Bitcoin's value took a tumble toward the $60,000 mark as the crypto derivatives market experienced significant liquidations totaling $2.56 billion, marking the tenth-largest daily liquidation in history. This downturn comes amid rising investor concerns over potential stagnation in US liquidity, following the nomination of Kevin Warsh by President Trump to lead the Federal Reserve. Warsh, a former Fed governor, is anticipated to maintain the trajectory of interest rate cuts, which may stabilize rather than enhance market liquidity, according to economist Thomas Perfumo from Kraken.
Data from Farside Investors indicated that Bitcoin ETFs faced three successive days of outflows, with $431 million withdrawn on Thursday. Bitcoin's price briefly dipped to $60,074 on Friday before rebounding to over $64,930.
In positive news, TRM Labs, a blockchain intelligence platform, has reached unicorn status after completing a Series C funding round that raised $70 million, valuing the company at $1 billion. The funding round attracted major investors, including Blockchain Capital, Goldman Sachs, and Bessemer Venture Partners. TRM Labs aims to enhance public and private institutions' capabilities to combat cybercrime with AI technology.
Meanwhile, Avalanche, a blockchain network, is experiencing an upswing in institutional adoption. The total value of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) on Avalanche has surged 68.6% in the fourth quarter of 2025, driven by initiatives such as BlackRock's $500 million USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund. Additionally, Fortune 500 fintech FIS partnered with Avalanche-based Intain to tokenize loans, adding to the network's growing total value locked (TVL).
Solana-based Jupiter secured a $35 million strategic investment from ParaFi Capital, marking its first outside funding. The deal involved purchasing tokens at market prices, with a lockup period to ensure long-term alignment. This investment comes as Jupiter expands its offerings, including a new stablecoin, JupUSD.
In other developments, Aave Labs announced it is phasing out its Avara brand to focus on decentralized finance (DeFi) innovations. This move involves winding down the Family crypto wallet and reducing involvement in the Lens protocol. Aave's efforts are now concentrated on its core lending platform, aiming to make DeFi accessible to a wider audience.
However, not all news is positive. Step Finance, a DeFi portfolio tracker on Solana, suffered a security breach compromising several treasury wallets and resulting in the loss of approximately $27.2 million in Solana. The incident, still under investigation, has caused a significant drop in the value of Step Finance's native token.
Overall, the DeFi market faced challenges this week, with most major cryptocurrencies recording losses. The privacy-focused token Zcash saw a 35% decline, while the Story token dropped by 34%. Despite these setbacks, the market continues to evolve, with ongoing developments signaling both opportunities and risks in the dynamic crypto landscape.