Solana’s gains ground and Ethereum fades

While Ethereum hits a 5-year fee low and whales dump ETH, Solana and Bitcoin are grabbing dominance. Meanwhile, Trump hints at a trade deal, and Ripple makes an institutional XRP play.

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Cryptopolitan News
April 18, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Hello, and welcome to the Cryptopolitan Daily.

The crypto market never sleeps, and neither do we. Whether it’s breaking news, market shifts, or regulatory updates, we’re here to bring you the insights that matter—fast, sharp, and to the point.

📬 Today’s Byte

• Q1 was brutal — But Bitcoin and Solana held their ground

• Trump signals openness to trade talks

• Asia’s first XRP tracker fund launches

• Ethereum gas fees hit 5-year low

Market-moving headlines 🔥

President Donald Trump is pushing hard for a stronger yen in trade talks with Japan, and the demand has already jammed itself into a negotiation that was supposed to be about tariffs.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) wants to review the repayment process for digital assets investors who lose money to fraud and other criminal activities.

AERGO price has fallen 63% in the past 24 hours following a series of controversial actions by the Binance exchange.

Kraken, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, is restructuring its workforce by eliminating certain positions and merging teams where there is overlap.

📉 Q1 was brutal — But Bitcoin and Solana held their ground

The first quarter of 2025 opened with fireworks — Bitcoin broke $106K, Solana rode a memecoin wave, and crypto’s total market cap hit a record $3.8T.

Then came the correction.

By the end of Q1, nearly $1 trillion had been wiped out from the market. But while most altcoins and DeFi protocols got wrecked, Bitcoin and Solana actually gained dominance amid the chaos.

Source: Coingecko

According to CoinGecko’s Q1 2025 report:

  • Bitcoin’s dominance hit 59.1%, even after dropping 11.8% to close Q1 at $82.5K — outperforming nearly every other major asset.

  • Solana briefly captured 52% of DEX volume in January thanks to memecoins like TRUMP and MELANIA, before activity cooled in March.

  • Ethereum struggled, falling to $1,805 and reaching its lowest dominance since 2019 (7.9%).

  • The LIBRA rug pull — hyped by Argentina’s president — crushed confidence in memecoins, tanking from $4.6B to $221M in hours.

  • Stablecoins gained ground as traders fled volatility — USDC climbed into the top 7, replacing Dogecoin.

  • Centralized exchanges saw spot volumes drop 16.3% QoQ, while DeFi TVL fell 27.5%, led by declining altcoin prices.

📖 We unpack all the key insights and trends from CoinGecko’s report in our latest blog post → Read the full analysis here

🇺🇸🇨🇳 Trump signals openness to trade talks — TikTok deal could be the bargaining chip

Tensions between the U.S. and China may be entering a new phase.

President Trump revealed this week that Chinese officials have reached out several times to restart trade talks — potentially marking a shift after months of rising tariffs and diplomatic silence.

Key takeaways from his Oval Office remarks:

  • Trump says top-level Chinese envoys have made contact, signaling interest in resuming dialogue.

  • He now appears reluctant to raise tariffs further, citing the impact on consumer spending.

  • The TikTok divestiture deal could be folded into a broader trade agreement, delaying its finalization.

  • With U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods reaching 145%, and China's response at 125%, both economies are feeling the pressure.

  • Trump floated the idea that if China accepts the TikTok sale, tariff relief might follow.

While Trump didn’t confirm any timeline or direct call with Xi, he emphasized that any outreach from Beijing “would reflect Xi’s personal approval.”

The bottom line: This could be the first sign of a soft pivot — one that ties trade, tech, and geopolitics into a single negotiation package. But for now, formal talks remain in limbo.

📬 Keep an eye on our blog as we continue to track how the TikTok deal and tariff strategy evolve in the lead-up to the elections.

🌊 Asia’s first XRP tracker fund launches via HashKey Capital & Ripple

Another bridge between TradFi and Web3 has just been built.

HashKey Capital has officially launched Asia’s first XRP Tracker Fund, a milestone that makes XRP exposure easier for institutional and professional investors — without the need to manage wallets, keys, or on-chain interactions.

Why this matters:

  • Backed by Ripple, signalling their interest in emerging markets

  • Offers monthly subscriptions & redemptions, both in cash or crypto (in-kind).

  • Benchmarked to CF Benchmarks, trusted for US and APAC ETFs.

  • Targets professional investors looking for frictionless XRP access.

  • Signals deeper Ripple–HashKey collaboration ahead — including DeFi, cross-border payments, and enterprise blockchain products.

📈 This comes as part of a growing product suite from HashKey, which already includes Bitcoin (3008.HK) and Ethereum (3009.HK) ETFs in partnership with Bosera.

⛽️ Ethereum gas fees hit 5-year low as network activity fades

Ethereum just hit a milestone—but not the kind investors celebrate.
The average transaction fee dropped to $0.168, the lowest since 2019. While cheaper gas sounds great on the surface, it’s often a symptom of lower usage and fading interest.

Some quick context:

  • Ethereum’s total value locked (TVL) in DeFi fell 3% this week, and 8% over the past month, now sitting at $46.85B

  • Solana, meanwhile, gained 4.4% in DeFi TVL over the same 7-day period

  • Ether’s price is down 61% in 4 months

  • Whales offloaded 143,000 ETH last week

  • Fees are now averaging 0.335 gwei, or roughly $0.02

Santiment points out that low gas fees usually signal reduced on-chain activity. But history also shows they tend to precede high-volatility moves. Traders appear cautious, sitting on stablecoins, while some are already rotating into more active chains like Solana.


📖 Catch up on the bigger picture in our past edition: Days of glory over for Ethereum?

🔍 Your Crypto news roundup is here

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