Total Crypto Market Cap Tops $3 Trillion For First Time

The crypto market is buzzing with new milestones, memecoin mania, and fierce competition for Coinage’s coveted Crypto Project of the Year title. Bitcoin is holding near the $90,000 level as the total crypto market cap breaks $3 trillion for the first time in history.

Let’s break down the week’s highlights (as always we do every Monday!)

Bitcoin’s Institutional Inflows Surge & Options On Deck

Bitcoin is on a tear, buoyed by another $1.3 billion in fund inflows last week, according to CoinShares. Year-to-date flows into digital asset products now sit at a record $33.5 billion. Across all investment products, it was another week of $2 billion-plus inflows:

MicroStrategy also doubled down on its Bitcoin bet, adding another $4 billion to its reserves, bringing their total stash to 331,200 BTC, or $16.5 billion. With an average purchase price of $49,874, even a pullback leaves Saylor and his crew sitting pretty. Later in the afternoon on Monday, the company announced it was raising another $1.75 billion to buy more bitcoin. Meanwhile, speculation continues to swirl around a potential U.S. government Bitcoin reserve being established under Trump’s administration.

It’s also worth noting that Bitcoin options on BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF are about to begin trading Tuesday. Analysts are split on how big of a deal they will be — but Bitwise’s Jeff Park says, “Without exaggeration, this marks the most monumental advancement possible for the crypto market.”

Solana’s DApp Dominance

Solana is making waves again, this time with record-breaking activity across its decentralized apps. From DeFi to meme coins, user engagement on the network is surging, and transaction fees are piling up. Solana-based platforms like Jupiter and Radium are among the top five DApps by fee generation. Some say that proves Solana’s staying power — others say it only shows speculative trading is on the rise.

While Ethereum struggles to regain its former glory, Solana continues its post-FTX rebound, with its market cap reaching pre-crash levels and climbing steadily. The “Ethereum killer” narrative is back, and this time, it feels more credible than ever as the blockchain sets a new all-time high as its market cap crosses $111 billion.

Memecoin Corner: Dog of the Week vs. Darling of the Week

Not all meme coins are created equal. This week’s Dog of the Week is “G The Dog,” a coin championed by Andrew Tate, which promptly tanked after his promotional tweets. On the other hand, Darling of the Week goes to “Do Kween,” a Terra-inspired meme coin that’s managed to gain traction, riding a mix of humor and nostalgia.

It’s up by about 3X since we first highlighted $KWEEN in last week’s newsletter. With a strong base, it’s worth keeping an eye on (we’d feel more comfortable buying if we knew who was fully behind the project.)

While meme coins remain speculative and volatile, their ability to capture attention — and sometimes big gains — proves the market’s appetite for fun and community-driven projects.

Crypto Project of the Year: Let the Brackets Begin

It’s officially award season, and Coinage is bringing back its Crypto Project of the Year competition. This year’s bracket features 16 of the most impactful projects in the space, including heavyweights like Solana and Avalanche, alongside up-and-comers like Sui, Base, Akash and Aptos.

Last year, a few of these projects even outperformed Bitcoin (shoutout to Sui for its 650% rally since last year.) Our community came together to nominate them — so keep an eye out to see if we’re as good as we were last year in spotlighting the best opportunities in crypto.

This year, only Coinage NFT holders can vote, putting the power squarely in the hands of our community. With 0.25 ETH up for grabs in our bracket prediction contest, it’s time to crown the best of the best. Fill out a bracket now — the top 10 most accurate brackets will split the pot!

What’s Next?

With Bitcoin’s rally showing no signs of slowing, Solana’s resurgence, and the ever-creative memecoin space, the year’s end is shaping up to be explosive. Don’t forget to fill out your Crypto Project of the Year bracket and tune into Coinage for more debates, updates, and insights.

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