Summary

1. BTC ETF inflows are strong, pushing BTC past $110,000 to a new all-time high.
2. ETH remains range-bound; no clear reversal in the ETH/BTC ratio.
3. The “GENIUS Act” on stablecoins has passed the vote.
4. Solana’s Seeker Phone Coming in Early August Along With SKR Token
5. Worldcoin raised $135M in OTC token sale on May 21, with a16z among investors.
6. Giza launches on Gate Launchpool, with a reward pool of 500,000 GIZA tokens.

Market Overview

Market Commentary

• BTC Performance – On May 22, BTC broke through $110,000 for the first time, marking a new all-time high after three months. Over the past month and a half, BTC has shown a largely one-sided upward trend. On the daily Bollinger Bands chart, BTC is currently trading in the range between the upper and middle bands. $103,000 has become a strong short-term support level, while $111,500 is acting as a short-term resistance.
• ETH Performance – Over the past 7 days, ETH has mostly traded sideways. After briefly spiking to around $2,700 on May 13, ETH dropped to nearly $2,300 earlier this week. Despite BTC’s new high, ETH has failed to break past $2,700 again. The ETH/BTC ratio rose above 0.026 before falling for several days, currently sitting at 0.0235. ETH’s market share also pulled back after a brief rise. The fundamentals of ETH-related projects have not seen significant improvement.
• Altcoins – Over the past week, altcoins have shown average performance overall. Meme and AI Agent sectors remain the best-performing. However, despite BTC setting new highs, the altcoin market has not seen a clear rally. In terms of sentiment, the Fear & Greed Index remains in the “Greed” zone.
• Futures Market – In the past 7 days, the BTC buy/sell ratio has been mostly positive, reflecting a bullish short-term outlook. BTC ETFs saw nearly $1.5 billion in inflows this week, signaling strong institutional optimism.
• Macroeconomic Data – There were no major macro policy changes or data releases impacting the market this week. US equities have declined for two consecutive days.
• Stablecoins – The total stablecoin market cap jumped by 2.7% to $249.15 billion, indicating further inflows of external capital.
• Gas Fees – With the market warming up, Ethereum on-chain activity has clearly picked up. As of May 22, the average daily gas fee was 1.01 Gwei.

Trending Sectors

Bitcoin hit another all-time high this week, while altcoins had mixed performance without a broad-based rally. According to Coingecko, the Meme, AI Agent, and Solana Ecosystem sectors outperformed the market this week, up approximately 6.86%, 6.52%, and 4.55% respectively. These three sectors share a common trait: high narrative or technical momentum, making them key tracks to watch.

Meme

Memes in crypto are more than entertainment—they’re emotional barometers. They capture market sentiment, consensus, and trends, often intensifying FOMO in bull markets. The viral nature of meme tokens can lead to rapid price surges, making them key catalysts for short-term volatility. — This sector saw a significant 6.86% rise over the past 7 days, with top gainers including MOONPIG, HOUSE, and KENKU.

AI Agent

AI Agents are playing an increasingly important role in crypto. They can analyze massive data sets in real time, identify trading patterns, and support decision-making—boosting investment efficiency and precision. In a highly volatile market, AI Agents respond quickly to price changes, capture arbitrage, and reduce human emotion interference. As the altcoin market remains sluggish, AI Agents—representing the fusion of crypto and mainstream tech—may continue to lead. — This sector rose 6.52% over the past 7 days, with standout tokens like SENTAI, COOKIE, and FARTCOIN.

Solana Ecosystem

Thanks to its high performance and low cost, the Solana ecosystem has become a key engine of crypto growth. Its scalability has fueled a surge in DApps, DeFi, and meme projects, driving capital and user activity. Activity on the Solana chain often signals shifts in market sentiment, making it a strong market bellwether. — This sector gained 4.55% over the past week, with notable performers like ZBCN, GRASS, and SPX.

Focus of the Week

GENIUS Act on Stablecoins Passes Senate Vote, Moves to Amendment Stage

On May 20, 2025, the US Senate voted 69-31 in favor of debating the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), sending it to full Senate debate and amendment. The act requires stablecoin issuers (e.g., Circle’s USDC) to hold high-liquidity reserves such as USD or Treasuries and conduct regular audits. This provides a clear compliance pathway, reducing legal risk.

