For the Love of the Game (Market Commentary) |
Nobody knows anything.
One day, we’re collectively
convinced that crypto is on its way to record highs, the next we’re regretting not selling before the latest market crash.
The announcement of tariffs last week had many convinced that the crypto bull market is over. Traditional markets, as expected, were rekt, but BTC somehow outperformed them all. Bitcoin showed a flash of the magic we were always hoping for - that it would become an asset traders flock to for safety.
And while BTC did fall, for the first time, traders got to see it stand up to unrelenting pressure and hold its ground. Something is changing, and it’s something we’re likely going to see play out over the next few weeks. What did Bitcoin do last week that makes this moment for crypto so
special? Let’s dive into the week’s biggest happenings to find out.
Bitcoin Fulfills Its Destiny?
All eyes are on tariffs and how they are impacting the markets, especially crypto. While the stock market is plummeting to multi-year lows, Bitcoin is showing signs of evolving into the store of value that many believed it would
be.
- On April 4th, Bitcoin hit an all-time high against the Magnificent 7 (Alphabet, Amazon, Apple,
Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Tesla)
- US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “Bitcoin is becoming a store of
value”.
- Since Election Day, BlackRock’s IBIT Bitcoin ETF has outperformed gold and SPY ETFs (IBIT +25%, GLD +14%,
SPY -1.5%).
Regulations + Stablecoins
There’s no denying that the SEC’s approach to crypto has done a complete 180 since Donald Trump took office in January. With regulations forming and developments with the Stables Act, big changes for crypto might be coming sooner than most expect.
- The House Financial Services Committee reviewed and passed the STABLE Act. Next, it heads to
the House and Senate for voting.
- Democratic SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw issued a statement saying that guidance from the
Corporation Finance staff paints a distorted picture of the USD-stablecoin market and understates its risk.
- The SEC declared that fully-reserved, liquid, dollar-backed stablecoins are not
securities.
- Circle (creator of USDC) filed for an IPO to list its CRCL stock on the
NYSE.
- Acting SEC Chairman Mark Uyeda requested that the SEC review the framework for “Investment Contract”
analysis of Digital Assets.
While NFTs continue not to live up to their potential this year, collectors can’t stop buying iconic art and historic NFTs like CryptoPunks.
- Iconic crypto artist XCOPY saw multiple big secondary sales this week including The Damage
- 24.99 ETH ($38.8K), Goshites - 20.69 ETH ($36.4K), 2 editions of BANGERS AND CRASH - 20 ETH ($35.5K) + 16.9 ETH (30.6K), EYE-ROLLA - 17.5 ETH ($27.2K), and dozens
of other editions.
- Other noteworthy art sales include Autoglyphs #376 - 100 97.5 ETH ($177.2K), Beeple’s GIGACHAD - 23.69 ETH ($42.8K), Opepen #3113 1/1 26.12 ETH ($40.6K).
- CryptoPunks saw 35 sales over 42 ETH, with the top sale being CryptoPunk #501 - 126 ETH ($241.4K).
- Steady Teddys sold out on Berachain last week, and have seen $2.9M in secondary sales so far. One collector purchased 4 1/1s for over $100K, while the top sale came in at 3,333 BERA ($19.4K).
The AI crypto market saw its market cap fall by 18.79% to $4.71B in the past 7d, but even with the market taking a big hit, one coin has revealed itself to be different from the rest.
- FARTCOIN went against the trend and saw a +13.55% increase on the week to $510.05M.
- AI16Z (now ElizaOS) shared initial tokenomics for their AutoDotFun launchpad, revealing that
creators will earn fees when their token is traded on auto.fun.
- Following The SWARMai launch last month, Vader AI has revealed its next EAO (Early Agent Offering). The autonomous contract auditor, Wakehacker, will have their presale launch with Vader AI on April 16.
- Virtuals Protocol revealed their Virgen Points system details, which will reward platform users and
traders for positive activities in the Virtuals ecosystem. Points will give users access to upcoming token offerings.
- Cookie.fun has integrated Arbitrum onto their site and showed off a new v1.0 update to their AI data platform.
