• Token was auto-minted from Base’s post on Zora without warning.
• Pump.Fun co-founder Alon Cohen distanced his platform from the event.
• Base defended the launch as part of onchain content strategy

The fallout from Base’s auto-minted meme coin experiment has sparked wider concern across the crypto sector, as industry voices warn against the risks of influence-driven token launches.

The incident began when a token was minted automatically from an X post by Base’s official account via Zora, an onchain social platform.

Without prior announcement, the asset started trading immediately and soared to a $17 million market cap—only to plunge by over 90% within minutes.

While Base stated the coin was unofficial and not sold by the network, the crash has led to accusations of a stealth launch and poor communication.

On-chain data revealed that the top three wallets held nearly half of the token’s supply, fuelling speculation of manipulation and inadequate safeguards.

Pump.Fun denies launch links

Alon Cohen, co-founder of meme coin launchpad Pump.Fun, responded on X (formerly Twitter), stating that neither he nor his platform would be involved in similar token releases.

“Don’t expect coins from me or @pumpdotfun or any employees (no ‘stealth launches’ either),” he wrote, pushing back against the model used by Base.

Cohen’s remarks were posted shortly after the token’s price collapse, directly referencing the now-infamous “Base is for everyone” asset.

Despite disclaimers on Zora’s site that the token was unofficial and carried “no expectations,” many traders felt blindsided by the speed and lack of transparency in the rollout.

Pump.Fun has itself come under scrutiny in the past, including incidents involving unsafe livestreams and inappropriate content appearing on the platform.

However, in this instance, Cohen emphasised the need for stronger ethical guidelines in experimental crypto environments.

Cohen warns on token influence

In his thread, Cohen stated that launching a token while holding social influence carries implicit responsibilities. He criticised Base’s approach as lacking proper guardrails and alignment with user expectations.

“If you launch a coin AND have social influence, that comes with responsibility,” he said, calling for creators to stick to social standards that have emerged within crypto communities.

He noted these standards were not dictated by any single entity—”not myself, Pump.Fun, Coinbase, or the President”—but instead formed by the “users that are in the trenches every single day.”

Cohen reaffirmed that Pump.Fun will continue exploring the intersection of social media and tokenisation but will aim to stay aligned with its user base.

Base, meanwhile, defended its move as part of a broader strategy to bring content onchain. A post from the network stated that these tokens are not official assets and are not intended for sale.

Jesse Pollak, creator of Base, also weighed in on X, reiterating that the project is “building a global onchain economy” and that experimentation is crucial for the ecosystem’s growth.

Volatility highlights launch risks

Despite the heavy backlash, the auto-minted token has shown partial recovery. As of 12 April, it was trading at a market capitalisation of roughly $16.5 million, according to DexScreener data.

However, the controversy has highlighted the risks of merging social media influence with token issuance—particularly when done without warning or transparency.

The episode has reignited debates around responsible decentralised finance practices, especially when meme coins are involved.

For now, platforms like Pump.Fun are making it clear they will avoid similar models, even as the broader sector experiments with pushing token creation closer to real-time content interaction.

The post Pump.Fun slams Base-backed meme token after 90% value loss appeared first on Crypto Spyder.

• Voting ran from April 10 to April 16, 2025.
• ZEC and JASMY followed with 8.6% of the votes each.
• Binance says votes won’t be sole factor for delisting.

FTT, the native token of collapsed exchange FTX, is facing renewed pressure as it topped Binance’s second “Vote to Delist” round with 11.1% of the community votes.

The vote, which ran from April 10 to April 16, 2025, forms part of Binance’s broader governance programme, allowing users to weigh in on tokens marked with a Monitoring Tag.

These tokens are deemed to carry greater risk or volatility, prompting deeper internal evaluations by Binance. While voting results alone do not determine delistings, they significantly influence the exchange’s decision-making process.

The token has seen persistent downward momentum since the beginning of the year, and its association with FTX’s collapse in November 2022 continues to cloud investor confidence.

At the time of writing, FTT was trading at $0.80, down 4.1% in the past 24 hours, with its latest decline echoing sentiment-driven selloffs seen in the first round of voting.

Source: CoinMarketCap

Binance expands governance tools

Binance’s “Vote to Delist” initiative is aimed at improving transparency and strengthening user participation in governance. It targets assets flagged with Monitoring Tags, typically due to liquidity concerns, regulatory risks, or large price swings.

Although community sentiment plays a key role, Binance has clarified that delisting decisions are not solely determined by voting outcomes.

