This was the sharpest decline in over two years, pulling valuations below levels seen throughout most of the 2021–2022 cycle. However, the sell-off was far from uniform.

While Bitcoin has shed less than 20% at the beginning of April, altcoins have experienced a 41% wipeout, underscoring a distinct capital flight towards more established digital assets.

Most recently, Bitcoin has managed to recover and even set a new all-time high, surpassing the critical $110,000 mark on 21 May. At the same time, other crypto majors—notably, Ethereum and XRP—continue to trade substantially below their recent peaks (see the chart below).

As capital retreated from riskier altcoins, investor sentiment has soured, prompting Coinbase to warn of an emerging ‘crypto winter’ scenario. Global broker Octa, active in digital asset transactions, sees this as a decisive phase of risk reallocation, with traders seeking clarity before any meaningful return to risk.

Major crypto coins’ performance in 2025

Several stress points are converging:

• Venture capital (VC) funding, though up from Q4 2024, remains 50–60% below 2021–22 levels.
• Liquidity conditions are tightening, particularly for smaller projects.
• Macro headwinds—including rising global tariffs and macroeconomic uncertainty—have paralysed risk appetite.

More speculative corners of the market, such as tokens used for Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks (DePINs), memecoins and coins used for Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents, have been hardest hit. Their underperformance highlights growing investor caution.

Kar Yong Ang, a financial market analyst at Octa broker, explains: ‘As of right now, the market clearly sees more value in Bitcoin vs the rest of the crypto universe.

The global macroeconomic situation is highly unstable, with tariffs drama still unfolding and rising protectionism potentially threatening the U.S. dollar’s reserve currency status. As a result, investors’ capital has migrated from high-risk crypto space like alt-coins into relatively low-risk Bitcoin. In fact, Bitcoin has become a sort of “safe-haven coin” of the crypto market’.

Indeed, broader financial markets have become increasingly concerned about the deteriorating U.S. twin deficits (fiscal and trade), both of which are on an unsustainable trajectory.

The yields on the U.S. 20-year government bonds rose above 5.15% on 22 May, almost a two-year high, while the U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) dropped below the critical 100 mark, reflecting eroding confidence in the USD’s safe-haven status.

Furthermore, ratings agency Moody’s downgraded the U.S. sovereign rating, one notch down from ‘Aaa‘ to ‘Aa1‘ due to concerns about the nation’s growing debt. Concurrently, most cryptocurrencies continue to act as high-beta proxies for global sentiment, and in today’s global macroeconomic environment, that sensitivity is proving to be a significant headwind.

Tariff disputes between the U.S. and China, macroeconomic uncertainty, and declining equity market performance are all contributing to a reduction in overall risk appetite, thereby negatively impacting most cryptocurrencies. However, Bitcoin appears to be a major exception in this regard.

Kar Yong Ang explains:

‘At first, the BTC rally appeared to be highly speculative: the market had positively reacted to Trump’s softer stance towards the Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman and U.S.-China trade deal. Later, however, Bitcoin became the only major crypto coin to set a new all-time high. It suggests a continuing flight to perceived safety within the crypto universe, while alt-coin flows remain diminished’.

Still, the ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty and potential failure of the U.S. to resolve its trade tensions with China and the European Union (EU) could act as an immediate catalyst, potentially triggering a renewed bearish phase for Bitcoin.

Just recently, U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to impose 50% tariffs on the EU triggered a classical risk-off move—a sell-off in BTCUSD and a rally in XAUUSD.

Traders and long-term investors should keep a close eye on:

• the total market cap, excluding BTC
• fluctuations in VC funding
• headlines impacting regulatory frameworks in the U.S., EU, and Southeast Asia
• any news related to the ongoing trade disputes and the possibility of trade negotiations.

Tactical patience will be essential this summer. Rushing in to buy Bitcoin now may be unwise, but carefully buying the dips is more reasonable. Key levels to watch are 105,000, 98,000, 94,000, 89,000, and 84,000.

Compliance reminder: trading Contracts for Difference (CFDs) carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Emotional trading can increase this risk. Always trade within your means and understand the risks involved.

Disclaimer: This article does not contain or constitute investment advice or recommendations and does not consider your investment objectives, financial situation, or needs. Any actions taken based on this content are at your sole discretion and risk—Octa does not accept any liability for any resulting losses or consequences.

Octa is an international broker that has been providing online trading services worldwide since 2011. It offers commission-free access to financial markets and various services used by clients from 180 countries who have opened more than 52 million trading accounts. To help its clients reach their investment goals, Octa offers free educational webinars, articles, and analytical tools.

The company is involved in a comprehensive network of charitable and humanitarian initiatives, including the improvement of educational infrastructure and short-notice relief projects supporting local communities.

Since its foundation, Octa has won more than 100 awards, including the ‘Most Reliable Broker Global 2024’ award from Global Forex Awards and the ‘Best Mobile Trading Platform 2024’ award from Global Brand Magazine.

The first Wicrypt WiFi hotspots are already live on Krest, peaq’s sister blockchain, outfitted with their unique Peaq IDs.

The new version of the Wicrypt operating system makes the devices compatible with Peaq off-the-shelf, making it easier for people purchasing them to connect them to the network.

Unequal access to the internet, also known simply as the digital divide, still looms large over the world, with some 2.7 billion people—about one-third of the global population—lacking access to the World Wide Web.

Asia and Africa, the world’s two most populous continents, are also the most affected, with their respective internet penetration standing at 61% and 40%, respectively.

And it’s usually the most vulnerable communities—those who’d stand a lot to gain from access to online education, earning, and banking opportunities, that end up left behind most often.

Wicrypt, an innovative startup from Nigeria, is working to make the Web more accessible globally through its decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) of WiFi hotspots.

The hotspots enable people and businesses to share their Web connection with others, thus solving the last-mile delivery challenge, and earning tokens based on their usage stats.

Currently, Wicrypt’s DePIN counts more than 1,100 hotspots and stretches across 30+ countries, with some 45,000 accounts using more than 895TB of data.

As part of its integration with Peaq, first announced back in April 2023, Wicrypt has now connected several hotspots with Krest, peaq’s sister chain for testing dApps and DePINs, which went live in June.

The hotspots now have their unique Peaq IDs, which enable them to interact with the network, and can be found on Subscan — the blockchain explorer compatible with Krest — here, here, and here.

The devices are now able to register their transactions on Krest, which is a crucial step for further development, and will be able to earn rewards from Krest’s network fee distribution with future updates.

Furthermore, Wicrypt has released a new version of its operating system for the devices, which makes them compatible with Peaq off-the-shelf.

New users joining the network will have the option to purchase a device that’s been connected with Krest in advance.

The owners of existing devices will be able to switch to this operating system manually.

In a bid to support the development of Peaq, Wicrypt is open-sourcing the integration and releasing the supporting documentation and videos on linking the devices with Peaq. See videos steps one, two, three, and four for onboarding on the Peaq network.

“We are thrilled to be moving ahead with this integration and bringing the first hotspots live on Krest,” says Ugochukwu Aronu, the CEO at Wicrypt. “As a production-grade network, Krest gives us a perfect testing environment for everything we build on Peaq, and in the longer term, it will boost the rewards users earn on our DePIN ecosystem. It’s the perfect incentivization mechanism to power connecting the disconnected.”

“The digital divide is the plague of today’s world,” says Till Wendler, co-founder of Peaq.

“It’s exciting to see Krest work as a testing ground for a project working to cure it. The launch of Wicrypt hotspots on Krest is just the beginning as this DePIN takes on the global crisis with top-notch Web3 tools and a desire to make the world a better place.”