Memecoins lead the crypto market rally, while Bitcoin remains flat

On Tuesday, bitcoin price remained largely unchanged, ethereum price declined, and the CoinDesk Memecoin Index rose. Bitcoin struggled to break through the $70,000 mark, while altcoins—especially Memecoins and AI-related tokens such as Worldcoin and Virtuals—performed strongly. Despite the crypto market sentiment indicator still showing "extreme fear," futures data revealed deep deleveraging and significantly negative funding rates on major exchanges, while the options market suggested that long-term volatility expectations are stabilizing. In addition, Merkle Trade, a perpetual futures decentralized exchange based on the Aptos blockchain, announced its closure. The platform had previously raised $2.1 million and operated for less than two years.