Crypto Holds Strong- Cryptocurrency markets held relatively strong performance despite escalating geopolitical conflict. Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at $73,948.00, marking a 3.34% increase.
Inside DeFi 008: A 99.93% loss, and are DAOs done? - A user incurred a $49.965 million loss (99.93% of the trade value) after swapping $50 million in wrapped USDT for wrapped AAVE on Aave via CoW Swap, ignoring multiple price impact warnings.
Altcoins jump as bitcoin inches toward potential $74,000 breakout - Bitcoin (BTC) is trading near $73,000; a decisive volume-backed break above $74,000 could target $80,000, a former November support level. Ether (ETH) is at $2,250, marking its highest level since February 4.
CLARITY Act: What It Means for Crypto Market Structure
The CLARITY Act is Congress’s most significant attempt to define a market structure for digital assets in the United States. In this webinar, Messari breaks down the bill’s evolution across House and Senate drafts, the proposed frameworks for asset classification and regulatory oversight, and the key provisions shaping the debate. We also examine the political vote math, contested issues such as stablecoin rewards and DeFi compliance, and the most likely legislative outcomes. Join us for a clear, practical analysis of how the CLARITY Act could reshape crypto markets and institutional participation.
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Messari's protocol reports give you a deep dive on the foundation and state of top crypto protocols, including key metrics and notable events. See the complete list of protocol reports here and get a preview of our latest report below.
By: Austin Weiler · @0xWeiler · Research Analyst
Total stablecoin market cap on Algorand grew 27.4% QoQ from $47.5 million to $60.5 million, driven by a 28.9% ($13.1 million) QoQ increase in USDC after crypto payments provider Coinify’s integration with Algorand.
Algorand’s circulating market cap decreased 46.7% QoQ from $1.8 billion to $974.2 million.
Total staked ALGO grew 2.5% QoQ from 1.9 billion at Q3-end to 2.0 billion at Q4-end, while community staked ALGO grew 3.1% QoQ from 1.54 billion to 1.59 billion.
Total daily transactions grew 5.2% QoQ from 1.6 million in Q3 to 1.7 million in Q4, however total fees declined 48.2% QoQ from $54,700 to $31,300.
In Q4, nine infrastructure projects received funding through the Algorand Foundation’s xGov mainnet, a governance tool for submitting and voting on grant proposals.
By: Jonny Kreiser · @jonnytoshi · Research Analyst
Crypto's weekend trading volume peaked in 2019 and has yet to recover. Bitcoin weekend volume as a share of total weekly volume fell from 26% in 2019 to 20% in 2026. On an average weekend day, roughly half the capital moves compared to a weekday.
Recent military action against Iran's nuclear facilities showed what happens when a major geopolitical event occurs while traditional markets are closed. Hyperliquid processed $13.6 billion volume in a single day, a 6.9x spike over the prior weekend.
Both perps and prediction markets become more useful when demand is sufficient. Hyperliquid's gold perps were priced within 22 to 31 basis points of March 2, 2026’s COMEX open, and its directional accuracy across 35 instruments hit 90% over the prior nine weekends.
As Polymarket and Hyperliquid grow, weekends shaped by geopolitical events draw more participants to weekend markets, producing better signal.
CME's 24/7 crypto futures launch on May 29, 2026, will be the first real competition for crypto's weekend markets. If institutional traders can access CME on a Saturday, the weekend volume that currently flows to Hyperliquid and Polymarket during major events may migrate to the CME.
By: Jonny Kreiser · @jonnytoshi · Research Analyst
DeFi TVL held at $104.1 million, increasing 1.2% QoQ despite the market decline, as MORE Markets and KittyPunch each grew roughly 10% and together accounted for 77.5% of Flow's DeFi TVL by quarter-end.
The Forte upgrade went live on mainnet on Oct. 22, 2025, introducing workflows, scheduled transactions, and enshrined protocols. Peak Money by Dapper Labs is the first protocol to use these new tools, giving developers onchain automation primitives to build consumer DeFi products without offchain infrastructure.
The December 2025 security exploit forced an unplanned stress test of Flow's governance and incident response. The network was offline for 48 hours before the team executed an Isolated Recovery Plan, restoring full operations with no loss of user assets.
Stablecoin circulating supply contracted 38.3% QoQ to $25.2 million, driven primarily by PayPal consolidating PYUSD liquidity on Solana and Ethereum.
FLOW's price fell 75.4% QoQ to $0.09, bringing the circulating market cap down 75.1% to $140.4 million, as the Dec. 27, 2025, security exploit compounded broader market weakness and triggered exchange withdrawal halts across multiple platforms.
A Peek Into A LayerZero (ZRO) Valuation
By: Whynonah · @whynonah · Research Analyst
LayerZero caught my attention because (i) it’s a core part of crypto infrastructure that most crosschain activity already runs through and (ii) institutions (i.e., Tether, Citadel, Ark Invest) seem to be betting on it. To put that into perspective, the protocol captures ~57% of messaging volume, ~80% of USD moved between chains.
What makes ZRO interesting to value right now is the optionality on top of that. The core messaging business is quite mature and dominant, and the team is now betting on two new revenue sources: (i) a fee switch that would create a direct link between usage and token value, and (ii) Zero, their own L1.
Knowing that, we modeled each product line (i.e., messaging fees, Stargate, and Zero) separately, then aggregated them. The result is a framework for thinking about where the value accrues and what the market may be missing.
If you’re interested in the full bear/base/bull estimates, assumptions, and risks, the report can be read here: https://messari.io/report/a-valuation-of-layerzero