Ethereum Reclaims Momentum, Blockchain Gaming Eyes a Comeback
Ryze Roundup
Market Commentary
Ethereum just posted one of its biggest relative moves in years. ETH is up 30% in the past seven days and nearly 60% in the last 30 days. What makes this more surprising is that BTC barely moved this week. The ETH/BTC ratio jumped 25%, marking a rare reversal in what has been a BTC-led market for nearly two years.
ETH’s rally triggered a mini altcoin season. In the top 100, only WIF, PEPE, and Pi Network outperformed ETH. Memecoins continue to pull retail flows, but it’s ETH that changed the market structure this week.
However, context matters. Even after this run, ETH is still down 23% year-to-date, while BTC is up 10% and SOL is down just 10%. There’s still ground to cover before ETH can claim real leadership.
BTC dominance tells part of that story. BTC’s share of total crypto market cap has climbed from 36% in late 2022 to almost 65%. It started to roll over slightly this week as ETH and alts played catch-up. Historically, BTC leads first, then altcoins follow. This looks like the early stages of that rotation.
On the macro side, the biggest news came from geopolitics. The U.S. and China reached a 90-day tariff pause, cutting reciprocal rates from 125% to 10%, with a smaller 20% tariff on fentanyl remaining in place. President Trump called it a “total reset.”
Inflation data was mixed. April CPI came in at 2.3%, slightly cooler than expected, with core CPI at 2.8%, matching forecasts. This helped ease some inflation fears but didn’t resolve them. Treasury yields climbed anyway, reflecting less conviction about near-term Fed cuts.
As for the Federal Reserve, a 100 bps cut in 2025 is still priced in, but it’s now seen as a second-half story, not an immediate one. Powell reinforced that inflation progress is slow and the Fed is still watching how tariffs ripple through the economy.
Key News and Events
NFT Empowering Classic IP: MapleStory Universe Leading Blockchain Game Revival
MapleStory Universe, built on the well-known MapleStory IP, is positioning itself as a potential leader in blockchain gaming. The project combines NFTs and token mechanics to expand the game’s economy and player engagement.
The ecosystem is structured around two pillars: player-focused services and creator tools. These aim to deliver new in-game experiences while enabling community-driven content. The design centers on balancing utility and rarity through what the team calls the “Reward Experience” (RX) model.
The economic layer consists of three elements: NFT assets, NXPC tokens, and NESO tokens. NFTs are capped in supply and used across the ecosystem, starting with MapleStory N. NXPC, with a fixed supply of 1 billion, acts as the core utility token. NESO is the in-game currency, exchangeable for NXPC at a fixed rate.
NXPC’s distribution starts with high rewards that taper off over time. Players can use NXPC to purchase NFT packs, which burns the tokens, or redeem NFTs back for NXPC, returning the NFTs to the official pool. The exchange rate adjusts dynamically based on supply levels, helping maintain economic balance.
MapleStory Universe enters a market that has struggled to regain momentum since the Axie Infinity boom. While titles like Pixels and Big Time have shown promise, none have managed to capture widespread attention. MapleStory’s brand recognition and large user base could give blockchain gaming a fresh boost, offering both nostalgic appeal and new utility.
Whether this revival leads to long-term adoption remains to be seen, but MapleStory’s move marks a significant moment for the sector.
Nous Research Launches Psyche for Decentralized AI Training
Nous Research, an open-source AI lab, has launched Psyche, a decentralized protocol designed to coordinate global compute for large language model training. The initiative aims to address the growing concentration of AI development by enabling open participation across a distributed network.
Psyche coordinates training across diverse hardware using Solana for on-chain verification and fault tolerance. It builds on Nous’ earlier work with DisTrO (Distributed Training Over-the-Internet) and DeMo (Decoupled Momentum Optimization), which optimize data transfer and reduce bandwidth demands, making decentralized AI training more practical.
The system combines onchain smart contracts with off-chain compute orchestration, allowing independent contributors to provide computational resources while ensuring transparent tracking of their contributions.
Psyche’s roadmap starts with a permissioned testnet before moving toward full decentralization. Future plans include accessible inference services and the development of more advanced AI models.
Backed by a $50 million Series A round led by Paradigm, Psyche positions itself as a step toward open, distributed AI research. By tapping into idle global compute, it aims to lower barriers to participation and challenge the dominance of centralized AI labs.