- Liquid staking, memecoins, and Layer 1s led a broad crypto rally, with staking tokens rising 27% and steady whale inflows signaling activity.
- Whale transfers to exchanges like Binance from major holders suggest strategic repositioning despite the market’s bullish momentum.
- Sector-wide gains including NFTs, DeFi, and RWAs highlight renewed investor confidence and expanding interest across blockchain verticals.
Crypto markets closed the week on a bullish note, with every major sector recording strong gains. Liquid staking derivatives led with a 27.06% jump, pushing the sector’s total capitalization to $35.1 billion. Memecoins and Layer 1 protocol also posted impressive growth, surging 18.78% and 19.44% respectively.
This week’s momentum highlights broad investor optimism, with whale activity further confirming heightened exchange inflows. Meanwhile, on-chain data reveals significant token transfers from large holders, signaling a potential shift in short-term sentiment.
Liquid Staking and Layer 1s Steal the Spotlight
Liquid staking tokens showed the strongest momentum. The sector’s steady growth signals consistent accumulation rather than speculative pumps. All 17 tokens in this category trended upward, underlining the increasing interest in staking-based yields.
Layer 1 protocols, with a massive $609.1 billion in total capitalization, rose 19.44%. This growth reflects renewed investor confidence in foundational blockchain infrastructure. Moreover, Ethereum’s ecosystem also remained dominant.
ERC20 projects, the most populated category with 988 tokens, gained 11.42% to reach a $585.4 billion valuation. Memecoins surprised many with their 18.78% surge. Despite high volatility and speculative nature, the category added over $8 billion in market cap this week.
Whale Deposits Highlight Market Caution
While most sectors saw gains, whale activity points to potential market rotation. Eurite recorded a massive $3.3 million deposit to Binance. This transfer represented 7.38% of its total supply, the highest among all movements.
Illuvium followed with a $1.4 million transfer, marking 1.25% of its total market cap. Similarly, Mantra DAO sent $1.1 million to Binance, accounting for 0.32% of its value. Additionally, Ethena, Pepe, and Maker also saw major inflows to centralized exchanges.
Most of these deposits came from wallets labeled as “top_100_balance” or “fund.” This indicates institutional or large-holder movement. Binance emerged as the main destination, receiving six of eight tracked deposits.
Broader Market Gains Reflect Renewed Sentiment
Aside from standout sectors, others also performed well. NFT projects gained 12.58%, while DeFi grew by 11.32%. Gaming tokens rose 11.98%, while Layer 2s increased by 9.93%. Real World Assets jumped 9.79%, affirming growing interest in tokenized traditional finance. However, AI-related categories showed modest gains, growing by just 2.81% to 4.2%.
