Crypto Market Surges 8.6% as Bitcoin Reclaims $100,000 Mark

The cryptocurrency market experienced a significant surge this past week, with the overall digital asset market capitalization exceeding $3.27 trillion, marking an 8.6% increase from the previous week. Bitcoin (BTC) reached a high of $103,600 on May 8, reclaiming the $100,000 mark for the first time since January. This surge in BTC's value also saw its market dominance rise above 60%, indicating a more bullish sentiment towards the cryptocurrency. This milestone was the third time BTC has broken through six figures, following its previous highs on Dec. 5, 2024, and Jan. 20, ahead of the US President Donald Trump’s inauguration. The rise in BTC's value coincided with Trump announcing a trade deal with the United Kingdom, which may include removing a 10% blanket tariff on all imports.

In the broader crypto space, Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade implemented much-needed improvements for the crypto ecosystem. Following the upgrade, Ether (ETH) saw a 26% price surge, rising from $1,800 on May 7 to over $2,300 on May 9. This upgrade highlighted the ongoing development and innovation within the Ethereum network, contributing to the overall positive sentiment in the crypto market.

Despite the positive developments in the broader crypto market, the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector faced a mixed bag of outcomes. Messari's “State of Rootstock” report for 2025 showed that merged mining participation surged to an all-time high of 81% in Q1 2025, up from 56.4% in the previous quarter. This surge was attributed to the onboarding of major mining pools SpiderPool and Foundry, which boosted Rootstock's hash power above 740 exahashes per second. This marked a more mature phase for the platform's merged mining growth, surpassing Bitcoin's total network hashrate recorded in October 2024.

However, the surge in merged mining participation came as Rootstock's ecosystem faced headwinds. In Q1 2025, Rootstock’s total value locked (TVL) declined. Its Bitcoin TVL dropped 7.2%, while the dollar-denominated TVL fell by over 20% quarter-on-quarter. This mirrored a broader downward trend across the DeFi sector, with Ethereum-based DeFi TVL showing a 27% decline in the same period. The decline in TVL indicated a challenging environment for DeFi platforms, despite the overall positive sentiment in the broader crypto market.

In addition to the mixed outcomes in the DeFi sector, the cryptocurrency market also faced security challenges. Crypto hacks in April saw nearly $360 million in assets stolen across 18 incidents, representing an almost 1,000% increase over the amount lost in March. The largest loss came from an unauthorized Bitcoin transfer, where a social engineering attack targeted an elderly American, resulting in a loss of $330 million. This incident highlighted the ongoing security risks in the cryptocurrency market, despite the overall positive developments in the broader crypto space.

Despite the security challenges, the cryptocurrency market continued to evolve, with new trends emerging in the decentralized applications (DApps) ecosystem. Blockchain analytics platform DappRadar showed that while gaming and DeFi held on to the top spot in the DApps ecosystem, artificial intelligence (AI) is slowly catching up. AI DApps climbed to 16% market dominance in April, up from the 11% recorded in February. This trend indicated a growing interest in AI-powered DApps, which could challenge the dominance of DeFi and gaming in the DApp landscape.

Furthermore, the confidence of Bitcoin holders in using their BTC to borrow funds continued to grow. In a Token2049 interview, Xapo Bank CEO Seamus Rocca highlighted that investors' moods have shifted from short-term speculation to a more long-term outlook on Bitcoin. Rocca noted that the confidence comes from broader institutional adoption and Bitcoin's price levels that are "nowhere near" liquidation. Bitcoin-backed loans allow holders to stay exposed to the asset when facing unexpected expenses, providing a smart alternative to selling the asset when the price increases. This trend indicated a growing acceptance of Bitcoin as a store of value and a means of borrowing funds, contributing to the overall positive sentiment in the cryptocurrency market.