The market held up this week as on-chain metrics continued to display strong bullish movements. Long-term holders added to their positions as whale wallets consistently bought the dip, expressing smart money behavior with online data supporting this pattern.
Institutional investors continued the net inflow to ETFs, with BlackRock and Fidelity leading the way. This week saw a five-day positive inflow of 768m USD for BTC alone. The large asset managers have signaled conviction in ETFs even though large portions of the market are still consolidating. This renewed demand supports confidence in a long-term upside.
Sectors that continued to outperform the market were AI/computing infrastructure and RWAs. The leading AI tokens were Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) and Qubic (QUBIC). Continued interest in the RWA sector sparked Oraichain (ORAI) and Maple Finance (SYRUP) to bounce this week.
The market is currently rewarding projects that are delivering real value and utility.
BTC Demand & ETF Surge
Bitcoin stabilized this week above 70k USD and is currently trading at 74k USD. Supplies of BTC on crypto exchanges have dropped to 2017 levels as investors have moved from centralized exchanges to private custody (ETFs/treasuries/other digital assets). The moderate demand may cause a potential supply shock, pushing BTC up further.
The Bitcoin ETF surge, in the short term, may be affected by U.S. regulatory policies as the Fed announced new proposals to the Basel rules. The major proposal is that cryptocurrency should cover broader capital standards for the largest banks in the U.S., specifically the elimination of redundant risk-based capital calculations (dual-calculation system). There are several benefits of changing the outdated policy, such as a reduction in operational costs, specific regulatory rules, international alignment standards, and reducing regulatory arbitrage (mortgages moving from regulated banks to less regulated banking entities).
These changes would open the door for smaller financial institutions to integrate BTC into the larger banking ecosystem and unlock more capital.
Ethereum On-chain Metrics Building
Ethereum continued to impress as its on-chain numbers remained robust. Their daily activity addresses were steady around 600k, transactions were around 1m in daily totals and gas fees remained low. This consistency suggests that the network will continue to grow; stablecoins, DeFi, NFTs and L2 bridging regardless of price volatility.
The Ethereum Spot ETFs saw a significant uptick in the past week, with whale wallets buying 243k ETH and BlackRock purchasing 111m USD. Despite all the positives, ETH has not had a decisive breakout as it is currently trading in the 2.3k USD range, a 13% spike from last week, but far from its 2021 all-time high. ETH fundamentals continue to grow, and demand will follow, as the market leader in smart contracts continues to develop and innovate its ecosystem.
AI Leads the Way
The AI sector had another strong week as FET and UAI were standout tokens. FET pumped 59% this week as decentralized platforms gained renewed interest and AI agent systems. Institutional investors have filed for AI ETFs, and FET was a frontrunner because of its integration of AI agent payments platform and Visa.
Qubic is an AI-driven transaction validator that trains AI (Aigarth), turning energy into artificial intelligence through uPoW mining. The token also boasts quorum-based computing that has feeless transfers and IPO contracts, which enable passive income for users. Qubic is up 35% in the past week and 89% in the last month, because of its standalone platform, distinguishing it from other crypto models. Their model is gaining attention, and other companies are trying to replicate their L1 solutions.
RWA Niche Tokens
Real World Assets (RWAs) have surged in the past month as 24/7 trading of equities, treasuries and commodities is in demand. Tokenized assets have a market cap of 24b USD as the user market grows. One of the biggest gainers this week was Oraichain (ORAI), and it pumped 42%. This low-cap AI gem has a market cap of 7m USD, but because of the recent launch of its DeFi product Quant Terminal, users have increased to over 800 in the past month and 70m USD in trading volume. The terminal is very niche as it allows smart contracts to interact with AI APIs, which focus on decentralized AI, drawing new investors. Many analysts state that this token is undervalued, but because of a low market cap, it is susceptible to big price swings.
Another RWA token that surged 16% this week was Maple Finance (SYRUP), which was launched in January 2025. This token has broken out due to its utility, institutional interest and the timing of the current narrative. SYRUP is a decentralized credit platform that focuses on undercollateralized credit, which it lends without users selling crypto holdings. The company now has a TVL of 1.25b USD, supported by growing institutional investor pools and tokenized private credit. It has partnered with many regulated entities, attracting investors wary of the unregulated landscape of DeFi and weekly fees of 1m USD as the user base continues to grow.
Similar tokens cannot match SYRUP’s higher yields for tokenized treasuries, and because of the bridging capabilities between DeFi and TradFi loans. This niche credit marketplace is expected to grow as the RWA sector grows. SYRUP is up considerably this week, and trading volume is up 35%, delivering real returns with regulatory guidance in the decentralized DeFi ecosystem.
The crypto market continues to grow with specific tokens taking center stage, AI and RWAs. Upcoming regulatory proposals seem to favor the crypto industry, but most of the market remains cautious. Volatility is still a factor because of ongoing macroeconomic and geopolitical events, but the market seems to be moving towards projects with utility. As the end of March approaches, the market appears to be stronger, but vigilance and due diligence are still a necessity.