The act clarifies that payment stablecoins are neither securities nor commodities, thus reducing regulatory overlap between the CFTC and SEC and simplifying compliance.

The bill’s approval signals a clearer compliance future for stablecoin projects, favoring major issuers like USDC in terms of market expansion and exchange listings. As the amendment phase (starting May 22) begins, the final wording will directly impact compliance costs and innovation flexibility. Close attention is needed on further Senate voting (expected between June and August) and clause revisions. While USDC stands to gain from its compliance edge, smaller projects should be wary of rising compliance burdens and market centralization risks.

Hong Kong Passes Stablecoin Bill; Institutions Expected to Apply for Compliance Licenses by Year-End

According to a May 21, 2025 post on X by Hong Kong Legislative Council member Johnny Ng (@Johnny_nkc), the Legislative Council has passed the third reading of the “Stablecoin Bill” (hereinafter referred to as “the Bill”). It is expected that by the end of 2025, institutions will be able to apply to the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) for a license to issue compliant stablecoins.

The Bill mandates that any fiat-backed stablecoin (e.g., backed by USD or HKD) issued in Hong Kong or claiming to be pegged to the value of the Hong Kong dollar must obtain a license from the HKMA.

This offers a compliant pathway for global stablecoin issuers such as Circle and Tether. Ng emphasized that Hong Kong welcomes global institutions to apply for licenses, aiming to attract international issuers, promote the development of HKD stablecoins, and advance stablecoin use cases in Asian payments and DeFi ecosystems. USDC’s compliance advantages may accelerate its adoption in Hong Kong, although HKD-pegged stablecoins still face market limitations.

Key Data Highlights

Tether Mints Another 2 Billion USDT on Tron Network

According to Onchain Lens, Tether recently minted 2 billion USDT on the Tron network, replenishing its reserves to meet trading and cross-chain conversion demand (e.g., Ethereum to Tron). Due to its low fees and fast confirmations, USDT on Tron has overtaken Ethereum, now accounting for 37.9% of the stablecoin market—about 30% more than Ethereum. In 2025 alone, Tether minted 18 billion USDT on Tron.

This minting is expected to boost transaction activity on Tron. Additionally, Tether’s inventory management has supported memecoin rallies (e.g., SUNDOG and TBULL up over 30%), potentially driving TRX prices higher in the short term. Over the medium to long term, this further solidifies Tron’s leadership in stablecoin markets. USDT circulation is projected to surpass 80 billion, cementing Tron’s dominance in cross-border payments and DeFi.

BlackRock’s IBIT Sees $8.9 Billion in YTD Inflows, Ranks Top 5 Among ETFs

BlackRock’s IBIT Bitcoin ETF has attracted a net inflow of $8.9 billion YTD, placing it fifth among global ETFs. Over the past month alone, it received $6.5 billion in inflows, bringing its AUM to $66.9 billion—just behind VOO, VTI, and SPLG.

U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs have seen $7.6 billion in total net inflows in 2025, with $7.4 billion entering in the past month. IBIT’s massive inflow highlights strong investor demand for Bitcoin. The $6.5 billion monthly inflow accounts for 88% of the sector’s total, underscoring investor trust in BlackRock’s brand. Bitcoin’s recent surge past $110,000 is strongly tied to ETF inflows. The positive feedback loop between IBIT performance and BTC price is drawing more traditional investors into crypto, pushing Bitcoin to new all-time highs.

Polymarket Shows 30% Chance of ETH Hitting $3,000 This Month

According to Polymarket, the probability of Ethereum (ETH) reaching $3,000 in May 2025 stands at 30%, with only a 3% chance of hitting $3,500. The predicted market has seen $10.29 million (approx. 4,000 ETH) in total trading volume. Built on Polygon, Polymarket allows trades in USDC and offers transparent data via Polygonscan.

The 30% probability reflects limited confidence in ETH breaking out of its current range, while the 3% probability of $3,500 indicates bearish sentiment toward a major rally. This aligns with ETH’s recent sideways movement ($2,600–$2,700), suggesting market indecision.

Fundamentally, ETH has seen little progress. While the Pectra upgrade improves Layer-2 efficiency, fragmentation (e.g., lack of compatibility between Optimism and Arbitrum) complicates user experience. ETH ETFs have not attracted significant inflows, and institutional interest remains low compared to Bitcoin. Nonetheless, Ethereum’s strong fundamentals still make it a viable long-term investment.

