The past week was one of quiet confidence and sector-specific performance. Most on-chain metrics were positive with whale accumulation and mid-week institutional flows. The market continues to build on steady, foundational progress, which is the key to a stable cryptocurrency environment.
The AI and computing categories had the best performance again this week, as decentralized machine learning had continued interest from investors. Tokens that have real decentralized utility and can circumvent centralized cloud and GPU bottlenecks were clearly the sector leaders. Investors are focusing on projects that deliver real AI innovation rather than hyped narratives.
The cross-chain DeFi sector is quietly gaining ground as capital efficiencies such as asset transfers, liquidity pools and yield farming become a priority. Across major chains, it eliminates fragmentation and unlocks utility as users can stake on one, borrow on another and earn yields without high fees. The TVL of DeFi is over 15b USD, which is up almost 200% in the past year. This trend will continue to grow as diversification across chains accelerates, as investors seek stable returns in volatile markets.
BTC Ready to Bounce…?
In the past few days, there have been signs that the bottom may be in for Bitcoin. Institutional investors have started to drastically reduce their BTC short positions, a major market inflection point. There is market sentiment among large traders and their current BTC positions that they, to,o have flipped their trading positions.
MicroStrategy recently released a cryptic social media post on X, that has historically signaled that the company will acquire more BTC. This pattern of announcement may happen within days or weeks, and purchases are substantial. Microstrategy hold approximately 717, 131 BTC at an average price of 76K USD. When big holders buy BTC, it can shift the market and influence trader confidence throughout the market.
Another factor in Bitcoin’s growth is the Lightning Network, an instantaneous L2 payment system. Last November, the network processed 1.8b USD over 5.3m transactions, which was a 400% increase from the previous year.
In the past week, higher lows have held up because of institutional interest. As the market consolidates, BTC continues to show steady strength, and potential upside seems evident from its current level of 63.2k USD.
ETH Technicals Remain Strong
Ethereum’s on-chain metrics remain steady despite the volatile market. Daily addresses were as high as 600k, transactions were over 14m, with the most traffic in the DeFi, stablecoins and L2. Staking was over 30% of the total supply, signaling long-term holder support.
ETF inflows were steady with 11.9b USD and outflows around 200m USD. The inflows are still positive, but the outflows are the longest negative streak since the ETFs were launched. BlackRock continued to get the largest inflows and has applied with the SEC for an ETH staking ETF. This would blend yield with established ETF fund structures, and institutional interest is high. This new digital asset will raise issues regarding the network’s ability to keep fees low and possible bottlenecks across chains.
Ethereum continues to grow, albeit slowly, in the past 3 weeks, but there is continued interest from institutional investors because of its stable network and excellent fundamentals (security/fees). ETH is currently trading at 1.8k USD with strong support at 1.77k USD.
AI Sector Leads the Market
The AI sector had another impressive week as it outperformed the broader crypto market with strong gains driven by investor interest. The strongest gains were tokens that had tangible utility: computing, data processing, AI agent networks and solving AI bottlenecks.
Fetch.ai is a decentralized autonomous AI agent network and has leveled out in the past week. In 2025, it merged with SingularityNET and Ocean Protocol and is currently part of the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (ASI). FET allows AI agents to perform all tasks autonomously (data, negotiation, optimizing supply chains, developing DeFi strategies, etc.) without centralized servers. This token has real AI utility and massive future potential as the AI sectors and continues to experience exponential growth.
A token that has been around for 5 years is Near Protocol (NEAR), a strong contender in the L1 environment. The network can perform over 100k TPS with fees as low as 0.001 per transaction. The ease of onboarding new users makes NEAR ideal for real-world application sectors such as DeFi, NFTs, gaming and AI tools. NEAR is a strong competitor for ETH for consumer-facing apps. This sector is thriving in the current rotation and may be poised for the biggest growth in 2026
Cross-Chain DeFi in Current Rotation
Another sector with strong utility that investors are focusing on is cross-chain DeFi. The technology is specific to transferring data, smart contracts and digital assets between separate blockchains and enables dApps to utilize other chains in a decentralized environment.
Chainlink (LINK) is a token that has matured over the last 8 years and has shown resilience in the past month. The company is known for its decentralized oracles, which are a network of node operators that gather data and ensure security and accuracy. It also features smart contracts that can communicate and transfer assets across all blockchains. Every major DeFi protocol and RWA project relies on LINK oracles and compliance protocols. Chainlink boasts strong tokenomics, staking rewards and LINK token burns. The market demand for LINK is compelling and should be on every investor’s radar, as the RWA and DeFi sectors gain more traction.
The crypto market in the past several weeks has responded to sectors that have utility rather than hype. The AI and computing sectors continue to gain interest with no end in sight, as these sectors are fueling future growth. Cross-chain DeFi will grow due to the demand for yields and bridging networks. These sectors have solid foundations with substantial momentum and will continue to lead the current narrative.
