Cryptocurrency markets experienced another week of declines as investors awaited the final Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting of the year.
Bitcoin (BTC) surged to a weekly peak of $94,330 on Tuesday, with optimism fueled by Strategy’s $962 million acquisition of Bitcoin, marking its largest investment since July 2025.
On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve implemented a widely anticipated 25-basis-point interest rate cut. This led to a short-lived uptick in crypto markets, as lower rates and reduced borrowing costs generally heighten risk appetite and bring in capital for risk assets like crypto.
However, the market’s uptick was fleeting, as the Fed’s recent interest rate cut was “widely expected and largely factored in,” stated CoinEx exchange’s chief analyst, Jeff Ko, in an interview with Cointelegraph.
Even with subdued investor enthusiasm, critical developments such as the growing number of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and enhancements in the usability of onchain products are paving the way for a potential “Netscape” moment in the crypto sector, analysts remarked to Cointelegraph.
Crypto nears its “Netscape” moment as industry approaches inflection point
The cryptocurrency sector is nearing its “Netscape” moment, as advancements in blockchain infrastructure and the emergence of regulated investment products fuel a new wave of institutional interest, according to Matt Huang, co-founder of Paradigm.
Huang stated in a post on X that the crypto market is “experiencing its ‘Netscape’ or ‘iPhone’ moment.” He described the progress as surpassing expectations, affecting both institutional and cypherpunk dimensions.
Netscape was instrumental in introducing the first user-friendly web browser for the general public in 1994 and later made a successful initial public offering (IPO) in August 1995, marking a significant step towards the widespread adoption of the internet.
However, Microsoft capitalized on this burgeoning interest by bundling Internet Explorer for free with its Windows operating system, ultimately outpacing Netscape to become the dominant internet browser.
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Bubblemaps challenges PEPE’s fair launch, alleges 30% of genesis supply bundled
Blockchain data is raising questions about the legitimacy of the “for the people” launch narrative of memecoin Pepe, as new analysis reveals that nearly a third of the initial supply was held by one entity, resulting in heavy early selling pressure.
Bubblemaps reported on Wednesday in a post on X that approximately 30% of the Pepe (PEPE) token supply was aggregated at launch in April 2023, suggesting that investors were “misled.”
The same wallet cluster sold $2 million worth of PEPE tokens the day after the launch, creating substantial selling pressure that prevented the token from exceeding the $12 billion market cap, according to Bubblemaps.
This concentration of the genesis supply contradicts Pepe’s original image as a “coin for the people.” The project’s website claimed the token launched “in stealth” with no presale allocations.
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“Elite” traders hunt dopamine-seeking retail on prediction markets: 10x Research
Prediction markets are becoming a crucial arena in the crypto landscape, where highly informed traders face off against casual retail bettors for gains.
According to a Tuesday report from research firm 10x Research, most users resemble sports bettors more than systematic traders, stating they are trading “dopamine and narrative for discipline and advantage.” It explained: “Accuracy and profit are driven not by the masses but by a small, knowledgeable elite who effectively price probability, hedge exposure, and extract value from retail-driven longshots.”
Increasing liquidity and retail engagement are motivating professional trading firms to enhance their involvement in prediction markets, allowing them to exploit the price discrepancies and “misinformation asymmetry” that emerges from this market structure, 10x observed.
This report raises concerns for casual traders looking to profit effortlessly in prediction markets, as blockchain data indicates that most users are losing their initial investments.
Only around 16.7% of wallets on Polymarket are profitable, while the remaining 83% have suffered losses, according to blockchain data from Dune.
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Coinbase opens Solana DEX access as CeFi and DeFi converge
Coinbase is deepening its integration into the Solana ecosystem, enabling users to trade native Solana tokens through a decentralized exchange integration rather than through traditional listings.
Andrew Allen, a protocol specialist at Coinbase, announced in a post on X that users can now trade all Solana (SOL) tokens via a DEX integration, “without listings,” adding that “very soon, you will be able to open the Coinbase app and see native Solana assets.”
He noted, “For issuers and builders, if your token has adequate liquidity, it means you can reach millions of Coinbase users without requiring a listing.”
This announcement follows Coinbase’s integration of tokens from its Base blockchain through a similar DEX setup in early August, highlighting plans to “expand DEX support to include additional networks, starting with Solana.”
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Mantra CEO tells OM holders to withdraw from OKX over “inaccurate” migration plan
Tensions are escalating between blockchain platform Mantra and the crypto exchange OKX after Mantra accused the exchange of disseminating incorrect information regarding its token migration.
In a Monday post on X, Mantra CEO John Patrick Mullin urged users of centralized cryptocurrency exchange (CEX) OKX to withdraw their Mantra (OM) tokens and reduce their “dependency” on the platform.
“Users should consider withdrawing their OM tokens from OKX[…]. Avoid OKX Exchange Dependency: Complete migration without relying on potentially negligent or malicious intermediaries,” stated Mullin.
His warning followed a Friday announcement from OKX about its support for the upcoming OM token migration.
Mullin claimed that the OKX announcement contained various inaccuracies, including incorrect migration and implementation dates.
According to OKX, the migration is set to occur between December 22 and December 25, while Mantra’s governance proposal indicates that the migration will only happen after the deprecation of the Ethereum-based ERC-20 OM token on January 15.
Mullin also mentioned that the OKX post referenced “arbitrary dates throughout December 2025,” while Mantra has yet to announce an official implementation date.
He stated that OKX had not been in communication with Mantra since “the events” of April 13, while Mantra has been “helpfully [communicating with all other major exchanges about our migration].”
During the forthcoming 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 comments but did not receive a response before publication.
OKX has since contacted Mantra and corrected the inaccuracies in the announcement, as stated in a Wednesday X post.
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DeFi market overview
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView show that most of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization closed the week with losses.
The Kaspa (KAS) token saw the most significant drop among the top 100, declining over 13%, followed closely by the Story (IP) token, which also fell 13% during the past week.
Thank you for reading our recap of this week’s most important DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights, and education about this rapidly evolving space.
