Crypto Markets May Bottom by June Amid Tariff Uncertainty

Despite growing tariff-related uncertainty, there is a 70% probability that cryptocurrency markets will find the local bottom in the next two months, which will serve as the supporting foundation for the next leg up in the 2025 cycle, according to Nansen analysts. This prediction comes amidst global uncertainty over ongoing import tariff negotiations, which have been limiting investor sentiment in both traditional and digital markets.

US President Donald Trump on April 2 announced reciprocal import tariffs, measures aimed at reducing the country’s estimated trade deficit of $1.2 trillion in goods and boosting domestic manufacturing. While global markets took a hit from the first tariff announcement, there is a 70% chance for cryptocurrency valuations to find their bottom by June, according to Aurelie Barthere, principal research analyst at the Nansen crypto intelligence platform.

Barthere noted that BTC and ETH are currently trading 15% and 22% below their year-to-date highs, respectively. She added that once the toughest part of the negotiation is behind us, there will be a cleaner opportunity for crypto and risk assets to finally mark a bottom.

Savvy traders continue making generational wealth despite growing volatility and lack of risk appetite. One unidentified trader turned an initial $2,000 investment into over $43 million by trading the popular frog-themed memecoin, Pepe. The trader made an over 4,700-fold return on investment on the popular frog-themed Pepe (PEPE) cryptocurrency.

Despite Pepe’s price falling over 74% from its all-time high, the trader realized over $10 million in profit. Memecoins are considered some of the most speculative and volatile digital assets, with price action driven largely by online enthusiasm and social sentiment rather than fundamental utility or innovation. Still, they’ve proven capable of generating life-changing returns.

The global stablecoin supply may surge to $1 trillion by the end of 2025, potentially becoming a key catalyst for broader cryptocurrency market growth, according to David Pakman, managing partner at crypto-native investment firm CoinFund. Pakman noted that such growth, while modest compared to global financial markets, would represent a “meaningfully significant” shift for blockchain-based finance.

Pakman also suggested that the rise in capital flowing onchain, combined with growing interest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), could further support decentralized finance (DeFi) activity. He mentioned that if ETFs are permitted to provide staking rewards or yield to holders, that unlocks really meaningful uplift in DeFi activity, broadly defined.

Avalanche saw a significant surge in stablecoin supply over the past year, but the onchain deployment of this capital points to passive investor behavior, which may be limiting demand for the network’s utility token. The stablecoin supply on the Avalanche network rose by over 70% over the past year, from $1.5 billion in March 2024 to over $2.5 billion as of March 31, 2025.

Stablecoins are the main bridge between the fiat and crypto world, and increasing stablecoin supply is often seen as a signal for incoming buying pressure and growing investor appetite. However, Avalanche’s (AVAX) token has been in a downtrend, dropping nearly 60% over the past year to trade just above $19 despite the $1 billion increase in stablecoin supply.

Economic uncertainty and a major crypto exchange hack pushed down the total value locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to $156 billion in the first quarter of 2025, but AI and social apps gained ground with an increase in network users. Broader economic uncertainty and lingering aftershocks from the Bybit exploit were the main contributing factors to the DeFi sector’s 27% quarter-on-quarter fall in TVL.

The largest blockchain by TVL, Ethereum, fell 37% to $96 billion, while Sui was the hardest hit of the top 10 blockchains by TVL, falling 44% to $2 billion. Solana, Tron and the Arbitrum blockchains also saw their TVLs slashed over 30%. Meanwhile, blockchains that experienced a larger volume of DeFi withdrawals and had a smaller share of stablecoins locked in their protocols faced extra pressure on top of the falling token prices.

The newly launched Berachain was the only top-10 blockchain by TVL to rise, accumulating $5.17 billion between Feb. 6 and March 31. According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the red. The Pi Network (PI) token fell over 34%, logging the week’s biggest decline, followed by the Berachain (BERA) token, down nearly 30% on the weekly chart.