Gate Research: The New Crypto Order Under a Tariff Storm — Structural Shifts and Opportunities in Stablecoins, RWA, and DeFi

Abstract

• Global Market Turbulence and Broad Crypto Decline: Following the release of the “Reciprocal Tariff” policy in April 2025, global financial markets experienced intense volatility. On April 7, the cryptocurrency market suffered a significant downturn, with Bitcoin briefly dropping to around $74,600, and the total crypto market capitalization shrinking by 7% in a single day.

• Strong Reaction from Traditional Markets: After the tariff policy was enacted, U.S. stock markets lost $5.9 trillion in market capitalization over two trading days. The Volatility Index (VIX) surged 50.9% in a single day, and gold prices hit a historical high of $3,167.70 per ounce.

• On-Chain Stablecoin Activity Surges: Between January 20 and April 9, 2025, the total market capitalization of stablecoins grew by 11.13%, reaching $233.5 billion. On April 7, on-chain stablecoin transaction volume reached a two-month high of $72 billion, and daily active addresses exceeded 300,000—reflecting strong demand.

• RWA Shows Resilience and Rapid Growth: Within a week of the tariff rollout, the RWA sector dropped only 3.1%, much lower than other crypto sectors (which saw declines exceeding 10%), indicating its robustness. The total RWA market cap surpassed $32 billion, and trading volume surged 99% within five days of the tariff’s implementation.
• Tokenized Gold Trading Volume Soars: In the seven days leading up to April 11, weekly trading volume of tokenized gold exceeded $1 billion—the highest since March 2023. Since the tariff announcement, PAXG trading volume has soared over 900%, XAUT is up more than 300%, and KAU has skyrocketed by 83,000
• DeFi TVL Declines and Liquidation Risk Intensifies: Impacted by the broader market downturn, the DeFi sector’s total value locked (TVL) dropped 35.34% from January 20 to April 9, 2025, falling to $135.2 billion. In the week following the tariff implementation, TVL fell 13.88%. On-chain liquidation risks have significantly increased, with AAVE V3 recording $94.39 million in collateral token liquidations on April 6 and 7.

• Crypto Market Opportunities Amid Tariff Storm: Stablecoins and RWA show strong potential for hedging and cross-border settlement. DeFi is exploring algorithm-driven tariff arbitrage models using dynamic collateralization ratios, geographic arbitrage, and regulatory hedging to navigate new financial strategies under trade barriers.
  
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