Bitcoin hits $103K but DeFi is a mixed bag: Finance Redefined

The cryptocurrency market surged, with the overall market capitalization exceeding $3.27 trillion, an 8.6% increase over the previous week. Bitcoin reached a high of $103,600 on May 8, reclaiming $100,000 for the first time since January, and its market dominance surged above 60%. The BTC rise coincided with Trump announcing a trade deal with the UK, which may remove a 10% blanket tariff on all imports. Ethereum's Pectra upgrade implemented improvements, followed by a 26% price surge, rising from $1,800 to over $2,300. Bitcoin DeFi saw a surge in mining participation despite a drop in total value locked (TVL). The surge in merged mining participation came as Rootstock's ecosystem faced headwinds, with its Bitcoin TVL dropping 7.2% and dollar-denominated TVL falling by over 20% quarter-on-quarter. Hacken CEO Dyma Budorin stated that the industry continues to rely on limited security measures, even after the $1.4 billion Bybit hack incident. AI decentralized apps are slowly catching up, with blockchain analytics platform DappRadar showing that AI DApps climbed to 16%, up from 11% recorded in February. Bitcoin-backed loans are becoming more popular, allowing holders to stay exposed to the asset when facing unexpected expenses. Most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the green, with Pepe (PEPE) rising by over 53% as the week's biggest gainer.