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Gate Research Daily Report: On May 16, BTC and ETH remain in a consolidation range, with short-term price action likely to stay range-bound; most altcoins are pulling back, while new token MapleStory NXPC surges over 13x on launch; BlackRock's BUIDL fund completes its first DeFi protocol integration; CoinMarketCap launches CMC Launch platform.

Cryptocurrency prices were significantly impacted by U.S. government tariff policies in April. Following the introduction of new tariffs on April 2, BTC and ETH experienced sharp declines of over 10% within a short period, leading to substantial liquidations of long positions in the derivatives market and significant outflows from spot ETFs. However, as tariff policies became more moderate and the U.S. government engaged in negotiations with multiple countries, market confidence gradually recovered. Despite the pronounced impact of U.S. tariff policies on cryptocurrency prices, the fundamentals of major blockchain projects remained largely unaffected. Both before and after the tariff announcement, Solana and Ethereum maintained robust transaction volumes, with Solana processing over 90 million transactions and Ethereum exceeding 1 million.

Gate Research Weekly Report: This week, the market remained volatile overall, with BTC and ETH showing clear range-bound movements. The altcoin sector showed signs of divergence, with Frog-Themed, Launchpad, and Layer 2 tokens leading in gains. The total market cap of Believe platform tokens surpassed $450 million, and LAUNCHCOIN has surged over 200x since the end of April, highlighting the growing trend of "influence financialization." Open interest in XRP and DOGE futures has spiked despite sluggish price performance, indicating rising leverage risk. Pump.fun’s market share is being eroded by competitors LetsBonk.fun and Believe, intensifying ecosystem competition. Puffverse has launched a new token sale, drawing attention. Meanwhile, Openverse, Nirvana, and KYD have completed funding rounds. Next week, token unlocks—including PYTH—worth over $560 million are expected, which may impact market sentiment.