VELVET, BEAT, DEXE Top Crypto’s Weekly Gainers Amid a Slumping Market

Bitcoin briefly slipped below $60,000 in late June, its weakest level since October 2024, before recovering to the upper end of its recent range by week’s end. Most of the broader crypto market has slid in the same direction, with Ether and large-cap tokens all well below their late-2025 highs. That broader slump is what makes this week’s narrow roster of altcoin gainers so unusual.

CoinMarketCap’s latest weekly-gainers tally names three standouts: VELVET, up 306% over seven days; BEAT, the native token of AI music platform Audiera, up 63.95%; and DEXE, the governance token of the DeXe protocol, up 54.86%. Aave (AAVE) climbed 21.78%; Lighter (LIT) added 14.90%; Jito (JTO) closed the top tier at 10.48%. Each token on the list rose on a verifiable catalyst of its own.

The Broader Market’s 54% Drawdown Sets the Stage

The total crypto market cap peaked at $4.3 trillion on October 6, 2025, then began a long grind lower. By late June 2026, that figure had fallen to roughly $2.1 trillion, a loss of about $2.2 trillion, or 54% of the cycle high, according to the 54% crypto market drawdown from October 2025. Bitcoin, which set the tone for that record, briefly slipped below $60,000 in late June before recovering to $60,870, its weakest level since October 2024.

Glassnode’s late-June report framed the latest action as a possible bottom-forming setup, with capital being deployed at prices disconnected from recent cycle highs. US spot Bitcoin ETFs have been shedding money for weeks, with Grayscale’s GBTC leading withdrawals at an average of nearly $300 million a day. ETF investors have not stepped in to buy the dip at the pace they did in previous pullbacks, suggesting many are reducing exposure rather than accumulating. The same report flagged a heavy concentration of short-term holder supply around the upper-$60,000s as the ceiling any recovery would need to clear. The 90-day simple moving average of Net Realized Profit and Loss has fallen to roughly -$205 million a day, a level Glassnode described as a loss-dominant environment.

The broader slump covers most of the asset class. In the window CoinMarketCap’s weekly tally covers, Bitcoin erased roughly 50% of its value from its October 2025 high of about $126,000, per CNBC’s coverage. Ether and most other large-cap tokens sit well below their own late-2025 peaks. Spot volume, futures interest, and stablecoin inflows have all softened in tandem, leaving the average investor with little to root for outside a handful of names.

VELVET Leads Weekly Gainers After Aerodrome Migration

VELVET topped CoinMarketCap’s gainers list with a 306% climb over seven days, per BeInCrypto, putting the token above $1.80. Its recent bottom, by contrast, was near $0.30, a roughly sixfold reversal in two weeks. The catalyst underneath the move was structural, anchored in a real platform change.

Velvet Capital, the DeFi trading terminal behind VELVET, migrated 100% of its protocol-owned liquidity on Base to Aerodrome Finance, the network’s largest decentralized exchange, per Velvet’s full migration of Base liquidity to Aerodrome. The VELVET/USDC pool now lives on Aerodrome, concentrating depth in a single venue and tightening execution for users routing trades through the Velvet terminal on Base. Aerodrome launched in August 2023 and runs on the ve(3,3) tokenomics frame; other Base protocols, including Aera and Seamless, use similar POL structures, suggesting broader treasury-level liquidity management is converging there. Concentrating owned liquidity in one dominant venue is the bet Velvet’s team made.

The same plumbing change introduces a concentration risk on the other side. BeInCrypto notes VELVET’s market cap sits around $800 million while the platform’s total value locked remains near $770,000. A market cap roughly a thousand times larger than on-chain deposits is the classic tell of speculation running ahead of actual platform usage. Any smart-contract exploit or governance failure at Aerodrome would expose Velvet’s entire liquidity position directly.

The Velvet terminal also picked up a speculative boost from the launch of synthetic pre-IPO markets, including a SpaceX-themed instrument that drew particular interest in mid-June. The launch was a recent one, per BeInCrypto, and trade history has not yet accumulated.

BEAT Builds on a 1,500% Monthly Climb on Revenue and Burns

BEAT, the native token of AI music platform Audiera, came in second at 63.95% over the week. That weekly rise sits on top of a longer move: BEAT is up more than 1,500% over the past month and reached a record high near $9.20, according to the AI music token’s 1,500% monthly rally. Bitcoin and Ether fell roughly 25% and 30% in the same period, making BEAT a counter-trend trade by a wide margin.

The driver underneath is unusual for a small-cap token. Between June 1 and June 8, Audiera reported 772,045 BEAT in weekly revenue, worth about $2.87 million at its stated price of $3.71. The platform also said it burned 770,545 BEAT in the same window, nearly one-for-one with the revenue it brought in. Total burned supply now sits at 12.35 million BEAT against a fixed 1 billion-token cap. Pairing platform revenue with supply contraction is the kind of tokenomics structure that has lifted comparable assets before.

Short-squeeze dynamics added another layer. Since May, BEAT has seen $28.72 million in short liquidations against $13.74 million in longs, leaving bears with more than twice the forced-buying exposure bulls carried. As of Thursday, BEAT’s daily relative-strength index sat at 96.87, the most overbought reading on record for the token. A clean break above the $9.47 resistance would put the next Fibonacci level, around $15, on the table; a rejection from $9.47 would more likely send price toward the 1.0 Fibonacci line near $3.71, about a third lower than current levels.

