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First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Layer 2 Stacks Begins May on Top
The latest price moves in crypto markets in context for May 3, 2023.
Updated May 3, 2023, 3:20 p.m. Published May 3, 2023, 12:23 p.m.
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This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.
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Bitcoin climbed on Tuesday, gaining more than 2% on signs the U.S. banking crisis isn’t yet over. Helping the bullish tone was the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), which showed job openings declining to their lowest level since April 2021. Ether also gained, climbing 1.5%. Bitcoin layer 2 Stacks (STX) outperformed the majority of crypto assets, soaring 13% over the last 24-hours. Last week, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, Binance, announced it would support the network’s upgrade and hardfork. Stacks upgraded its network earlier today to fix a bug that was found in another recent upgrade. STX has surged 177% over the last 3 months, according to data from Messari.
Crypto conglomerate Digital Currency Group (DCG) said Chief Financial Officer Michael Kraines stepped down in April, and revealed that it fully repaid a $350 million senior secured term loan during the first quarter. Kraines became CFO two years ago. DCG has engaged Heidrick & Struggles for a new CFO search, according to a letter to shareholders, while President Mark Murphy and Chief Strategy Officer Simon Koster run the finance department in the meantime. Also in the letter, DCG, which is CoinDesk's parent company, reported first-quarter revenue of $180 million, up 63% from the fourth quarter, thanks to rising crypto prices. First quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was negative $6 million.
Frenzied trading activity has pushed the newly-launched pepe token (PEPE) to garner trading volumes higher than those of and shiba inu – which previously were biggest memecoins by trading volumes. PEPE trading volumes surged to over $250 million in the past 24 hours following a 100% price spike during a weekend rally. Over the same period, trading volumes on dogecoin stood at $225 million, while shiba inu volumes were only $100 million. Data from CoinGecko show crypto exchange OKX had over $76 million in trading volumes for PEPE tokens, followed by $43 million at the decentralized exchange Uniswap. The bulk of these volumes may have been generated by automated bots, which continually buy and sell tokens to generate trading activity and provide liquidity to investors in turn for a few dollars of profits.
Chart of the Day
- The chart shows bitcoin's price movements since the third mining reward halving, dated May 2020, look similar to the price action following the previous reward halvings.
- If history is a guide, the path of least resistance for cryptocurrency is on the higher side.
- The fourth halving, or programmed 50% reduction in per-block BTC issuance, is due next year.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Bitcoin and ether volatility trading gets easier with Polymarket's new contracts
Polymarket has launched new prediction markets tied to Volmex's bitcoin and ether 30-day implied volatility indices.
What to know:
- Polymarket has launched new prediction markets tied to Volmex's bitcoin and ether 30-day implied volatility indices, allowing users to bet on how high volatility will get in 2026.
- The contracts pay out if volatility indices reach or exceed a preset level by Dec. 31, 2026, letting traders wager on the intensity of price swings rather than market direction.
- Early trading implies roughly a one-in-three chance that bitcoin and ether volatility will nearly double from current levels.
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