Market Opportunities

Gate Launchpool

This week’s key project: Giza
Giza Protocol is a decentralized AI platform built on blockchain to simplify DeFi complexity through autonomous agents. Its flagship agent, ARMA, and semantic abstraction layer streamlines tasks like yield strategies, cross-protocol operations, and market analysis. Giza enables trustless protocols, using zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) to support AI model inference, empowering the open-source AI economy.

Preparation

• Gate Account: Register and complete KYC
• Deposit Funds: Ensure sufficient ETH or BTC, as the Launchpool supports only these two

Staking

• Time Window: May 20, 2025, 21:00 – May 27, 2025, 23:59 (UTC+8)
• Steps: Log in to Gate → Go to [Launchpool] → Select Giza project → Click [Participate Now] → Enter staking amount and confirm
• Total Airdrop: 500,000 GIZA
• Max Individual Allocation: 10 BTC / 300 ETH

Funding Weekly Recap

This week saw multiple successful fundraises across infrastructure and developer platforms. According to RootData, from May 16–22, nine projects announced new rounds. Key highlights:

Worldcoin

Raised $135M in OTC token funding on May 21 from investors including a16z, Bain Capital, and Mirana Ventures. WLD token surged nearly 60% in the past 30 days, reaching a $1.9B market cap and ranking 53st globally.

Founded by OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Worldcoin aims to build a global digital identity and financial infrastructure through its World ID, World App, and World Chain. By using biometrics and privacy tech to verify human identity, Worldcoin champions the concept of “proof of personhood.” Its mission is to achieve inclusive finance and digital identity autonomy on a global scale.

Participation from top-tier firms signals strong institutional confidence in Worldcoin’s vision of “global identity + inclusive finance.” It also boosts momentum for AI identity solutions, paving the way for Web2 and Web3 identity integration.

Catena Labs

Raised $18M in a seed round on May 20 led by a16z. Founded by Circle co-founder Sean Neville, Catena Labs is building the first “AI-native” compliant financial institution tailored for AI agents.

Catena Labs aims to create financial infrastructure for the AI economy, allowing AI agents to securely authenticate and transact. Its open-source toolkit, Agent Commerce Kit (ACK), supports identity and payments for AI. By addressing the financial needs of autonomous agents, Catena seeks to usher in a new era of human-AI collaboration in the smart economy.

True Markets

Raised $11M in a Series A round on May 20 led by Accomplice. Founded in 2024 by Vishal Gupta and Patrick McCreary, True Markets is a fintech firm focused on stablecoin-native DeFi trading.

The firm’s Solana-based mobile app offers a non-custodial, stablecoin-settled trading experience. It supports Solana-native assets and uses external custodians to manage user funds securely. True Markets aims to offer faster, safer, and more transparent DeFi trading with lower fees, helping to scale crypto finance globally.

Next Week to Watch

Token Unlocks

According to Tokenomist, several major token unlocks are expected in the coming week (May 23–29, 2025). Top 3 highlights:

• SOL: Will unlock approx. $80M worth of tokens over the next 7 days (0.09% of circulating supply). Currently, ~6,654 SOL are unlocked daily, worth about $11M.
• TRUMP: Will unlock $49.22M worth of tokens over 7 days (1.73% of circulating supply). Daily unlock: 493,000 TRUMP ($7.03M). Current circulating supply is 26% of its 1B total supply.
• WLD: Will unlock $43.87M worth of tokens over 7 days (2.49% of circulating supply). Daily unlock: 5.32M WLD ($6.26M). Current circulating supply is 32.77% of its 10B total supply.

References：

• Cointelegraph，https://cn.cointelegraph.com/news/us-senate-moves-forward-genius-stablecoin-bill
• Theblock，https://www.theblock.co/post/355227/blackrock-ibit-enters-top-5-etfs-by-flows
• X，https://x.com/Johnny_nkc/status/1925109853753917609
• X，https://x.com/OnchainLens/status/1925156975165497814
• X，https://x.com/StoryProtocol/status/1924823865840267668
• Foresight News，https://foresightnews.pro/news/detail/73369
• Polymarket，https://polymarket.com/event/what-price-will-bitcoin-hit-in-may/will-bitcoin-reach-200k-in-may?tid=1747883009423
• Gate，https://www.gate.io/zh/launchpool/GIZA?pid=300

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