Abstract

• Tariff Policy Dominates Market Sentiment
  In April, cryptocurrency prices were significantly impacted by the U.S. government’s tariff policies. Following the announcement of new tariffs on April 2, BTC and ETH experienced sharp declines of over 10% within a short period, with a surge in liquidations of long futures positions and significant outflows from spot ETFs. However, as the U.S. government softened its stance and entered tariff negotiations with multiple countries, market confidence gradually recovered. By the end of April, BTC had returned to the $90,000 level, and the Fear & Greed Index rose from 18 to 72. Overall, April proved to be a classic example of a policy-driven market, with U.S. government actions playing a pivotal role in shaping the price movements across both cryptocurrencies and global financial assets.

• Robust On-Chain Activity Defies Macro Volatility
  While cryptocurrency prices were notably influenced by U.S. tariff policies, the fundamentals of major blockchain projects remained unaffected. Both before and after the tariff announcement, network activity on Solana and Ethereum stayed robust, with Solana’s trading volume exceeding 90 million and Ethereum’s remaining above 1 million. Among lending and staking protocols, Aave, Lido, and Eigenlayer all saw growth in Total Value Locked (TVL). As for DEXs, April continued to be dominated by Uniswap and Raydium, maintaining their position as the two leading platforms. In the DEX perpetual futures sector, Hyperliquid recorded a trading volume of $6.3 billion, marking a month-over-month increase of 13.4%.

• Infrastructure Upgrades and Strategic Partnerships
  On the industry front, performance improvement remains a key focus for major public blockchains. In April, the Solana network successfully implemented the upgrade proposal SIMD-0207, raising the maximum compute units per block to 50 million, representing an approximate 4% increase. Meanwhile, Soneium, a blockchain network backed by Sony, announced partnerships with AltLayer and EigenLayer, which helped reduce the final transaction confirmation time from 15 minutes to under 10 seconds.

• Funding Slowdown Amid Mega-Deals
  As for financing, the total project funding in April amounted to $2.37 billion, marking a sharp decline from March. The largest single deal was Ripple’s $1.25 billion acquisition of Hidden Road. This acquisition not only quickly addresses Ripple’s gap in institutional services but also strengthens its systemic capabilities in compliance, liquidity, and settlement efficiency within the crypto market.

• Security Risks Persist
  In terms of security, the Web3 industry reported 18 security incidents, with total losses reaching $21.1 million. The DEX perpetual contract project KiloEx suffered a direct loss of $8.44 million this month due to a security breach. The blockchain ecosystem continues to face significant systemic risks tied to oracles, high-frequency trading, and complex protocols.

• May 2025 Market Outlook
  Looking ahead to May, several large-cap token projects are expected to undergo significant token unlocks. PYTH leads the list with $403 million set to be unlocked, accounting for 28.33% of its circulating market cap, potentially bringing selling pressure to the market. At the same time, May will be eventful for the Web3 ecosystem, featuring several key events including Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade on May 7, the SEC cryptocurrency roundtable on May 12, and the Accelerate 2025 Summit on May 22. These events are important milestones that may signal shifts in the industry’s direction, investors are advised to stay highly attentive.

Disclaimer
Cryptocurrency investments involve significant risk. Users should conduct their own research and fully understand the nature of the assets and products before making any investment decisions. Gate is not liable for any losses or damages resulting from such decisions.