Risk Rally Lifts Crypto as Ethereum Leads the Charge
Ryze Roundup
Market Commentary
This was a strong week for risk assets, and crypto kept pace.
Bitcoin reclaimed the $100,000 level, gaining 4.2% over seven days. Solana rose 10%. But the standout was Ethereum, which surged over 20% on Thursday alone and closed the week up 30%.
ETH’s move wasn’t just part of the broader rally. It outperformed meaningfully. One driver was the successful activation of the Pectra upgrade on mainnet, a long-awaited improvement to Ethereum’s user experience layer. For an ecosystem often held back by clunky UX, this was a clear step forward.
Macro conditions helped too. The Fed left rates unchanged at this week’s meeting, as expected, citing a strong economy and persistent inflation. Markets now expect around 75 basis points in cuts this year, with the first likely in July.
Positive trade developments added to the momentum. Mid-week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent signaled renewed U.S.-China dialogue, and on Thursday, the U.S. announced a new trade deal with the U.K., the first major agreement since the tariff pause.
Sentiment across assets improved as policy risk faded, at least temporarily.
Key News and Events
x402 Payment Protocol: Accelerating Stablecoin Adoption for AI Commerce
Coinbase has introduced the x402 payment protocol, designed to enable seamless stablecoin transactions, specifically USDC, within standard web interactions. Built around the long-dormant HTTP “402 Payment Required” status code, the standard allows applications and AI agents to trigger and fulfill payments automatically, bypassing traditional subscription models and invoicing systems.
The protocol is especially suited for AI-driven systems, which often lack access to legacy payment rails. x402 enables direct, autonomous transactions at the protocol level, supporting real-time monetization for APIs, on-demand content, and compute resources.
In practice, a request without payment prompts a 402 response detailing the required stablecoin transaction. A follow-up request includes the signed payment, which is verified on-chain. This setup offers near-instant settlement, low fees, and improved scalability.
Backed by early support from AWS, Anthropic, Circle, and NEAR, x402 is emerging as a practical standard for machine-native payments. By embedding stablecoins into the fabric of digital infrastructure, it lowers barriers for adoption and positions stablecoins as a core building block of the digital economy.
Solana’s Memecoin Market: Narrative Volatility and Platform Dominance
Solana’s memecoin market has returned to the spotlight, fueled by celebrity endorsements and social media-driven narratives. In early May, Elon Musk followed the GORK account on X and changed his profile picture to GORK imagery. The token surged over 100% in 24 hours, briefly pushing its market cap above $100 million. Meanwhile, TRUMP, another memecoin capitalizing on political themes, reached a market cap of $13 billion at its peak.
The space also saw a more controversial episode. Jeffy Yu, co-founder of the AI Agent project Zerebro, was reported to have released a suicide note via a dead man’s switch, calling $LLJEFFY his “final piece of art.” The token soared nearly 300x to a $32 million cap before collapsing back to $3 million amid speculation that the death was staged. In the memecoin space, any narrative—no matter how somber its background—can be rapidly transformed into a focal point for speculation.
Pump.fun continues to dominate memecoin creation, responsible for nearly 69% of Solana’s daily new tokens. Despite rising competition from platforms like boop.fun (which launched its $BOOP token and was quickly picked up by Binance Alpha) Pump.fun’s lead remains intact. Data shows nearly 47,000 new tokens are created daily on Solana, with over 32,000 originating from Pump.fun.
Solana’s memecoin ecosystem benefits from low transaction fees and high throughput. These infrastructure advantages, combined with viral narratives and celebrity engagement, suggest continued activity. Projects that combine AI themes with memecoin mechanics may drive the next wave.