Coin Market

Bitcoin NFTs, layer-2 and restaking hype ‘completely gone’

Published

5 days ago

March 21, 2025

A Bitcoin layer-2 executive explained how Bitcoin narratives that were “overhyped” have now wholly vanished while the ecosystem develops.

In a Cointelegraph interview, Bitlayer co-founder Charlie Hu laid out three Bitcoin narratives that he believed were overhyped. This included narratives that surrounded Ordinals, layer-2s and re-staking.

According to Hu, one of the overhyped narratives in Bitcoin was non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The executive told Cointelegraph that while inscriptions may have gone “to the moon,” Hu said the era is “completely gone.”

CryptoSlam data shows that in the first quarter of 2024, Bitcoin NFTs had a volume of $1.4 billion. In 2025 Q1, the volume is only at $280 million, showing an 80% drop. The executive believes that the 1,000x days of Bitcoin NFTs may be over and that people can’t expect similar “crazy” price performances anymore.

Are Bitcoin layer-2s running out of steam?

Apart from Bitcoin NFTs, Hu told Cointelegraph that the hype around Bitcoin layer-2 and Bitcoin re-staking has also declined among venture capitalists.

Hu told Cointelegraph that at least 80 layer-2 networks aimed to get funded at the beginning of 2024 when the layer-2 narrative was strong. The executive said many projects pitched their ideas to investors, the media and different communities. Hu said that while there was some hype, this was “definitely over.”

Many other crypto executives and entrepreneurs resonate with Hu’s point of view about the dying hype around layer-2 ecosystems. On Feb. 20, Stacks co-founder Muneeb Ali said the “honeymoon phase” for Bitcoin layer-2s is over. The executive said that most projects will cease to exist as their initial excitement fades.

Meanwhile, Hu also told Cointelegraph that a third “overhyped” narrative was Bitcoin re-staking. Hu told Cointelegraph that at the moment, there are only 2 to 3 projects still surviving after the peak of the narrative’s hype phase in 2024.

While some hyped narratives started to fade, Hu believes there are many things to look forward to in the growing Bitcoin ecosystem. The executive said that while layer-2s are a great narrative, they see it more as an engine that powers Bitcoin’s decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, which could allow holders to explore yield opportunities. Hu told Cointelegraph:

“Bitcoin layer-2s are providing architecture as a programmable, trust-minimized kind of infrastructure that could provide yield for the Bitcoin whale holders or institutions. That’s a very important narrative. I think we’ll expand more and more with the use cases with adoption.”

Bitcoin DeFi is yet to take off

Meanwhile, Dominik Harz, the co-founder of hybrid layer-2 Build on Bitcoin (BOB), told Cointelegraph that Bitcoin layer-2s should be seen as a long-term play.

“Looking at Bitcoin Layer-2s through a short-term lens misses the point. Hype cycles come and go, but lasting developments in crypto, like Bitcoin itself, are inherently long-term plays,” Harz said.

The executive also believes that Bitcoin DeFi has not yet reached its full potential. “Bitcoin DeFi hasn’t even really taken off yet. We’re very early. Only 0.3% of Bitcoin’s market cap is active in DeFi right now compared to 30% for Ethereum,” Harz told Cointelegraph.

Harz pointed out this was a 100x discrepancy, saying it would decrease rapidly as Bitcoin DeFi explodes. The executive also said layer-2s are necessary technological advancements for Bitcoin DeFi to hit the market.

Max Sanchez, the chief technology officer of layer-2 protocol Hemi Labs, also believes that Bitcoin layer-2s are not losing steam.

The executive told Cointelegraph that the space is entering a maturation phase where fundamentals matter. Sanchez said that many early projects in the Bitcoin layer-2 space brought technology from Ethereum without adapting it to Bitcoin’s unique architecture “in a way that truly extends Bitcoin.”

