Some coins moon because of utility, others because of memes—and sometimes, it's both. This week in crypto was defined by unexpected gainers, fading privacy coins rising from the dead, and Twitter pushing narratives at warp speed.
FTN’s monster pump leads a week of narrative-driven altcoin rotations. Privacy coins like ZEC and DASH make unexpected comebacks amid growing tension around CBDCs. Low-cap assets with strong social buzz outperformed majors, suggesting meme-potential remains an alpha source.
What started as a sideways shuffle turned into a moon mission for obscure altcoins this week—chief among them FTN, which exploded a whopping 115.8% in a 24-hour window. Other notables include BEAT (+20.98%), STABLE (+19.69%), and privacy OGs ZEC (+17.19%) and DASH (+14.35%). These are the sorts of numbers that make degens skip breakfast to watch candles.
On the flip side, not everyone got an invite to the rally. Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL) dipped -9.52%, MERL cold-plunged -8.79%, and LGCT continued its spectacular fizzle with a -7.97% fall. The market giveth, and the market rug-pulleth.
The double-digit jumps in ZEC and DASH hint that the market might be slowly waking up to privacy narratives again. Privacy coins had been left in the crypto attic: regulated out of exchanges, ghosted by volume, and largely forgotten. But something's shifting—perhaps the chatter surrounding global CBDCs (looking at you, digital euro) is forcing traders to hedge freedom before it’s tokenized.
Also worth noting: on-chain metrics show increasing transfers of ZEC across non-custodial wallets, suggesting long-term HODLers are moving off centralized platforms. Where there's smoke—and encryption—there may be fire.
FTN (Futurenet) was the talk of CT (Crypto Twitter), with obscure influencers pushing what appeared to be coordinated shills around 'AI + DePIN + Tokenomics 3.0'. The whitepaper? A fever-dream of buzzwords. The volume? Real and raging. FTN saw over $110M in 24h turnover, driven largely by South Korean exchanges and unexpected Uniswap action.
Is it sustainable? Probably not. But never underestimate the power of concentrated narratives, especially when paired with low cap and a high Twitter-to-reality ratio. The FTN pump is a template: mix AI hype with anonymity, get ten X threads, and make 10x...until it unravels.
The Twitter crowd remains the best—and worst—leading indicator of crypto's emotional state. This week’s top engagement bullets:
No one knows what’s next, but everyone’s tweeting like they do. The current vibe favors obscure, underloved coins with some kind of story—any story. If it fits into an X thread, it’s tradable.
STABLE, a previously unknown token with apparently no affiliation to any major algorithmic stablecoin project, pumped nearly 20%. Ironically volatile, STABLE danced its way into meme coin culture, with holders joking that it's only 'stable at mooning'. Low liquidity helped the pump, but Twitter's humor did the rest.
This continues a trend in 2025: meme culture isn't limited to dogs and frogs anymore—any ironic or contradictory asset name can become the next trending token. Traders are effectively investing in punchlines.
Top Gainers:
Top Losers:
With Bitcoin consolidating and ETH dragging its feet, altcoins needed a distraction. Narrative-based rotations are back, and momentum trading is ruthless. The key factor this week? Sharp liquidity pockets. Smaller cap coins with stories saw volume surge on DEXs and Tier-2 exchanges, especially in Asia.
Quant signals also showed a spike in volatility-adjusted breakouts among sub-$50M market cap coins. The algo crowd is now focusing on short-term mean reversion trades. Meanwhile, market makers are widening spreads thanks to unexpected volume clusters. Making markets around these coins is no longer passive grinding—it’s dodgeball with volatility.
Expect continued froth in micro-cap narratives, especially those combining AI, privacy, or tokenized infrastructure. Meanwhile, older coins with dead communities may still get swept up in the wave simply for existing in the same semantic cluster. Stay sharp. Stay skeptical. But don’t ignore the altcoin rotations—they’re real, even if the fundamentals are imaginary.