“The voting result will not be the sole deciding factor to determine the final delisting decision,” Binance stated on its Square platform.

The review process will also consider internal metrics and compliance standards, and any final decision may be delayed depending on procedural requirements.

FTT’s leading position among 17 tokens included in the second voting round suggests a strong community preference for removal, reinforcing the market’s wariness of its long-term viability.

Altcoins face price drops, delisting risk

Other tokens also registered notable levels of concern. Zcash (ZEC) and JasmyCoin (JASMY) each received 8.6% of the votes, reflecting increasing user doubt despite their historical popularity.

GoPlus Security (GPS) followed with 8.2%, while PlayDapp (PDA) came in at 7.6%. Voxies (VOXEL), Alpaca Finance (ALPACA), and STP Network (STPT) also featured prominently, with 7.1%, 6.3%, and 5.9% of the votes, respectively.

Price data shows these tokens have begun to react to the voting results. JASMY and STPT both dropped around 6% over the past 24 hours, with several other coins showing more modest declines.

For instance, VOXEL, PDA, and ALPACA all posted red candles, suggesting investor anxiety may extend beyond FTT.

Also included on the list were Flamingo Finance (FLM) with 4.3%, ARK (5.8%), Biswap (BSW) with 5.5%, and MovieBloc (MBL) at 4.2%.

Smaller vote shares were seen for Wing Finance (WING) at 3.8%, Ardor (ARDR) at 3.6%, and Perpetual Protocol (PERP) at 3.4%. NKN and LTO Network closed the list with 3.2% and 2.9% of the votes, respectively.

Market awaits Binance decision on FTT

While Binance’s final delisting decisions are pending, the data signals a clear community trend away from tokens viewed as unstable or compromised.

Market participants are expected to monitor Binance’s review process closely, particularly for tokens like FTT and JASMY, which continue to attract regulatory and public scrutiny.

The exchange has not announced a firm delisting timeline and reiterated that internal reviews are still in progress.

However, the market impact has already materialised, with sharp short-term price declines and trading volumes showing volatility across the affected tokens.

With this round of votes concluded, Binance’s next steps could set a precedent for how much influence community feedback will hold in shaping the platform’s asset offerings moving forward.

The post FTT leads Binance delisting vote with 11.1% of community support appeared first on Crypto Spyder.

• Bitcoin’s market share rose to 59.1% despite falling 11.8%.
• Ethereum’s 2024 gains wiped out in Q1 2025.
• DeFi TVL fell 27.5% across multichain platforms.

The global cryptocurrency market started 2025 with optimism, fuelled by expectations of favourable policy shifts under Donald Trump’s presidency and a strong rally across meme coins.

But those hopes have since been dashed. According to CoinGecko’s latest quarterly report, crypto’s total market capitalisation fell 18.6% in Q1 2025, wiping out $633.5 billion in value.

Trading volumes also took a hit. The report shows that average daily trading volume fell 27.3% compared to the previous quarter. Spot trading on centralised exchanges declined 16.3%, a drop that was partly attributed to the Bybit hack earlier this year.

Despite signs of strength in early January, recession concerns and fragmented investor interest led to a broad sell-off across digital assets.

Bitcoin outperforms altcoins but still falls 11.8%

Bitcoin retained its dominance over the broader market in Q1, accounting for 59.1% of the total crypto market cap — its highest level since 2021.

This shift highlights how investors have treated Bitcoin as a relatively more stable asset compared to altcoins during uncertain periods.

However, Bitcoin itself was not immune to losses. It declined 11.8% during the quarter and underperformed traditional safe havens like gold and US Treasury bonds.

The report also noted that Trump’s newly imposed tariffs triggered volatility in the bond market, impacting yields — a key metric closely linked to digital asset flows.

Ethereum saw an even sharper reversal. It gave up all of its 2024 gains, returning to levels last seen before its Shanghai upgrade. The report attributed this trend to declining decentralised finance (DeFi) activity and persistent concerns around gas fees and scalability.

DeFi TVL and Solana activity decline sharply

Multichain DeFi protocols suffered significantly, with total value locked (TVL) falling 27.5% over the three-month period.

Solana, which led the decentralised exchange (DEX) trading space during the meme coin frenzy in January, saw its own TVL drop by more than 20%.

CoinGecko’s data indicates that market excitement around Trump-themed tokens, particularly the TRUMP coin on Solana, sparked a temporary spike in transaction volumes. However, this activity failed to sustain investor interest beyond January.

The LIBRA scandal, which emerged shortly after, added further pressure on altcoin sentiment and liquidity.