Sanchez, who works on a hybrid project connecting to Ethereum, also said that building a layer-2 in just one silo and forgoing interoperability with Ethereum-based protocols is a “false notion.”

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Coin Market

Fidelity plans stablecoin launch after SOL ETF ‘regulatory litmus test’

Published

7 minutes ago

March 26, 2025

Fidelity Investments is reportedly in the final stages of testing a US dollar-pegged stablecoin, signaling the firm’s latest push into digital assets amid a more favorable crypto regulatory climate under the Trump administration.

The $5.8 trillion asset manager plans to launch the stablecoin through its cryptocurrency division, Fidelity Digital Assets, according to a March 25 report by the Financial Times citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter.

The stablecoin development is reportedly part of the asset manager’s wider push into crypto-based services. Fidelity is also launching an Ethereum-based “OnChain” share class for its US dollar money market fund.

Fidelity’s March 21 filing with the US securities regulator stated the OnChain share class would help track transactions of the Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund (FYHXX), an $80 million fund consisting almost entirely of US Treasury bills.

While the OnChain share class filing is pending regulatory approval, it is expected to take effect on May 30, Fidelity said.

Fidelity’s filing to register a tokenized version of the Fidelity Treasury Digital Fund. Source: Securities and Exchange Commission

Increasingly more US financial institutions are launching cryptocurrency-based offerings after President Donald Trump’s election signaled a shift in policy.

Custodia and Vantage Bank have launched “America’s first-ever bank-issued stablecoin” on the permissionless Ethereum blockchain, which will act as a “real dollar” and not a “synthetic” dollar, as Federal Reserve Board Governor Christopher Waller called stablecoins in a Feb. 12 speech.

Source: Caitlin Long

Trump previously signaled that his administration intends to make crypto policy a national priority and the US a global hub for blockchain innovation.

Fidelity’s spot SOL application is “regulatory litmus test”

Fidelity’s stablecoin push comes a day after Cboe BZX Exchange, a US securities exchange, requested permission to list a proposed Fidelity exchange-traded fund (ETF) holding Solana (SOL), according to March 25 filings.

The filing may provide insights about the SEC’s regulatory attitude toward Solana ETFs, according to Lingling Jiang, partner at DWF Labs crypto venture capital firm.

“This filing is also more than just a product proposal — it’s a regulatory litmus test,” Jiang told Cointelegraph, adding:

“If approved, it would signal a maturing posture from the SEC that recognizes functional differentiation across blockchains.”

“It would accelerate the development of compliant financial products tied to next-gen assets — and for market makers, that means more instruments, more pairs, and ultimately, more velocity in the system,” Jiang added.

Meanwhile, crypto industry participants are awaiting US stablecoin legislation, which may come in the next two months.

The GENIUS Act, an acronym for Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, would establish collateralization guidelines for stablecoin issuers while requiring full compliance with Anti-Money Laundering laws.

A positive sign for the industry is that the stablecoin bill may be on the president’s desk in the next two months, according to Bo Hines, the executive director of the president’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered

Coin Market

Google releases new AI model as ChatGPT retains 43% market share

Published

1 hour ago

March 26, 2025

Google introduced Gemini 2.5, its latest experimental artificial intelligence model; it ranked second in a competitive leaderboard for AI-driven web development tools.

On March 25, Google announced that it will allow developers to try out Gemini 2.5 Pro. The company described it as a thinking model, capable of reasoning through thoughts before responding.

Google said this improves both accuracy and performance, particularly in coding, science and math tasks. It said Gemini 2.5 can support more context-aware agents.

Citing self-reported data compiled by the AI benchmarking platform LMArena, Google shared that the new AI model topped the charts in reasoning and knowledge, science and mathematics. Google described Gemini 2.5 as its “most intelligent AI model.”

Google’s new model ranks second in web dev leaderboard

Google’s new AI model ranked second in LMArena’s WebDev leaderboard, a real-time AI coding competition where models compete in web development challenges created by the AI benchmarking platform.

