normally buy [Bitcoin] for themselves want to see their state government do the same.”

He added that a 10% allocation of state funds would be a “good way to introduce [Bitcoin] to the state” while avoiding any fear from people who don’t understand digital assets. “It’s a good way to cap that where they feel comfortable, but also give us at least a decent exposure as well.”

Bitcoin: “A very powerful” investment and freedom tool

Rose said that one of the roadblocks to getting the bill passed is fear, in particular among those who don’t understand cryptocurrency. “Just like any other state, we have people who understand it. We also have people that don’t understand it, and people are always afraid of what they don’t know.”

He added that “once they understand it, they realize it’s a very powerful investment tool and freedom tool for every one of us to adopt.”

Excerpt of West Virginia Bitcoin reserve bill. Source: West Virginia Legislature

West Virginia Governor Patrick Morrisey, who has envisioned a future state economy powered by crypto and other tech, won’t be a roadblock, Rose said. And the state treasurer, whom Rose consulted before introducing the bill, won’t either.

However, according to WVNews, a West Virginia publication, some lawmakers and financial experts remain skeptical. Investing state funds into Bitcoin may be risky due to the asset’s volatility and price swings, which can cause financial instability and make Bitcoin a controversial choice for state investments.

Although Bitcoin strategic reserve bills have been popping up in state legislatures around the United States, some bills have failed to pass or have scrapped key provisions, including some of those in traditionally conservative states.

Currently, 47 strategic Bitcoin reserve bills have been introduced in 26 states according to Bitcoin Laws. While, in most of the states, the bills have only been introduced or referred to committees, some have made headway in three: Arizona, Oklahoma, and Texas.

Related: Texas Senate passes Bitcoin strategic reserve bill

Rose clarified that the 10% of state funds allocated to precious metals, stablecoins, or Bitcoin would be sourced from two key areas.

“It would be the assets under the pensions fund and under the severance tax fund,” Rose said. “They would be able to divest some of those ETF funds into these assets. We wanted to keep it separate from the petty cash fund, which is day-to-day, just paying the bills of the state. We wanted to keep it to our longer-term assets,” he added.

Magazine: X Hall of Flame, Benjamin Cowen: Bitcoin dominance will fall in 2025

The DoubleZero Protocol, a blockchain infrastructure network aiming to multiply speeds and efficiency for distributed networks, announced a validator funding round to sell token-purchase agreements for its native token to prospective validators.

Applications for the funding round will be accepted April 2-10 through the CoinList platform, marking its first public token sale in the United States since 2019. The round is only available to accredited investors.

According to the protocol, only validators currently serving the high-throughput Solana, Celestia, Sui, Aptos, and Avalanche networks are eligible to apply.

Interested parties are invited to submit bids declaring a per-unit token price and maximum budgets, which will be aggregated to determine the final sale price offered to the participating validators.

A diagram of the DoubleZero validator funding round process. Source: CoinList

In a statement to Cointelegraph, Austin Federa, co-founder of the Double Zero protocol and former Strategy lead at the Solana Foundation, said:

“The DoubleZero CoinList sale is a first-of-its-kind opportunity for the validators who are already securing the most performant and distributed blockchains. It opens access to infrastructure that will power the next generation of distributed systems.”

“This industry has seen huge investment and innovation at the top of the stack — it is time to revolutionize the physical infrastructure layer powering high-performance distributed systems,” Federa said in the statement.

The funding round comes amid a recent uptick in capital fundraising from crypto firms and crypto venture capitalists — suggesting that the market has room to grow in 2025.

Related: Crypto VC giant targets $1B for new funds, expects oversubscription — Report

DoubleZero protocol targets mainnet launch in the second half of 2025

The DoubleZero Protocol is aiming to launch its mainnet during the second half of 2025 following a successful $28 million fundraising round completed in March.

Crypto venture capital firms Multicoin Capital and Dragonfly Capital led the previous fundraising round.

First page of the DoubleZero Protocol white paper. Source: DoubleZero

DoubleZero aims to increase the speed and communication of blockchain networks by using a dedicated network of fiber optics to provide the physical infrastructure for high-speed, low-latency blockchain connectivity.

The focus on a dedicated fiber optic network for higher speeds is similar to the shift from dial-up internet that used 56K modems operating through 20th-century telecommunication infrastructure to broadband systems in the early 2000s.

Magazine: Is measuring blockchain transactions per second (TPS) stupid in 2024? Big Questions

The DoubleZero Protocol, a blockchain infrastructure network aiming to multiply speeds and efficiency for distributed networks, announced a validator funding round to sell token-purchase agreements for its native token to prospective validators.

Applications for the funding round will be accepted April 2-10 through the CoinList platform, marking its first public token sale in the United States since 2019. The round is only available to accredited investors.

According to the protocol, only validators currently serving the high-throughput Solana, Celestia, Sui, Aptos, and Avalanche networks are eligible to apply.

Interested parties are invited to submit bids declaring a per-unit token price and maximum budgets, which will be aggregated to determine the final sale price offered to the participating validators.

A diagram of the DoubleZero validator funding round process. Source: CoinList

In a statement to Cointelegraph, Austin Federa, co-founder of the Double Zero protocol and former Strategy lead at the Solana Foundation, said:

“The DoubleZero CoinList sale is a first-of-its-kind opportunity for the validators who are already securing the most performant and distributed blockchains. It opens access to infrastructure that will power the next generation of distributed systems.”

“This industry has seen huge investment and innovation at the top of the stack — it is time to revolutionize the physical infrastructure layer powering high-performance distributed systems,” Federa said in the statement.

The funding round comes amid a recent uptick in capital fundraising from crypto firms and crypto venture capitalists — suggesting that the market has room to grow in 2025.

Related: Crypto VC giant targets $1B for new funds, expects oversubscription — Report

DoubleZero protocol targets mainnet launch in the second half of 2025

The DoubleZero Protocol is aiming to launch its mainnet during the second half of 2025 following a successful $28 million fundraising round completed in March.

Crypto venture capital firms Multicoin Capital and Dragonfly Capital led the previous fundraising round.

First page of the DoubleZero Protocol white paper. Source: DoubleZero

DoubleZero aims to increase the speed and communication of blockchain networks by using a dedicated network of fiber optics to provide the physical infrastructure for high-speed, low-latency blockchain connectivity.

The focus on a dedicated fiber optic network for higher speeds is similar to the shift from dial-up internet that used 56K modems operating through 20th-century telecommunication infrastructure to broadband systems in the early 2000s.

Magazine: Is measuring blockchain transactions per second (TPS) stupid in 2024? Big Questions