Market Overview
Data as of 6:45 AM UTC on October 31, 2025.
Bitcoin (BTC) ended the week down 1.63%, while Ethereum (ETH) fell behind, down 3.64% in the same period. The total crypto market cap dipped 1.85% to end the week at $3.720 trillion, down from $3.790 trillion in the week prior.
This week’s liquidations remained largely muted, although long liquidations spiked closer to the end of the week as bulls became overconfident again on constructive price action early in the week. Funding rates continue to see weakness, despite being at already low levels, with some entering negative territory again.
Several altcoin ETFs have gone live, including Canary Capital Group’s HBR and LTCC, as well as Bitwise’s BSOL ETF.
Metaplanet has outlined plans for a repurchase of 13% of its outstanding shares via a $500 million credit facility.
Mt Gox has delayed repayments to creditors for another year, pushing the deadline to October 2026. Mt Gox still holds 34.6K BTC.
Why does it matter?
Markets largely retraced the prior week’s recovery from the October 10th crash, with some altcoins falling below their crash levels already. Traditional markets, despite being up as a whole, showed relative weakness across most stocks. The S&P 500 ended the week up 0.74% while the Nasdaq rose 1.69% in the same period, carried by strong earnings from several of the Mag7 stocks.
Notable altcoin outperformers this week included Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL), Humanity Protocol (H), Zcash (ZEC), Trump (TRUMP), and Aerodrome (AERO).
Narrative of the Week
Stablecoins continue to drive headlines this week, with several large-scale non-USD stablecoins launching and a significant acquisition by payments giant, MasterCard.
MasterCard is reportedly in late-stage talks to acquire payment infrastructure firm, ZeroHash, with an alleged price tag of $2 billion.
JPYC has launched the JPYC stablecoin, marking the first Yen-pegged stablecoin to be issued in Japan.
IQ AI and Frax Finance are collaborating to launch KRWQ, a Won-pegged stablecoin deployed on Base.
Why does it matter?
MasterCard’s substantial investment in stablecoins continues to prove the dominance of this narrative and use case in the traditional finance space. Simultaneously, non-USD stablecoins are accelerating the movement of fiat currencies onto the blockchain.
Major Project Updates
MegaETH concluded its token sale, with deposits totaling $1.39 billion, representing 27.8 times oversubscription from its allocated amount of $49.95 million at a maximum valuation of $999 million.
ConsenSys, the parent company of MetaMask, is reportedly planning an Initial Public Offering (IPO) with JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
Pavel Durov has announced Cocoon, a Confidential Compute Open Network built on the TON blockchain, with a focus on private and confidential AI compute.
Ethereum-based privacy protocol, Silent Protocol, has unveiled its 0VM whitepaper, detailing its general-purpose zero-knowledge computer layer.
Why does it matter?
MegaETH’s successful closure of its token sale highlights the sidelined capital present in the market that remains eager for new opportunities, despite the overall bearish sentiment in the crypto space.
DeFi Brief
Source: https://coinmarketcap.com/chain-ranking/
Data as of 6:45 AM UTC on October 31, 2025.
Frax Finance has launched FraxNet, a stablecoin money account that enables users to mint, redeem, and earn frxUSD, all while remaining compliant with the GENIUS Act.
Western Union is partnering with Solana to announce the USDPT stablecoin on Solana, alongside a corresponding Digital Asset Network designed to bridge digital and fiat currencies.
MetaMask has launched MetaMask Rewards Season 1, allocating $30 million worth of LINEA tokens to reward trading, swaps, bridging, and referrals on MetaMask over the next 90 days.
Animoca Brands has announced its investment in AERO tokens, which are max-duration locked as veAERO under Aerodrome’s governance mechanism.
Why does it matter?
Stablecoins and their interoperability with fiat currencies continue to be a core use case explored by various DeFi projects, aiming to attract real-world adoption and traditional finance investors.
Meme Coins
The memecoin launchpad, Pump.fun, has acquired the trading platform, Padre. PADRE token holders are now eligible to receive PUMP tokens corresponding to the value of their PADRE token holdings.
Fundraises
Institutional payment infrastructure firm, Hercle Group, has raised $60 million in an equity and credit round led by F-Prime Capital, with support from Fulgur Ventures, Exponential Science, and angel investors.
Retail payment and stablecoin infrastructure project, ZAR, has raised $12.9 million in a funding round led by a16z, with participation from VanEck, Dragonfly, and Coinbase Ventures.
Real-time financial verification platform, Accountable, has raised $7.5 million in a funding round led by Pantera, with support from OKX Ventures, Onigiri Capital, Auros, and more.
Cryptographic AI verification network, DeepSafe, has raised $3 million in a seed round, with investors including Antalpha Global, ViaBTC Capital, Gate Ventures, and more.
Airdrops Abound
Monad has opened its airdrop checker for eligible users who registered earlier in October.
8.4 million WLFI tokens will be distributed by CEX partners to users who traded using USD1 or maintained USD1 balances over the past two months.
Tweet of the Week
Source: @boldleonidas
Can we claim our airdrop tokens already?