This Week in the Crypto Market: March 17-22, 2025

The cryptocurrency market has been quite calm this week. Bitcoin fluctuated between $82,000 and $86,000, while altcoins saw recovery rises. These rises reached 10 percent, with the crypto greed index reaching 20 percent. This data shows that the “Extreme Fear” environment is slowly subsiding.

On the other hand, it was seen that US-fueled speculation decreased and cryptocurrencies were traded naturally. Experts stated that the accumulation phase called consolidation continues and the markets are in uncertainty.

What happened in a relatively quiet week compared to previous weeks? Here are the highlights of the week…

South Korea closes its doors to Bitcoin

The Central Bank of South Korea made statements about the strategic Bitcoin reserve. The Bank of Korea (BOK), in response to a written question from a member of the National Assembly Strategy and Finance Committee, stated that they are not considering including Bitcoin in the foreign exchange reserve.

While expectations for Bitcoin are rising in the US, reservations persist in Asia. Despite China’s bans, Japan and South Korea are not ready to take concrete steps.

CZ, former CEO of Binance, speculates on memecoin

CZ, the founder and former CEO of Binance, the world’s most active crypto exchange, speculated on the memecoin named MUBARAK created on BNB Chain. CZ started promoting the MUBARAK coin, which he bought for about half a million dollars, on the X platform. Especially CZ, who turned his profile picture into the icon of MUBARAK coin, divided the community into two. While many crypto investors think CZ is hurting the crypto industry, some investors congratulated CZ for his memecoin moves. It was noteworthy that Binance listed MUBARAK coin in futures trading after CZ introduced it.

Ethereum’s biggest rival Solana celebrates its fifth anniversary

Ethereum’s biggest rival Solana fifth Solana, the crypto industry’s sixth best cryptocurrency by market capitalization, celebrated its fifth anniversary earlier this week. Solana, which fell out of favor after the Memecoin platform Pump.fun lost 98 percent of its trading volume, celebrated its fifth year in a bitter way. Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, thanked those who celebrated Solana’s anniversary. SOL price traded at 128 dollars on the anniversary.

Hyperliquid whale has become popular

The Hyperliquid whale, which opened a $450 million short position on Bitcoin last week, made a profit of over $9 million. The whale dazzled with a leveraged trade 50 times its size and the capital it risked. The crypto industry gossiped about the whale for days. The famous whale also opened a long (bullish) position in the memecoin MELANIA. The identity of the whale, which became the most popular name in the sector day by day, was deciphered by a crypto detective named ZachXBT. The Hyperliquid whale, one of the developments that marked the week, revealed the speculation-prone structure of the crypto sector.

US Treasury Secretary Bessent sees declines as normal

Although there was no US-driven market volatility this week, the pain of the previous weeks has not yet subsided. US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric and the tariffs imposed by him had taken global markets by storm. US Treasury Secretary Bessent, who made statements at the beginning of the week, stated that the rhetoric on tariffs was not important enough to exaggerate and that the declines in the markets were a simple correction.

Standard Chartered cuts Ethereum expectations

Banking giant Standard Chartered revised its Ethereum expectations in a letter to clients on Monday. The giant bank lowered its end-2025 ETH price forecast from $ 10,000 to $ 4,000. The 60 percent reduction of the forecast in question made crypto investors uneasy.

Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s global head of Digital Asset Research, said ETH’s structural decline will continue and the recovery process has yet to begin.

“The Bitcoin bull is over”

CryptoQuant’s chief executive made statements that marked the week. Founder and CEO Ki Young Ju claimed in an X post dated March 17 that Bitcoin’s bull cycle is over. Ki Young Ju stated that there will be bearish or horizontal price movements for 6 to 12 months.

These comments from the famous name of CryptoQuant made crypto investors uneasy. It is thought that the crypto market, which has been declining due to the oppressive attitude of US President Donald Trump in global markets, will not recover until 2025.

An ETF application for SUI

The formation of a pro-crypto administration in the US has paved the way for numerous crypto initiatives. On the other hand, extensive efforts have been launched to diversify spot ETFs. While spot ETF applications were made for major altcoins such as XRP, SOL and ADA, moves were made to add staking to ETH ETFs. Canary Capital filed a new ETF application in an unusual way. Canary submitted its SUI ETF proposal to US regulators.

Raydium plans to rival Pump.fun

Raydium, one of Solana’s largest decentralized exchanges, is reportedly planning to create a competing platform to compete with Pump.fun. On the other hand, the competition between Raydium and Pump.fun, which is working on a memecoin creation platform, is increasing. Pump.fun aims to create a new crypto exchange where created memecoins will be listed automatically. This exchange is expected to have an automated market-making algorithm and a decentralized financial system that offers trading functionality.

EOS, the altcoin of years, is rebranding: It will now be Vaulta!

Launched in 2018 to rival Ethereum, EOS is breathing new life into the public blockchain. EOS, which switched to Web3 banking, announced that it will rebrand as Vaulta. EOS, which took action after the announcement in question, rose between 2 and 5 percent. EOS, which will be traded as Vaulta from May, will apply a one-to-one exchange rate. Many crypto exchanges, especially Binance, will support this rebranding.

Bold prediction from former NBA star: Bitcoin will be 180 thousand dollars

American former NBA star Scottie Pippen made a striking prediction about Bitcoin. Stating that he is a Bitcoin macismalist, Pippen stated that the BTC price will reach greater peaks in the current cycle and will be adopted globally. The famous basketball player claimed that the bull run is not over and BTC will reach 180 thousand dollars. Crypto investors criticized Pippen’s comment. According to investors, BTC is unlikely to break new records as long as the uncertainty in global markets is not over.

Donald Trump’s son joins Metaplanet

Eric Trump of the Trump family has joined the management team of Metaplanet, a Japanese company that regularly buys Bitcoin. According to Metaplanet CEO Simon Gerovich’s post on X, Eric, the second son of US President Trump, has been appointed to the company’s Strategic Advisory Board.

Metaplanet said Eric Trump will contribute to the company’s development and strategic growth and pave the way for crypto adoption worldwide.