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The Crypto Minute
Your Weekly Guide to Surviving the Crypto Rollercoaster.
CoinBrain
March 31, 2025 • Reading Time: 12 minutes
Welcome to a new issue of Crypto Minute by CoinBrain!
Oof, the macroeconomic conditions are getting tough, right? 🏋️ Don’t worry; this is the right time to buy crypto at a discount! 🤑
We are here to ease your mind - grab some coffee, relax, and enjoy this week’s most juicy news 📰
⤵️ Today’s Agenda:
Is Pi Network really a “straight-up scam“? We explain wild industry accusations and backlash.
The US Government is moving massive amounts of crypto to a mysterious wallet 🇺🇸
Important jobs data and Powell speech dropping this friday.
The whole X goes Ghibli-crazy, and new memecoins skyrocket 🚀
And more…
📊 Market Snapshot
| $82,200BTC-6.4% | $1,800ETH-13.3% | $2.65TCrypto Market Cap-7.9% | 24 (Fear)Fear & Greed Index-7 from last week |
📅 Crypto Events You don’t want to Miss
🔹 Friday, April 4 - U.S. Jobs Data Drop (12:30 pm UTC)
12:30 PM UTC – U.S. Average Hourly Earnings (MoM)
12:30 PM UTC – U.S. Non-Farm Employment Change
12:30 PM UTC – U.S. Unemployment Rate
These reports give us a snapshot of the U.S. labor market, which directly impacts how investors feel toward the market.
If earnings growth is strong and unemployment remains low, the Fed might keep rates higher for longer - bad news for risk assets like crypto ⬇️
On the flip side, a weaker jobs report could fuel rate cut bets, boosting Bitcoin and altcoins ⬆️
🔹 Friday, April 4 - Fed Chair Powell Speaks (3:25 pm UTC)
All eyes 👀 (and ears 👂️ ) will be on Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech.
If he hints at dovish policies or acknowledges economic slowdown risks, expect crypto to react positively 📈 - possible interest rate cuts 🔪
But if he maintains a hawkish stance, signaling prolonged higher interest rates, brace for volatility ⬇️ 📉
🐋Smart Money Tracker
Tuesday, March 25th: Mt. Gox wallets have been transferring enormous amounts of $BTC.
On this day, they sent more than $1 billion worth of $BTC to new wallets (one of which was a hot wallet)
Wednesday, March 26th: A massive whale with 124.6M $JELLY($4.85M) is manipulating the price of $JELLY(jellyjelly) to make Hyperliquidity Provider (HLP) face a loss of $12M! 🪼
They first dumped $JELLY, crashing the price and leaving HLP with a short position of 398M $JELLY($15.3M).
Then they bought $JELLY back, driving the price up, causing HLP to suffer a loss of nearly $12M.
Friday, March 28th: On this day, the US Government 🏦 transferred 97 $BTC($8.46M) and 884 $ETH ($1.77M) out of their treasury.
The US Government currently holds 198,012 $BTC ($17.22B) and 59,965 $ETH ($119.7M).
Saturday, March 29th: A PEPE OG is selling! 🐸
This trader, who bought in at the very early stages of $PEPE, originally spent just $2,184 and profited more than $10.3M 🤯
On this day, they sold another $1.14M worth of $PEPE
Monday, March 31st: The 125,603 $ETH ($229M) held by two massive whales in a Maker vault is at risk of liquidation!
The liquidation prices are now $1,787.75 and $1,701.54. This liquidation could set off an unfortunate liquidation cascade 🌊
Source: Lookonchain and Arkham Intel
📰 News Recap (March 25 to 31)
📉 Crypto Markets Take a Third Day Tumble as Tariffs Loom
Last week Bitcoin dropped 6.5% to $81,600 as the crypto market continues its downward slide 📊, with total liquidations reaching a whopping $427.5M in 24 hours!
Ethereum took an even bigger hit, falling 14% to $1,790 😬
Source: Trading View
What’s the reason you ask? Trump's upcoming Apr. 2 tariff decisions and higher-than-expected inflation data have investors playing it safe.
Source: Atlantic Council
Meanwhile, ETH ETFs saw outflows for the 13th consecutive day while BTC ETFs still celebrate some days of inflow 💰
💵 Ethena's USDtb Stablecoin Skyrockets 1,500% in March
Ethena Labs' USDtb stablecoin has catapulted into the top 10 stablecoins with a $1.4B market cap 🚀, up 25% in just the last week.
This BlackRock-backed synthetic dollar is responsible for 95% of the growth in BlackRock's BUIDL fund, which itself surged 160% in March to a record $1.47B 📈
Source: usdtb.money
The broader stablecoin market just saw its 18th consecutive month of growth, now accounting for 8.02% of all digital assets (with Tether still king at $145B) 👑
🛠️ Ethereum Pectra Upgrade is Here!
Ethereum's upcoming Pectra upgrade will finally bring smart wallet features to self-custodial wallets 🎉, expected to roll out April 30th.
The upgrade will bundle transactions (goodbye to those annoying token approvals!) and introduce sponsored transactions where dApps can cover your gas fees 💸.
🔥 LATEST: Ethereum’s Pectra mainnet deployment is tentatively scheduled for April 30.
— Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph)
8:30 PM • Mar 28, 2025
These user experience improvements grant a much needed boost as ETH struggles against competitors 📊
🎭 Studio Ghibli Memecoins Explode After OpenAI's New Feature
OpenAI's new image generation feature sparked a Ghibli memecoin frenzy 🏯, with over 20 new tokens launching in just two days!
Source: @boldleonidas on X
The most successful, aptly named "Ghiblification", reached a $29M market cap shortly after creation but slowly declined from that point 📉
Source: CMC
It all started when OpenAI CEO Sam Altman posted a Ghibli-style AI-generated image that went viral, proving once again that in crypto, trends can emerge from the most unexpected places ✨
🌍️ Story of the Week
🥧 Pi Network $PI Tanks as “Scam” Allegations Pile up
The once high-flying Pi Network is feeling the heat 🔥 as its token value has taken a dramatic nosedive amid serious allegations from industry big bois!
This mobile phone mining project with more than 100 million Google Play downloads has crashed over 80% to $0.68 at press time 📉
Source: Trading View
The drama kicked off when Bybit CEO Ben Zhou publicly declared Pi Network a "scam" and refused to list the token on his exchange 🚫
Cryptocurrency fund manager Justin Bons of Cyber Capital quickly piled on with a scathing nine-part thread, calling Pi "a straight-up scam" and "an embarrassment to our industry."
1/9) WARNING: PI is a straight-up scam! ⚠️
Offering an "MLM" based "mining" scheme on mobile is a gimmick, as it does not contribute to consensus!
PI is fully permissioned (centralized) & everything requires KYC, even simple TX's!
PI is an investment scam; it is that bad: 🧵
— Justin Bons (@Justin_Bons)
6:12 PM • Mar 19, 2025
Bons didn't hold back, accusing Pi Network of:
Running a "multi-level marketing type scheme" through its referral program
Being "extremely centralized" while falsely claiming decentralization
Delivering a mainnet "five years behind schedule with ZERO innovation"
Simply copying technology from Stellar
Lacking a Turing complete virtual machine, making "DeFi a pipedream for PI"
Using token locking mechanisms to trap "victims" while insiders potentially cash out
⚔️ Pi Network Fights Back
The project has now responded to these accusations, denying any wrongdoing and claiming it's merely misunderstood 🤷♂️
A Pi Network spokesperson told The Defiant that, contrary to MLM accusations, their referral program is only one level deep.
This means that if Person A refers Person B, and Person B refers Person C, Person A gets no benefit from Person C's activities.
Source: minepi.com
"Like any other common referral programs used in retail, banking, online commerce or other crypto related businesses, the Pi Referral Program is intended to encourage adoption," the spokesperson explained.
The network also denied ever reaching out to Bybit for a listing, pointing to a two-year-old post warning about impersonators seeking unauthorized exchange listings 🕵️♀️
Do you think Pi Network is a scam? |
Despite winning a Binance community poll on February 28, Pi still hasn't secured a listing on the world's largest exchange.
What happens next for Pi's millions of mobile miners? One thing’s for sure: it will be a bumpy ride for the Pi Network 🧗♂️
🔒 Major Token Unlocks of the Week
$SNFTS - 0.97% of the total supply will enter circulation on Apr 04, 2025.
$ECT - 8.71% of the total supply will enter circulation on Apr 04, 2025.
$NEXT - 3.78% of the total supply will enter circulation on Apr 05, 2025.
$GAL - 1.26% of the total supply will enter circulation on Apr 05, 2025.
$HFT - 1.67% of the total supply will enter circulation on Apr 07, 2025.
Find more unlocks and full details for this week here.
🗞️ From our Blog
💡 1 Minute Learning: Delta Neutral Yield Farming
Want to farm high yields without stressing over price swings?
Enter delta-neutral yield farming, the strategy for degens who love profits and hate volatility 🚀
🔍 What’s the Deal? Delta-neutral means your position is hedged, so even if prices move, your overall exposure stays the same.
The goal? Earn juicy yields on DeFi platforms while minimizing market risk. 🍉
🛠️ Here’s How to Do It:
1️⃣ Find a Yield Farm – Pick a protocol offering high APYs for LP tokens (like ETH-USDC).
2️⃣ Provide Liquidity – Supply equal parts of two assets to a liquidity pool and get LP tokens.
3️⃣ Hedge Your Exposure – Short the volatile asset (e.g., ETH) on a derivatives exchange. Now, if ETH pumps or dumps, your gains/losses balance out. 🤹♂️
4️⃣ Farm the Rewards – Stake your LP tokens, earn yield, and pocket profits while staying price-neutral. 📈
🚨 Risks to Watch
Impermanent Loss – Even though you’re hedged, shifts in pool ratios can affect returns. Liquidation Risk – Overleveraging your hedge position? Not a great move. 🫠
Done right, delta-neutral farming lets you milk yield without the rollercoaster ride. 🎢 Happy farming! 🌾💸
And that’s a wrap! 🎉 Enjoyed this newsletter? Forward it to a friend, and let them know they can subscribe here.
Got any ideas or feedback? We’d love to hear from you! Drop us an email at [email protected].
DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or make financial decisions. Always do your own research and stay safe out there.