Cryptocurrency markets experienced another week of decline, while investors awaited the final Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of the year.
On Tuesday, Bitcoin (BTC) reached a weekly peak of $94,330, driven by investor optimism following Strategy’s acquisition of $962 million in Bitcoin, marking the company’s largest investment since July 2025.
The following day, the US Federal Reserve enacted a widely anticipated interest rate cut of 25 basis points. This announcement momentarily lifted crypto markets, as lower rates typically enhance risk appetite and facilitate capital influx into volatile assets like cryptocurrencies.
Nonetheless, the market’s rise was short-lived, with CoinEx exchange’s lead analyst, Jeff Ko, remarking to Cointelegraph that the Fed’s recent cut was “largely expected and essentially priced in.”
Despite a tepid investor appetite, key developments such as the growing number of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and enhanced usability of on-chain products could signal a forthcoming “Netscape” moment for the cryptocurrency sector, analysts commented to Cointelegraph.
Crypto Approaches Its “Netscape” Moment as Industry Nears Inflection Point
The cryptocurrency landscape is approaching its “Netscape” moment, with consistent advancements in blockchain infrastructure and a rise in regulated investment vehicles driving a new wave of institutional acceptance, according to Paradigm co-founder Matt Huang.
Huang noted on Sunday in a post on X that the sector is experiencing its “Netscape” or “iPhone” moment. “It’s operating larger than ever, exceeding our loftiest expectations for both institutional and cypherpunk dimensions.”
Netscape debuted the first user-friendly web browser for mainstream consumers in 1994, later going public with an IPO in August 1995, which set the groundwork for the internet’s mass adoption.
However, Microsoft took notice of the burgeoning interest and took advantage by bundling Internet Explorer as a free, pre-installed component of Windows, ultimately outpacing Netscape to become the most widely used browser.
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Bubblemaps Questions PEPE’s Fair Launch, Claims 30% of Genesis Supply Was Bundled
Blockchain data has raised doubts about the “for the people” launch narrative of the memecoin Pepe, revealing that nearly one-third of the initial supply was concentrated in the hands of a single entity, resulting in significant early selling pressure.
Bubblemaps asserted on Wednesday via a post on X that approximately 30% of the Pepe (PEPE) token supply was grouped at launch in April 2023, claiming that investors were “deceived.”
The same wallet cluster offloaded $2 million worth of PEPE tokens the day after launch, creating substantial selling pressure that prevented the token from surpassing the $12 billion milestone, as per Bubblemaps’ analysis.
This concentration of the genesis supply contradicts Pepe’s original branding as a “coin for the people.” The project’s website stated the token launched “in stealth” with no presale allocations.
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“Elite” Traders Target Dopamine-Seeking Retail on Prediction Markets: 10x Research
Prediction markets are emerging as a new battleground within the crypto ecosystem, with informed traders vying against casual retail bettors for profit.
Many participants are acting more like sports bettors than disciplined traders, according to a Tuesday report from research firm 10x Research, which stated they are prioritizing “dopamine and narrative over discipline and edge.” They added: “Profit and accuracy hinge not on the crowd, but on a small, knowledgeable elite that assesses probabilities, hedges exposure, and extracts premiums from retail-driven longshots.”
Growing liquidity and retail engagement are prompting professional trading desks to increase their activity in prediction markets, capitalizing on the spread and “misinformation asymmetry” in this market environment, 10x reported.
This report is a troubling indication for casual traders hoping to easily profit from prediction markets, as blockchain data indicates that the majority of users are losing their initial investment.
Only about 16.7% of wallets on Polymarket show profits, while the remaining 83% have faced losses, according to blockchain data sourced from Dune.
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Coinbase Expands Solana DEX Access as CeFi and DeFi Merge
Coinbase is delving deeper into the Solana ecosystem, allowing users to trade native Solana tokens via decentralized exchange integration instead of conventional listings.
In a post on X, Coinbase protocol specialist Andrew Allen noted that the platform now permits its users to trade all Solana (SOL) tokens through DEX integration, “without listings,” emphasizing that “soon, you will be able to access native Solana assets on Coinbase.”
“If your token possesses sufficient liquidity, it can reach millions of Coinbase users without a formal listing,” Allen explained.
This initiative follows Coinbase’s integration of tokens from its Base blockchain using a similar DEX integration in early August, with plans to “expand DEX support to include more networks, starting with Solana.”
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Mantra CEO Advises OM Holders to Withdraw from OKX Over “Inaccurate” Migration Plan
Tensions are escalating between the blockchain platform Mantra and crypto exchange OKX as Mantra accuses the exchange of sharing incorrect details regarding its token migration.
In a Monday post on X, Mantra CEO John Patrick Mullin urged users of centralized exchange OKX to withdraw their Mantra (OM) tokens and lessen their “dependency” on the platform.
“Users are advised to withdraw their OM tokens from OKX[…]. Alleviate OKX Exchange Dependency: Ensure migration is completed without relying on potentially negligent or malicious intermediaries,” stated Mullin.
His caution followed a Friday announcement from OKX regarding the support for the upcoming OM token migration.
According to Mullin, the OKX post contained several errors, including incorrect migration and implementation dates.
OKX announced that the migration would occur between December 22 and 25, while Mantra’s governance proposal indicates the migration will only happen after the January 15 deprecation of the Ethereum-based ERC-20 OM token.
Mullin also pointed out that OKX’s announcement mentioned “arbitrary dates throughout December 2025,” while Mantra has yet to confirm an official implementation date.
He contended that OKX had not communicated with Mantra since “the events” on April 13, whereas Mantra has maintained “open communication with all other major exchanges regarding our migration.”
During the upcoming migration, the OM token will transition from an Ethereum-native ERC-20 token to a Mantra Chain-native token.
Cointelegraph has reached out to OKX for clarification but had not received a response at the time of publication.
OKX has since contacted Mantra and rectified the inaccuracies in the announcement, as stated in a Wednesday post on X.
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DeFi Market Overview
As reported by Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap finished the week with losses.
The Kaspa (KAS) token dropped over 13%, marking the steepest decline in the top 100, followed by the Story (IP) token, which also fell by 13% over the past week.
Thank you for reading our summary of this week’s most significant DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights, and education in this rapidly evolving sector.
