The cryptocurrency sector began the second quarter on a sour note, with several of its mega-cap coins recording double-digit losses.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization shrank from $3.26 trillion on Jan. 1 to $2.68 trillion at the end of the quarter, marking a 17% decline.

Market barometer Bitcoin BTC/USD slid 11% year-to-date. Ethereum ETH/USD, the second most valued cryptocurrency, recorded a much sharper decline of 44%.

Top altcoins such as Solana SOL/USD, Dogecoin DOGE/USD, and Cardano ADA/USD also failed to escape the downturn, all shedding more than 20% of their value since 2025 began.

The sector struggled largely due to the economic impact of tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump on key U.S. trading partners.

With more stringent levies expected to be announced on "Liberation Day," the uncertainty around these trade policies has led to a risk-off sentiment.

Notably, Bitcoin's correlation with U.S. equities, including blue-chip averages like the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite, has grown considerably year-to-date, according to The Block, explaining the cryptocurrency market's reaction to U.S. macro triggers.

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That said, some lesser-known cryptocurrencies turned out to be the oases of growth.

FORM, the token of the newly-branded GameFi network Four, blasted off to a 491% rally in the first quarter. The coin set an all-time high of $2.62 last week amid growing interest around its latest product, Four.meme, an ecosystem for meme coins.

OM, the token associated with the layer-1 blockchain MANTRA, surged 65% to bag the second spot. The over $6 billion-valued cryptocurrency also hit its all-time high of $9.04 in the last quarter.

GateToken, the native token of the Gate.io ecosystem, spiked 34% year-to-date, building on the positive momentum from the end of 2024. The coin has more than doubled its value over the past year, spurring a market capitalization of nearly $2 billion.