As May draws to a close, the crypto market continues its upward momentum, fueled by a renewed wave of macro liquidity. Bitcoin demonstrates resilience, with an improved on-chain capital structure and a steady rise in risk appetite. High-beta assets and quality altcoins are drawing increasing attention, signaling an emerging rotation trend. This week, Chloe (@ChloeTalk1) from HTX Research explores the evolving potential and structural value of crypto credit and InfoFi as key sectors in this next phase.

Structural Shift Under Macro Support: Bitcoin Holds Firm as Altseason Builds Momentum: As of May 21, 2025, the Federal Reserve’s net liquidity has rebounded to 6,022.869, recovering strongly from its early-May low. Although it has not yet reached the key range of 6,100-6,200, this trend signals an initial return of liquidity, providing macro-level support for the crypto market. Despite last week’s long-bond auctions disappointing on both sides of the Pacific — with the U.S. 20-year yield pushed above 5 %, and Japan’s long-end rates setting 25-year highs — stoking global liquidity-squeeze fears, the impact is somewhat mitigated. The U.S. Treasury is primarily absorbing cash mainly via 3- to 6-month T-Bills, which tends to drain money-market funds rather than risk assets. Furthermore, the Fed retains the ability to pause quantitative tightening (QT) or open its repo facilities at will, capping potential spillover effects.

Bitcoin has held firm amidst these conditions. Spot ETFs continue to post modest daily inflows, over 70 % of Bitcoin supply has remained dormant for six months or more, exchange balances are falling, and Asian/Middle-East buyers continue to acquire Bitcoin on dips. Even if net Treasury issuance jumps to roughly $1.25 trillion in Q3, short-dated supply and repo backstops are expected to dilute the drag on high-beta assets. Concurrently, ETF passive holdings and “hard hands” diffuse selling pressure, while a weaker-dollar narrative adds further support.

On-chain data indicates that public chains like Solana and Base are experiencing sustained increases in activity, with capital gradually shifting from BTC-dominated safe-haven assets to high-beta altcoins. While BTC Dominance remains elevated and has not yet seen a significant pullback, a drop below 52% in the coming sessions, coupled with further liquidity expansion, could potentially kick off a new altcoin season.

Analysis on Trending Sectors

Wall Street Doubles Down on Crypto Credit: Maple Becomes the Institutional Capital Gateway: Cantor Fitzgerald has launched a Bitcoin-collateralized credit program with a total size of $2 billion, signaling Wall Street’s formal and large-scale entry into the crypto credit market. Initial recipients of this facility include crypto broker FalconX and the decentralized lending protocol Maple Finance. FalconX has already drawn over $100 million under this framework, and Maple Finance has completed its first loan issuance through the program.

The $SYRUP token, associated with Maple Finance, is available on HTX through spot trading, perpetual futures, and earn products. Since its spot listing, $SYRUP has surged by 110%, with strong performance also observed in its derivatives — underscoring growing market recognition and investor confidence in the project. Maple’s newly launched syrupUSDC/USDT perpetual institutional credit pool offers 8–12% annual yields with high collateral transparency. This has rapidly attracted large volumes of idle institutional stablecoins, causing the Total Value Locked (TVL) to surge from $800 million to $1.3 billion this month. This market response validates the appeal and growth potential of the SYRUP model.

InfoFi Rising Star: $COOKIE Poised to Trigger the Next Revaluation Cycle: Based on current on-chain trends and macro liquidity data, $COOKIE is expected to be on the verge of explosive growth within the InfoFi sector. Compared to similarly positioned projects like Kaito, CookieDotFun’s current market cap is just one-fifth. The valuation ceiling for $COOKIE could be significantly lifted once the Cookie leaderboard, ad slot bidding, and other InfoFi monetization mechanisms go live.

HTX has launched COOKIE/USDT perpetual futures. Notably, KAITO — previously featured in the HTX DeepThink column — has also been listed on HTX and has achieved a remarkable 138% gain over the past 30 days, highlighting the potential for projects in this space.

The above content is not an investment advice and does not constitute any offer or solicitation to offer or recommendation of any investment product.

About HTX DeepThink: HTX DeepThink is a flagship market insights column created by HTX, dedicated to exploring global macro trends, key economic indicators, and major developments across the crypto industry. In a world where volatility is the norm, HTX DeepThink aims to help readers “Find Order in Chaos.”

About HTX Research: HTX Research is the dedicated research arm of HTX Group, responsible for conducting in-depth analyses, producing comprehensive reports, and delivering expert evaluations across a broad spectrum of topics, including cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and emerging market trends.

This analysis was originally published by HTX Research on Medium.