DEXE Posts New Whale and Active-Address Highs

DEXE, the third token on CoinMarketCap’s list, climbed 54.86% over the week. Unlike VELVET’s move, DEXE’s gains ride on measurable on-chain growth rather than a single product launch. The token now trades near $23.5, according to CryptoPotato, up nearly 36% over the past month. Its market capitalization has surged more than 600% over the past four months even as the broader crypto market erased half its value.

Data shared by Santiment on Friday shows DEXE recorded 18 whale transactions worth more than $100,000 and 298 daily active addresses, both all-time highs. The network added 86 new wallets in the same window, the strongest wallet growth in seven months, per DEXE’s record whale transactions and active addresses. Santiment’s analysts wrote that the latest on-chain data appears to support the price move rather than react to it. New wallets entered at the fastest pace seen in months, while active participation and large transactions each touched records. Spot accumulation has reportedly picked up in the same window, CryptoPotato notes, with more DEXE tokens moving off exchanges.

• 18 whale transactions worth more than $100,000 (all-time high)
• 298 daily active addresses (all-time high)
• 86 new wallets added in seven days (strongest growth in seven months)
• Metrics described by Santiment as supportive of the rally, not reactive to it

MEXC’s recent decision to add DEXE futures with leverage up to 50x pulled in derivative demand on top of the spot rally. CoinGecko’s global crypto index shows the broader market down roughly 3.6% over the same seven-day window, putting DEXE’s relative outperformance in sharper focus. One analyst framed the next leg of the move as a function of a single chart level:

DEXE continues to test its final major sell wall, and a break above the resistance zone would likely coincide with DEXE setting a new all-time high.

CW, the pseudonymous CryptoQuant analyst quoted in the same CryptoPotato report, framed the move in those terms. A break above the resistance band would remove the last major overhead supply in the market. Once that ceiling is cleared, little resistance would stand between DEXE and a new all-time high near $32.38, on CoinGecko’s tracked range.

AAVE, LIT, and JTO Round Out the Week’s Winners

Beyond the top three, CoinMarketCap’s listing included Aave (AAVE), the largest DeFi lending protocol still trading by volume. AAVE held above $90 through the week on continued borrowing activity across its money markets. The relative outperformance against the broader market is more striking than the absolute number; CoinGecko’s global crypto index is down more than 3% over the same window. Aave’s TVL has held in the multi-billion-dollar range through the drawdown, providing an on-chain floor the more speculative top gainers do not have.

Lighter (LIT) and Jito (JTO) closed the leaderboard with mid-teen and low double-digit percentage gains respectively. LIT’s rise was anchored by an L2BEAT safety-verification update that withdrew uncertainty around the project’s withdrawal mechanism. JTO’s run tracks speculation ahead of the JTX Trade launch slated for July, per Pluang’s reporting. Each of the six names in the leaderboard traces its gain to a specific product or protocol catalyst, not to a broad-market move.

• 306% VELVET, in the seven days to late June
• 63.95% BEAT, in the same window
• 54.86% DEXE, in the same window
• 21.78% AAVE, holding above $90 through the week
• 14.90% LIT, anchored by an L2BEAT safety update
• 10.48% JTO, on speculation ahead of the JTX Trade launch

Frequently Asked Questions

How big is the crypto market’s drop from its high?

The total crypto market cap peaked at $4.3 trillion on October 6, 2025. By late June 2026, that figure had fallen to roughly $2.1 trillion, a loss of about $2.2 trillion over 261 days. That works out to a 54% drawdown, the steepest eight-month decline on record.

What drove VELVET’s 306% weekly gain?

Velvet Capital moved 100% of its protocol-owned liquidity on Base to Aerodrome Finance, the network’s largest decentralized exchange. The token also picked up a speculative boost from the Velvet terminal’s launch of synthetic pre-IPO markets, including a SpaceX-themed instrument that drew particular interest in mid-June.

Why has BEAT gained more than 1,500% over a month?

A combination of three forces: Audiera’s revenue-and-burn model (the project reported about $2.87 million in BEAT weekly revenue between June 1 and 8, with a near-equal amount of tokens burned), aggressive buying pressure, and short liquidations that forced bearish bets to cover. BEAT’s daily relative-strength index sat at 96.87 on Thursday, the most overbought reading on record for the token.

Is DEXE’s whale activity a real signal of strength?

Santiment data shows 18 whale transactions worth more than $100,000, 298 daily active addresses, and 86 new wallets added, all all-time highs. CryptoPotato quotes Santiment’s analysts as saying these metrics appear to be supporting the price move rather than reacting to it. A pseudonymous CryptoQuant analyst quoted in the same report noted DEXE was testing what they called its final major sell wall.

Could Bitcoin fall further from here?

Glassnode’s late-June report places Bitcoin’s Realized Price near $53,400 and notes a heavy concentration of short-term holder supply between $66,800 and $70,700. A pseudonymous CryptoQuant analyst quoted by CryptoPotato has pointed to a possible bottom between $42,000 and $44,000 this year. With Bitcoin trading near $60,870, both of those targets sit meaningfully below the current price.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency markets are volatile, and past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified financial professional before making investment decisions. Figures are accurate as of publication date.