[비즈한국] In this week's cryptocurrency market, DeXe maintained the number one spot for weekly gains, following its performance last week. However, as the privacy coin Zcash, the AI agent platform Virtual Protocol, and the real-world asset (RWA) tokenization project Ondo Finance followed, buying momentum spread beyond DeFi. Rather than a single sector dominating the market, there was a strong rotational trend where investors quickly moved to mid-cap altcoins with individual positive catalysts.
According to global cryptocurrency market data site CoinMarketCap, from 11:21 AM on July 9 to 11:21 AM on July 16, DeXe recorded a weekly gain of 26.17%, ranking first among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. Its current price is 53,946 KRW.
However, as of the end of the collection period, DeXe fell 9.63% over the last 24 hours. While it had the highest weekly gain, it appears that profit-taking selling pressure poured in toward the end of the period.
Zcash took second place with a weekly gain of 22.74%, reaching 841,499 KRW. Virtual Protocol ranked third with an 18.09% increase to 914 KRW, and Ondo Finance ranked fourth with a 16.81% rise to 542 KRW. In particular, Ondo Finance surged 15.21% in the last 24 hours, showing the strongest late-stage momentum among the top performers.
Sky Protocol took fifth place with a weekly gain of 12.87% to 92 KRW. This was followed by Ether.fi (12.77%), Ethena (12.10%), Arbitrum (11.95%), Uniswap (11.69%), and Chainlink (11.63%).
DeXe: Profit-taking follows 2-week top rank
DeXe is the governance token for the DeXe Protocol, which supports the establishment, voting, delegation, and financial management of Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). The project provides governance tools that allow multiple DAOs to be managed within a single application and enables DAOs to participate in the decision-making processes of other organizations.
After rising 31.73% last week, DeXe climbed another 26.17% this week, securing the top spot for two consecutive weeks. Continued interest in DAO operational infrastructure and governance tokens, combined with trend-following buying pressure, appears to have driven the price higher.
However, the sentiment shifted on a 24-hour basis, with a 9.63% decline. As the price rose rapidly over two weeks, the gains were likely driven by trend buying and thin liquidity rather than new catalysts, and profit-taking began in earnest near the end of the tracking period. According to CoinMarketCap, while DeXe's trading volume remains high, its price has retreated by about 9% in a single day.
Zcash: Network upgrade reignites the privacy narrative
Zcash is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency designed to hide the sender, receiver, and amount using zero-knowledge proofs.
This week's rise was influenced by the broader market rebound as well as expectations for the upcoming network upgrade, "Ironwood." Ironwood aims to address security vulnerabilities and improve the network; ahead of this upgrade, Zcash saw gains of over 13% in a single day.
Following the breach of major short-term resistance levels, derivative open interest also increased. Whether the upward trend continues will depend on further capital inflows and the asset's ability to maintain these price breakouts.
Virtual Protocol: AI agents head to the Robinhood chain
Virtual Protocol is an on-chain platform that allows anyone to create and tokenize AI agents.
The key driver for this week's rise was the connection to the Robinhood chain. As Virtual Protocol’s AI agent infrastructure began operating on the new blockchain, and plans for applications and tokens based on it became more concrete, VIRTUAL saw a significant jump around July 11.
The launch of tokenized index products and AI agent-based services also raised expectations for increased fee revenue and utility for the platform. However, since the AI agent theme is prone to high volatility based on shifting expectations, actual usage metrics will be crucial.
Ondo Finance: Launch of tokenized stocks sparks a rally
Ondo Finance is a real-world asset (RWA) tokenization project that allows traditional financial assets like US Treasuries and stocks to be traded on the blockchain.
The direct catalyst for this week's rise was the announcement of the launch of tokenized stock products based on the rights of securities held by the Depository Trust Company (DTC), the US central securities depository. Since July, Ondo has been expanding its business scope by consecutively unveiling custodial tokenized securities and stock-based derivative products in the US.
Ondo Stocks currently supports over 440 tokenized assets, and the platform’s total value locked (TVL) has surpassed $1 billion. The shift from existing Treasury products to stocks and derivatives appears to have concentrated buying interest on ONDO.
Sky Protocol: Rotational buying spreads to stablecoin DeFi
Sky Protocol is a DeFi ecosystem rebranded from MakerDAO, operating the stablecoin USDS, deposit rewards, and a collateralized loan structure. USDS is the core stablecoin of the Sky Protocol, and depositors can earn yields through the Sky Savings Rate.
There was no single major announcement that explains the rise in SKY this week. Considering that on-chain financial assets like DeXe, Ether.fi, Ethena, and Uniswap all rose together, it appears to have been affected by rotational buying that spread throughout the DeFi sector.
However, the long-term challenge for Sky Protocol is how effectively the use of its stablecoin and protocol revenue translate into token value. Since the rise occurred without a distinct individual catalyst, traders should monitor subsequent trading volume to see if the momentum can be sustained.
6th–10th place: DeFi tokens reunite
The 6th through 10th spots were taken by Ether.fi, Ethena, Arbitrum, Uniswap, and Chainlink. While their sectors differ—ranging from restaking and synthetic dollars to Layer 2, decentralized exchanges, and oracles—they all serve as key infrastructure components of the on-chain financial market.
This week’s rankings were less about one theme dominating the market and more about the sequential attention paid to DeXe’s governance, Zcash’s privacy, Virtual Protocol’s AI agents, and Ondo’s asset tokenization. Below them, leading DeFi assets rose steadily, supporting the recovery of risk appetite in the market.
However, even among the top assets, there was divergence: Ondo Finance surged 15.21% in a day, while DeXe fell 9.63%. This indicates that capital is moving rapidly from last week's top performers to assets with fresh news catalysts.
The keyword for this week's market was "diffusion." Buying momentum, which was concentrated on DeFi and infrastructure last week, spread to privacy, AI, and RWA tokenization. For next week, the points to watch are whether DeXe's correction remains a temporary profit-taking event and whether the new businesses from Ondo and Virtual Protocol translate into actual growth in usage.
※ This article was written with the help of generative AI from Business Hankook and MetaVX.