Despite these setbacks, Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) recorded $1 billion in fresh inflows in Q1.

But the total assets under management (AUM) across these ETFs still fell by nearly $9 billion due to declining prices, highlighting the gap between investment inflows and market returns.

Structural concerns deepen

While some data points suggested limited resilience, nearly every positive trend in the report was accompanied by a downside risk.

The report shows that centralised exchanges, stablecoin volumes, and DeFi applications all registered lower activity in February and March. Many projects lost traction as macroeconomic concerns mounted and investor caution grew.

CoinGecko noted that the first quarter of 2025 represents one of the most challenging periods for crypto since the FTX collapse in late 2022.

The report reflects broader market concerns that the crypto sector, despite structural improvements in infrastructure and compliance, remains deeply vulnerable to global economic shocks.

As recession fears take hold and regulatory uncertainties continue to loom in major markets, the path forward for crypto in the coming months remains highly uncertain.

Although Bitcoin’s rising market share signals a flight to perceived safety, the broader market may need more than optimism and meme coin rallies to recover from this quarter’s losses.

The post Crypto market sheds $633.5B in Q1 2025 as Trump rally momentum fades appeared first on Crypto Spyder.

• Altcoin market cap falls from $1.6T to $950B in four months.
• Ondo partners with BlackRock, PayPal, Google Cloud.
• Token holds $0.82 but risks drop to $0.70 level.

The cryptocurrency market has entered a pronounced bearish phase, with Coinbase’s April 15 market review confirming a 41% drop in the altcoin market capitalisation.

From a high of $1.6 trillion in December 2024, altcoins now stand at $950 billion, wiping out $650 billion in value.

This downturn has triggered steep declines across the board, particularly for projects that had previously gained institutional traction.

Ondo Finance’s native token, $ONDO, has been one of the hardest hit, falling over 60% from its peak.

The slump comes despite the platform’s expanding real-world asset (RWA) strategy and rising visibility in both corporate and political circles.

While broader macroeconomic pressures and declining risk appetite are weighing heavily on crypto valuations, the case of Ondo highlights the disconnect between market performance and underlying adoption trends.

As institutional partners and high-profile endorsements continue to back the protocol, questions remain about whether this divergence is temporary—or a reflection of deeper liquidity concerns in the tokenised asset space.

Ondo builds RWA network

Ondo Finance, launched in 2021, has become a key player in the RWA sector. The platform aims to bring institutional-grade financial instruments like US Treasuries, bonds, and money market funds to the blockchain.

In February, the project launched its own Layer-1 blockchain focused on RWA tokenisation. It announced collaborations with Google Cloud, BlackRock, PayPal, Franklin Templeton, WisdomTree, and McKinsey.

Despite this momentum, $ONDO is currently trading at $0.8219—down over 60% from its December high. Its broader market structure remains bearish, with price action consistently below the 20, 50, and 200 simple moving averages (SMAs).

Trump-linked backing

Along with corporate partnerships, Ondo has recently attracted political attention. Donald Trump Jr. appeared at the Ondo Finance Summit, and World Liberty Financial—affiliated with the Trump family—invested $460,000 in $ONDO one week before the event.

While this support gained media attention, it hasn’t reversed the market trend.

Ondo also joined Mastercard’s Multi-Token Network (MTN), introducing the Ondo Short-Term US Treasuries Fund (OUSG) as the network’s first tokenised asset.

This move marks a step towards integrating RWAs into mainstream finance, potentially challenging traditional offerings from major asset managers.

$ONDO tests key support

Technically, $ONDO is clinging to support between $0.81 and $0.82, with the 100-period SMA at $0.8161. The token has faced repeated rejections between $0.88 and $0.90—an area of previous institutional interest—pointing to continued resistance at the top.

A breakdown below this support band could send the token toward $0.75–$0.77, or possibly to $0.70, which served as a rebound point in early Q1. These zones remain critical in assessing near-term downside risk.

Nonetheless, the Ondo Global Markets GM platform has helped the protocol cross $1 billion in total value locked (TVL) as of March. Daily trading volume has topped $300 million, with annualised revenue at $6 million, according to DeFiLlama.

Partnerships with high-growth networks like Aptos—which itself has crossed $1 billion in stablecoin TVL—further anchor Ondo within the decentralised finance space.

The short-term picture remains bearish, but with deep integrations across both financial and political sectors, Ondo continues to position itself for long-term relevance in the institutional crypto ecosystem.

The post Ondo Finance price crashes 60% as altcoin market loses $650B appeared first on Crypto Spyder.