The AI model had an arena score of 1267.70, which surpassed competitors including DeepSeek, Grok and ChatGPT. Still, the top spot went to Anthropic’s AI model Claude 3.7 Sonnet, which had an arena score of 1354.01.

Leaderboard for AI web development competition. Source: LMArena

ChatGPT dominates the AI tools market

While many companies are working to improve their models’ performances, OpenAI’s ChatGPT continues to dominate the AI tools market.

In 2024, the AI chatbot recorded more than 40 billion yearly visits, representing a market share of nearly 40%. Data from AI statistics and usage trends platform aitools.xyz showed that overall, the AI tools market had 101 billion visits throughout the year. Canva’s AI generator came in second place, with 10.4 billion visits, gaining a 10.25% market share.

AI tools market share distribution. Source: aitools.xyz

More recently, new contenders in the AI tools market have surfaced. In February, the data showed that DeepSeek’s AI tools climbed in popularity and now rank third with a 6.58% market share. DeepSeek also ranks first in the Trending list, recording a growth rate of 195% and monthly visits of 792 million.

Despite this, ChatGPT continues to dominate the space, with a 43% market share in February and 5.2 billion monthly visits.

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Coin Market

SEC plans 4 more crypto roundtables on trading, custody, tokenization, DeFi

Published

4 hours ago

March 26, 2025

The US Securities and Exchange Commission will host four more crypto roundtables — focusing on crypto trading, custody, tokenization and decentralized finance (DeFi) — after hosting its first crypto roundtable on March 21.

The series of roundtables, organized by the SEC’s Crypto Task Force, will kick off with a discussion on tailoring regulation for crypto trading on April 11, the SEC said in a March 25 statement.

A roundtable on crypto custody will follow on April 25, with another to discuss tokenization and moving assets onchain on May 12. The fourth roundtable in the series will discuss DeFi on June 6.

A series of four crypto roundtable discussions are scheduled from April through to June. Source: SEC

“The Crypto Task Force roundtables are an opportunity for us to hear a lively discussion among experts about what the regulatory issues are and what the Commission can do to solve them,” said SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, the task force lead.

The specific agenda and speakers for each roundtable have yet to be disclosed, but all are open for the public to watch online or to attend at the SEC’s headquarters in Washington, DC.

SEC softens on crypto with new leadership

The agency’s Crypto Task Force was launched on Jan. 21 by acting SEC Chair Mark Uyeda. It’s tasked with establishing a workable crypto framework for the agency to use.

The task force held its first roundtable on March 21 with a discussion titled “How We Got Here and How We Get Out — Defining Security Status.”

The SEC will also be hosting a roundtable about AI’s role in the financial industry on March 27, according to a March 25 release.

Join us on March 27 for a roundtable discussion on artificial intelligence in the financial industry. Topics include the risks, benefits, and governance of AI.

More details: https://t.co/ekX2RWp2KQ pic.twitter.com/7fH3j1tlwj

— U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (@SECGov) March 25, 2025

The roundtable will discuss the risks, benefits, and governance of AI in the financial industry, with Uyeda, Peirce and fellow SEC Commissioner Caroline Crenshaw slated to speak.

Under the Trump administration, the SEC has slowly been walking back its hardline stance toward crypto forged under former SEC Chair Gary Gensler.

The regulator has dismissed a growing number of enforcement actions against crypto firms it launched under Gensler.

Uyeda, who took the reins after Gensler resigned on Jan. 20, flagged plans on March 17 to scrap a rule proposed under the Biden administration that would tighten crypto custody standards for investment advisers.

Uyeda also said in a March 10 speech that he had asked SEC staff for options to abandon part of proposed changes that would expand regulation of alternative trading systems to include crypto firms, requiring them to register as exchanges.

Magazine: SEC’s U-turn on crypto leaves key questions unanswered