Last week, the crypto market truly showed a different face. I noticed that when geopolitics heats up, risk assets immediately come under pressure—Bitcoin dropped to $63,000 before recovering, but what's interesting is that the market didn't experience panic selling like before. Sentiment is still in the "Extreme Fear" zone, but control is much better than expected.

Gold briefly surged above $5,300 and oil rose to $75 before pulling back. This indicates a classic flight-to-safety, but market makers seem to be more experienced in managing shocks like this. Nasdaq and S&P 500 recorded their biggest monthly declines since March last year—this is heavy.

What’s now interesting is how some major projects are actually starting to move positively amid this chaos. For example, UNI, Uniswap just launched a proposal for a multi-chain fee sharing mechanism. They plan to transfer at least 1/6 of transaction fees to a "token bucket" that will be distributed to UNI holders who burn tokens of a certain value. This is like electing a class president—more structured and transparent governance.

AAVE also draws attention. The "Aave Will Win" proposal has been approved, shifting Aave Labs to a fully token-centric model. 100% of product revenue will go directly to AAVE token holders. This indicates a shift toward a more community-driven approach.

Gold-backed tokens XAUT and PAXG are gaining attention because the gold market was closed over the weekend. Tokenized gold briefly hit $5,400, basically serving as a price discovery tool when traditional markets are offline. A smart move by the market to find alternatives.

On the macro level, there are some important developments. SEC chief said the US "missed a big opportunity" in crypto and is now catching up. UK regulators are considering allowing cryptocurrencies as gambling payments. Minnesota also proposed banning crypto ATMs to prevent fraud targeting the elderly—this shows more mature governance.

Vitalik Buterin recently outlined Ethereum’s scalability roadmap in two ambitious phases. In the short term, they introduce Multidimensional Gas for pricing storage and computation separately, directly addressing the state bloat issue. Long-term, they shift toward zkEVM integration and Data Availability Sampling to boost mainnet throughput by 1,000x. This isn’t just a technical upgrade but a redefinition of Ethereum as an efficient global settlement layer.

SoFi—an American crypto bank with 13.7 million users—now supports direct Solana deposits. This is a historic moment for blockchain integration into traditional finance. Not just a liquidity boost for Solana, but an institutional-grade asset management experience within a regulated framework. The market is basically treating Solana on the same level as Bitcoin and Ethereum now.

Morgan Stanley also submitted an application for a US trust bank license specifically for crypto. If approved, they could provide native custody, staking, and lending for Bitcoin and Solana. This shift from distributor to custodian is a game-changer—pension funds and insurance companies will find it easier to enter this space.

MoonPay launched PYUSDx— a stablecoin framework backed by PayPal PYUSD. Developers can launch their own branded stablecoins without rebuilding compliance from scratch. This plug-and-play model significantly shortens the launch cycle for AI, gaming, or e-commerce apps.

Barclays is exploring a blockchain-based payment platform with stablecoins and tokenized deposits. This is direct competition to JPM Coin, indicating that retail banks globally will increasingly adopt in-house chains for 24/7 fiat liquidity.

Citi plans to launch institutional Bitcoin custody services in 2026. With $30 trillion assets under management, their entry will reshape the competitive landscape. Unlike crypto-native custodians, Citi integrates traditional tax reporting, compliance auditing, and direct API connections to crypto asset management.

SBI Holdings announced JPYSC—a yen-backed stablecoin. This is a heavy product from the amended Payment Services Act in Japan. As a "Type III Electronic Payment Instrument" backed by a bank trust, JPYSC combines blockchain efficiency with high regulatory compliance. It could become an important bridge for B2B settlements in regulated markets like Japan.

Overall, what I see is that the market is beginning to enter a phase of maturity. Governance mechanisms are becoming more sophisticated—electing a class president including sila in this context means protocols must have solid decision-making structures. Institutional adoption is accelerating, regulatory clarity is improving, and infrastructure is becoming more robust. Volatility still exists, but panic-driven selling has significantly decreased. This is bullish for the long term, although short-term geopolitical situations still need monitoring.