The global crypto market stood at $2.65 trillion on May 25, unchanged over the past 24 hours, while total trading volume came in at $67.7 billion. Market sentiment remained cautious. The Fear & Greed Index rose to 30 from 25 a day earlier, moving off “Extreme Fear” but still staying in the “Fear” zone.
Large-cap assets moved in different directions. Bitcoin (BTC) traded at $77,049, up 0.45% in 24 hours, with $20.8 billion in volume and a market capitalization of $1.54 trillion. Ethereum (ETH) fell 0.61% to $2,104.32, with $10.4 billion in trading volume and a market cap of $253.9 billion. Bitcoin dominance was 58.3%, while Ethereum accounted for 9.57%.
Altcoins Split as DeFi Market Adds 1.1%
Polkadot and the XRP Ledger Ecosystem were listed among the strongest-performing areas over the past day. On the token side, Billions Network (BILL) climbed 16.16% to $0.1130, DeXe (DEXE) gained 12.00% to $15.24, and Humanity (H) rose 9.67% to $0.2299. Losers included Jupiter (JUP), down 4.58%, Chiliz (CHZ), down 3.93%, and Sui (SUI), down 3.70%.
Stablecoins were flat over the same period, with a combined market capitalization of $318 billion and trading volume of $50.4 billion. The DeFi market increased 1.1% to $61.77 billion, while daily DeFi trading volume reached $4.07 billion. Its global market share was reported at 2.3%.
Aptos Cuts Staking Rewards, Polkadot Proposal Targets Validator Rules
Aptos activated a 2.1 billion-token supply cap and, after community-approved governance proposals, reduced staking rewards from 5.19% to 2.6%. Gas fees were also raised by 10x. The changes put token supply, yield, and on-chain usage costs back in focus.
Polkadot’s OpenGov proposal seeks a 10,000 DOT self-stake requirement for validators. It also aims to reduce risk for nominators and shorten the unstaking period to nearly two days, a change that would affect staking conditions across the network.
Ethereum Foundation, Strategy, Coinbase and Binance Release Fresh Signals
Vitalik Buterin said the Ethereum Foundation will become smaller and center its work on privacy, security, and decentralization, rather than serving as the ecosystem’s central coordinator. Michael Saylor also clarified that Strategy bought bonds this week, not Bitcoin. At current prices, the company holds 843,738 BTC worth roughly $64.45 billion.
At Coinbase, USDC reserves on the platform climbed to more than $19 billion, accounting for over a quarter of total supply and contributing to the company’s interest-driven revenue. Binance Research said traditional finance perpetual contracts now generate more than $60 billion in weekly trading volume and are becoming a larger liquidity source on the exchange.
Regulation and Institutional Activity Stay in View
The Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) has introduced new crypto rules that place more token-related responsibility on companies while raising operating standards and investor protection requirements. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong spoke about eight finance trends, including stablecoin payments, real-world asset tokenization, AI services, self-custody wallets, and global trading on-chain.
Samsung Securities said digital asset treasury companies are no longer limited to holding cryptocurrencies and are now more involved in staking, mining, yield generation, and sustainable cash-flow activity. In a separate project update, one blockchain has shut down after receiving major community support, and its website, explorer, and ecosystem services are no longer accessible.