Crypto Climbs, Altcoins Ignite.

TLDRBTC nears $100K, VIRTUAL hits $1.1B, Circle rejects Ripple—HYPE leads L1s, Grayscale’s ETF launches. GDP shrinks, stagflation looms, S&P 500 streaks—degens ride REKT and gork as Trump calls it Biden’s bust

May 01, 2025

Main Crypto News: Crypto Climbs, Altcoins Ignite

Bitcoin’s inching closer to $100K, up 1% to $96,000, while Ethereum’s up 2% to $1,840 and Solana’s gained 3% to $152—altcoins like VIRTUAL, CRV, and FARTCOIN are stealing the show. BTC ETFs shed $56M, ETH ETFs lost $2M—cautious money’s on the sidelines. Circle swatted away Ripple’s $4-5B buyout bid—stablecoin wars heat up—while Tether’s prepping a U.S. stablecoin launch. HYPE’s leading L1 gains despite X’s hack, and Metaplanet’s raising $250M for a U.S. arm. Semler Scientific dropped $15.7M on BTC, SOL’s pitching stock tokenization, and Visa’s stablecoin cards are near. Ethena’s teaming with TON for stablecoins, and Grayscale’s BTC Adopters ETF is live—crypto’s pushing boundaries.

Macro Trad-Fi: Stocks Steady, GDP Shrinks, Gold Slips

The Financial Times nailed it with “Honey, I Shrunk the Economy”—U.S. GDP contracted 0.3% in Q1, yet Trump claims it’s “Biden’s market.” NASDAQ’s flat at 17,500, on a 7-day S&P 500 win streak, but gold’s down 3% to $3,236. Stagflation fears spike as PCE inflation rises, recession odds hit 70%, and markets price four 25bps rate cuts by end-2025. Navarro calls it the “best negative GDP print”—classic. Oil’s at a March 2021 low, U.S.-Ukraine mineral deal’s signed, and China’s piling into gold funds—no U.S.-China talks ongoing.

Left Curve Corner: Degens Ride VIRTUAL and REKT

VIRTUAL’s $1.1B AI coin leads, with REKT ($45M), gork ($35M—Grok’s meme spawn), and SHADOW ($15M) hot—Gemesis and Mibera Maker NFTs trend. Magic Eden’s live on AVAX, Axiom’s platform made $10M in fees—degens keep it wild.