Bitcoin (BTC) market capitalization surpasses $3.27 trillion as BTC price reaches a high of $103,600

The cryptocurrency market continued to surge this past week as the overall digital asset market capitalization exceeded $3.27 trillion

The cryptocurrency market continued to surge this past week as the overall digital asset market capitalization exceeded $3.27 trillion, an 8.6% increase over the previous week.

Bitcoin (BTC) reached a high of $103,600 on May 8 after reclaiming $100,000 for the first time since January. Its market dominance also surged above 60%, reflecting more bullish BTC sentiment. This marked the third time BTC has broken through six figures since it reached the milestone on Dec. 5, 2024, and again on Jan. 20, ahead of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

The BTC rise coincided with Trump announcing a trade deal with the United Kingdom, which may include removing a 10% blanket tariff on all imports.

In the wider crypto space, Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade implemented much-needed improvements for the crypto ecosystem. The upgrade was followed by a 26% price surge for Ether (ETH), rising from $1,800 on May 7 to over $2,300 on May 9.

Bitcoin DeFi sees surge in mining participation despite drop in TVL

Messari's “State of Rootstock” report for 2025 showed that merged mining participation surged to an all-time high of 81% in Q1 2025, up from 56.4% in the previous quarter. The surge was attributed to onboarding major mining pools SpiderPool and Foundry.

The influx of mining support boosted Rootstock's hash power above 740 exahashes per second. This surpassed Bitcoin's total network hashrate recorded in October 2024, marking a more mature phase for the platform's merged mining growth.

The surge in merged mining participation came as Rootstock's ecosystem faced headwinds. In Q1 2025, Rootstock’s total value locked (TVL) declined. Its Bitcoin TVL dropped 7.2%, while the dollar-denominated TVL fell by over 20% quarter-on-quarter.

This mirrored a broader downward trend across the DeFi sector, with Ethereum-based DeFi TVL showing a 27% decline in the same period.

Hacken CEO sees ‘no shift’ in crypto security as April hacks hit $357 million

Cryptocurrency hackers stole nearly $360 million in assets across 18 reported incidents in April, data from Chainalysis showed. The amount is almost 1,000% higher than the $39 million lost in March.

The largest loss came from an unauthorized Bitcoin (BTC) transfer. On April 28, blockchain investigator ZachXBT reported a suspicious transaction of Bitcoin worth $330 million. He later confirmed that it was a social engineering attack that targeted an elderly American.

At the Token2049 event, Hacken CEO Dyma Budorin told Cointelegraph that the industry continues to rely on limited security measures even after the $1.4 billion Bybit crypto exchange hack incident.

Budorin said that the space implements minimal measures instead of deploying comprehensive strategies.

"Most of the projects think, ‘Okay, we did pentests. That’s enough. Maybe bug bounty. That’s enough.’ It’s not enough," Budorin told Cointelegraph.

AI decentralized apps are coming for the Web3 throne: DappRadar

Gaming and decentralized finance (DeFi) applications continue to hold the top spot in the decentralized applications (DApps) ecosystem, while artificial intelligence (AI) DApps are slowly catching up.

Blockchain analytics platform DappRadar showed that Gaming and DeFi saw 21% DApp dominance in April. However, AI DApps climbed to 16%, up from the 11% recorded in the platform's February data.

"As user interest in artificial intelligence tools grows across industries, AI-powered DApps are steadily carving out their place in the decentralized ecosystem," DappRadar analyst Sara Gherghelas said.

Gherghelas added that if the trend continues, AI could challenge the dominance of DeFi and gaming, signaling a "new era" in the DApp landscape.

Bitcoin-backed loans ‘obvious’ next step - Xapo Bank CEO

Bitcoin holders are becoming more confident in using their BTC to borrow funds. In a Token2049 interview, Xapo Bank CEO Seamus Rocca said that investors' moods have shifted from short-term speculation to a more long-term outlook on Bitcoin.

Rocca said that the confidence comes from broader institutional adoption and Bitcoin's price levels that are "nowhere near" liquidation.

Rocca said Bitcoin-backed loans allow holders to stay exposed to the asset when facing unexpected expenses. The executive said the smart thing to do is not sell the asset when the price increases.

However, when