What started as a sideways shuffle turned into a moon mission for obscure altcoins this week—chief among them FTN, which exploded a whopping 115.8% in a 24-hour window. Other notables include BEAT (+20.98%), STABLE (+19.69%), and privacy OGs ZEC (+17.19%) and DASH (+14.35%). These are the sorts of numbers that make degens skip breakfast to watch candles.
On the flip side, not everyone got an invite to the rally. Quantum Resistant Ledger (QRL) dipped -9.52%, MERL cold-plunged -8.79%, and LGCT continued its spectacular fizzle with a -7.97% fall. The market giveth, and the market rug-pulleth.
The double-digit jumps in ZEC and DASH hint that the market might be slowly waking up to privacy narratives again. Privacy coins had been left in the crypto attic: regulated out of exchanges, ghosted by volume, and largely forgotten. But something's shifting—perhaps the chatter surrounding global CBDCs (looking at you, digital euro) is forcing traders to hedge freedom before it’s tokenized.
Also worth noting: on-chain metrics show increasing transfers of ZEC across non-custodial wallets, suggesting long-term HODLers are moving off centralized platforms. Where there's smoke—and encryption—there may be fire.
FTN (Futurenet) was the talk of CT (Crypto Twitter), with obscure influencers pushing what appeared to be coordinated shills around 'AI + DePIN + Tokenomics 3.0'. The whitepaper? A fever-dream of buzzwords. The volume? Real and raging. FTN saw over $110M in 24h turnover, driven largely by South Korean exchanges and unexpected Uniswap action.
Is it sustainable? Probably not. But never underestimate the power of concentrated narratives, especially when paired with low cap and a high Twitter-to-reality ratio. The FTN pump is a template: mix AI hype with anonymity, get ten X threads, and make 10x...until it unravels.
The Twitter crowd remains the best—and worst—leading indicator of crypto's emotional state. This week’s top engagement bullets:
No one knows what’s next, but everyone’s tweeting like they do. The current vibe favors obscure, underloved coins with some kind of story—any story. If it fits into an X thread, it’s tradable.
STABLE, a previously unknown token with apparently no affiliation to any major algorithmic stablecoin project, pumped nearly 20%. Ironically volatile, STABLE danced its way into meme coin culture, with holders joking that it's only 'stable at mooning'. Low liquidity helped the pump, but Twitter's humor did the rest.
This continues a trend in 2025: meme culture isn't limited to dogs and frogs anymore—any ironic or contradictory asset name can become the next trending token. Traders are effectively investing in punchlines.
Top Gainers:
Top Losers:
With Bitcoin consolidating and ETH dragging its feet, altcoins needed a distraction. Narrative-based rotations are back, and momentum trading is ruthless. The key factor this week? Sharp liquidity pockets. Smaller cap coins with stories saw volume surge on DEXs and Tier-2 exchanges, especially in Asia.
Quant signals also showed a spike in volatility-adjusted breakouts among sub-$50M market cap coins. The algo crowd is now focusing on short-term mean reversion trades. Meanwhile, market makers are widening spreads thanks to unexpected volume clusters. Making markets around these coins is no longer passive grinding—it’s dodgeball with volatility.
Expect continued froth in micro-cap narratives, especially those combining AI, privacy, or tokenized infrastructure. Meanwhile, older coins with dead communities may still get swept up in the wave simply for existing in the same semantic cluster. Stay sharp. Stay skeptical. But don’t ignore the altcoin rotations—they’re real, even if the fundamentals are imaginary.
ZEC’s 17% rise marks its biggest daily gain in over a year, coinciding with renewed debate over digital privacy in payment systems. Meanwhile, FTN’s 115% rally has raised eyebrows over coordinated shilling practices on social media.
Don’t fight the narrative. If it’s trending on Twitter and has a halfway coherent use case, it’s tradable—even if only for a few hours. Use volume spikes and sentiment indicators in tandem.
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