- Meta announced 3 Llama 4 models called Scout, Maverick, and Behemoth.
- Anthropic launched Claude for Education, which will be available to students and faculty at
Northeastern University, London School of Economics, and Champlain College.
- ElisaOS and Origin Trail are sponsoring the Bio x AI Agentic Science Hackathon, which will offer
$125K in prizes and kicks off on April 8th.
- Loky launched Loky V2 with LQA Alpha, confidence scores, dev wallet analysis, and signal
clarity + a major UI update.
- Solana memecoin launchpad pumpdotfun has partnered with Argil to grow their defi
stack.
- Courtyard is the #1 NFT collection, with sales climbing +9.88% to $16.1M, and
buyers up +1.72% to 8,502. The tops sale was a 1996 Pokemon Bandai #006 Charizard which sold for
$6,568.20)
- DMarket sales were up +2.62% to $8.48M, though buyers fell -3.81% to 20,603. The top sale was a CounterStrike skin which sold
for $104,982.32 MYTH ($16,199.01)
- CryptoPunks sales fell -23.30% to $3.27M, and buyers were up +4.76% to 22.
- Defi Dungeons sales climbed +97.81% to $2.66M, with buyers down -53.81% to 1,090.
- Taproot Wizards sales fell -73.05% to $2.3M with buyers down -62.12% to 111. The top sale was Wizard #311, which sold for .382 BTC ($32,558.12).
- Pudgy Penguins sales climbed +79.60% to $2.27M, and buyers are up +62.79% to 70. The top sale was Pudgy Penguin #2564, which sold for 13.88 ETH ($25,291.86).
- Ethereum sales climbed +7.97% to $31.07M. The top sale was CryptoPunk #501 which sold for 126 ETH ($241,419.97)
- Polygon sales are up +6.02% to $17.91M. The top sale was a GensoKishiOnline Berserker Male #1475, which sold for 2,800 USDT
- Bitcoin sales fell -41.27% to $12.24M. The top sale was Bitcoin Shroom #181, which sold for .6031 BTC ($49,835.62).
- NFT sales reached a new 2025 low of $85.24M.
- Wash sales fell to a 2025 low with just $3.8M washed.
- Weekly unique sellers fell to a 209-week low at 102,058.
- Weekly unique buyers fell to a 75-week low of 147,756
The CryptoSlam 500 NFT Index is down -5.05% this week, as the value of the market continues to fall. Volatility in all markets puts collecting and speculating on hold across the NFT community, while the hunt for liquidity adds even more downward
pressure.
ETH NFT Composite - 538.91 (-4.88%) SOL NFT Composite - 504.48 (-1.07%) POL NFT Composite - 4.35 (-2.68%) CAR NFT Composite - 489.43 (-5.86%)
Top Gainers 7d EOS - $0.7677 (+24.6%) OKB - $51.30 (+7.1%) OM - $6.29 (+2.0%) ATOM - $4.41 (+0.8%) FTN - $4.04 (+0.8%) Top Losers 7d IMX - $0.3979 (-24.4%) TON - $3.10
(-23.6%) PI - $0.5882 (-21.9%) TRUMP - $7.91 (-21.2%) KCS - $8.80 (-21.2%)
Be smart and keep your finger on the pulse of this market, by keeping your eyes on CryptoSlam and the indexes. You can stay plugged in by fixing your vision on our new daily Web3 live show called Chain Reactor.
Have a MEGA GM!
— Yehudah Petscher
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The Agent Economy refers to a growing system of AI-powered agents that can act autonomously across blockchain networks — buying, trading, auditing, and even launching tokens without human intervention. These agents don’t just
automate tasks; they interact with on-chain infrastructure in real-time, forming a new economic layer built on intelligent code. Projects like Vader AI and ElizaOS are early examples of this shift, where AI agents replace teams, scale decisions, and unlock 24/7 programmable activity on-chain. Our upcoming
involvement with the Virtuals ACP as a confirming agent and pending launch to the world is an in-house example of what AI agents are gearing up to accomplish through agentic collaboration; the cornerstone element of what Agent Economies will look like .. humans + agents and agents + agents working together to improve everyday life
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