Crypto Liquidity Crisis: Mantra vs Coinbase Forecast - Finance Redefined

Mantra OM token crash exposes “critical” liquidity issues in crypto

Crypto investor sentiment took another significant hit this week after Mantra’s OM token collapsed by over 90% within hours on Sunday, triggering knee-jerk comparisons to previous black swan events such as the Terra-Luna collapse. Elsewhere, Coinbase’s report for institutional investors added to concerns by highlighting that cryptocurrencies may be in a bear market until a recovery occurs in the third quarter of 2025.

Crypto in a bear market, rebound likely in Q3 — Coinbase

A monthly market review by publicly traded US-based crypto exchange Coinbase shows that while the crypto market has contracted, it appears to be gearing up for a better quarter. According to Coinbase’s April 15 monthly outlook for institutional investors, the altcoin market cap shrank by 41% from its December 2024 highs of $1.6 trillion to $950 billion by mid-April. BTC Tools data shows that this metric touched a low of $906.9 billion on April 9 and stood at $976.9 billion at the time of writing. Venture capital funding to crypto projects has reportedly decreased by 50%–60% from 2021–22. In the report, Coinbase’s global head of research, David Duong, highlighted that a new crypto winter may be upon us.

Manta founder details attempted Zoom hack by Lazarus that used very real “legit faces”

Manta Network co-founder Kenny Li said he was targeted by a sophisticated phishing attack on Zoom that used live recordings of familiar people in an attempt to lure him to download malware. The meeting seemed real with the impersonated person’s camera on, but the lack of sound and a suspicious prompt to download a script raised red flags, Li said in an April 17 X post. Li said the North Korean state-backed Lazarus Group was behind the attack.

AI tokens, memecoins dominate crypto narratives in Q1 2025: CoinGecko

The cryptocurrency market is still recycling old narratives, with few new trends yet to emerge and replace the leading themes in the first quarter of 2025. Artificial intelligence tokens and memecoins were the dominant crypto narratives in the first quarter of 2025, accounting for 62.8% of investor interest, according to a quarterly research report by CoinGecko. AI tokens captured 35.7% of global investor interest, overtaking the 27.1% share of memecoins, which remained in second place.

Crypto lending down 43% from 2021 highs, DeFi borrowing surges 959%

The crypto lending market’s size remains significantly down from its $64 billion high, but decentralized finance (DeFi) borrowing has made a more than 900% recovery from bear market lows. Crypto lending enables borrowers to use their crypto holdings as collateral to obtain crypto or fiat loans, while lenders can use their holdings to generate interest. The decline in the crypto lending market started in 2022 when centralized finance (CeFi) lenders Genesis, Celsius Network, BlockFi and Voyager filed for bankruptcy within two years as crypto valuations fell.

DeFi market overview

According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week in the green. Decentralized exchange (DEX) Raydium’s (RAY) token rose over 26% as the week’s biggest gainer, followed by the AB blockchain (AB) utility token, up over 19% on the weekly chart.