Markets
This Week in Coins: Ethereum Stays Afloat as Crypto Market Sinks
Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt.
It’s been another uninspiring week for Bitcoin, with the leading crypto asset trading sideways to enter the weekend below $64,500, posting another 2.6% loss over the past seven days.
It’s very disappointing considering how MicroStrategy is purchased another $786 million in BTC this week, which the company founder says he never plans to sell. However, demand for MicroStrategy has been overwhelmed by an onslaught of selling pressure from others Long term Bitcoin whalesincluding the German government.
CryptoQuant noted that the cryptocurrency market is larger starting to lose momentum due to the lack of new demand from investors. It follows, then, that most of the momentum-based meme coins such as PEPE, DOGE, SHIB and WIF have all fallen by 5%, 9%, 13% and 25% respectively for the week.
Toncoin also lost some of its momentum from last week, losing 10% after rising to all-time highs on the back of hype from projects within its gaming ecosystem. It remains one of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization and is just $300 million away from overtaking Dogemoneta.
Challenging the market momentum to some extent is Ethereum. At the time of writing it is trading at $3,492, hovering within a percentage of its price seven days ago as Ethereum spot ETFs inch ever closer to reality. Several asset managers have now revealed the fee on their ETFs and also on Bitwise released a commercial advertise ETH to old school TV audiences.
Solana, Ethereum’s main smart contract competitor, has been less fortunate, losing another 6% this week to $134.92.
One of the most ambitious networks Trump-based memecoins, DJT, amassed a market capitalization of $110 million this week and made headlines thanks to rumors that it may have been launched by Trump’s own team. Later one of the former president’s legal advisors confirmed that the coin was not flipped by Trump or his children.
Crypto stocks also failed to maintain momentum this week. Coinbase (COIN) fell 8%, MicroStrategy (MSTR) fell 1.96% and DeFi Technologies (DEFTF), which jumped after buying Bitcoin earlier this month, lost 8% . cratered 29.9% this week after cryptocurrency reports spread doubt about the online company.
All the negative momentum in altcoins this month has led many analysts to say the cryptocurrency bull market could already be finished. However, this Thursday BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes doubled down on his bullish thesis that now is the time to ape bullshit coins and “buy the fucking sauce” – before global money printers become brr.
Prices starting at 3pm ET. By Ryan Ozawa.