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This Week in Crypto: Broader Market Slides
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This Week in Crypto: Broader Market Slides

The previous week’s rally across the crypto universe came to a sudden halt, sending tokens into a downward spiral.

This week, the aggregate crypto market capitalization dropped back below the $2-trillion mark, with sentiment looming in “extreme fear” territory.

BTC’s Lackluster Performance Continues

The fear of an upcoming crypto crash has taken over the market as the leading cryptocurrency by market cap, Bitcoin (BTC), slid beneath the $42,000 mark.

BTC has dropped by more than 5% over the past seven sessions. More importantly, 24-hour trading volume recorded a considerable dip of almost 8%, suggesting that momentum lower might continue to accelerate.

Even Luna Foundation Guard’s ongoing BTC-buying spree hasn’t had a significant impact on the value of BTC as it falls below critical support levels.

Earlier this week, The Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) added 2,508 BTC worth over $100 million to its UST reserve, pushing its total BTC count to 42,406.92. However, it still failed to move the needle on BTC’s price.

Meanwhile, U.S. Inflation rates for March spiked to 8.5% — the most in over 40 years — further weighing on market sentiment despite Bitcoin’s increasing application as an inflationary hedge.

At the same time, net weekly BTC outflows crossed the $134-million mark this week, the highest since the beginning of 2022. Collectively, these events have contributed to a substantial decline in Bitcoin Dominance (BTC.D), which is currently hovering around 41%.

Monero, Shiba Inu, ApeCoin Climb

Despite nearly every prominent altcoin giving back significant value over the past seven sessions, a handful of altcoins, including Monero (XMR), ApeCoin (APE), and Shiba Inu (SHIB), have managed to gain ground.

SHIB is up by almost 7%, primarily because of its latest listing on the Robinhood exchange after months of speculation. Additionally, the launch of the SHIB Metaverse and the newly added utility to the SHIB token have also helped SHIB sidestep the downward trend of the broader market. 

Likewise, Monero (XMR) has registered around 8% gains this week, finally breaking past the multi-month resistance trendline. The possibility that entities could use Monero to bypass sanctions has boosted its popularity among investors, leading to its ongoing upward rally.

ApeCoin (APE) is another altcoin that successfully avoided the ongoing bloodbath, registering a nearly 18% gain over the last seven sessions. This upward trend comes at the heels of the recent announcement by Coinbase related to the upcoming interactive animated film series The Degen Trilogy, featuring the BAYC (Bored Ape Yacht Club) NFTs as leads.

Broader Altcoin Market Trims Previous Gains

Except for the coins mentioned above, the rest of the altcoin market has dropped sharply over the last seven sessions. Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), Terra (LUNA), and Polkadot (DOT) are among the top losers this week, with each token recording near double-digit dips.

Crypto exchange Robinhood’s recent announcement of listing SOL on its platform failed to lift the value of SOL, with Solana’s native token slipping nearly 9% over the last week.

However, the good news is that Solana’s recent NFT marketplace integration and dApp metrics indicate a surge in user activity on the network, with the platform now ranking third in terms of all-time total NFT sales.

After weeks of dominating the charts, Terra (LUNA) fell below critical support levels. Over the last seven sessions, LUNA lost nearly 20% of its total value despite its BTC accumulation spree.

Alongside the sharp dip in prices, LUNA has also taken a hard hit on its daily trading volume, which is down by more than 15% in the last 24 hours.

According to market experts, uncertainties concerning LUNA’s burning mechanism may push the price of LUNA even lower in the coming weeks.

Cardano (ADA) and Polkadot (DOT) are down by almost 10% apiece, even though activity on both networks reached the highest points since mainnet launch. Other notable altcoins also faced the same fate, with the majority of the previous week’s gainers registering double-digit losses.

Paris Blockchain Week, Ariana Grande’s Fundraiser

The flagship European blockchain conference, the Paris Blockchain Week Summit (PBWS), is currently in full swing at the Palais Brongniart in Paris, with an all-star cast featuring some of the most prominent faces of the crypto and blockchain ecosystems.

In another show of pop culture adoption, artist Ariana Grande has announced that her “Protect and Defend Trans Youth Fund” charity will now accept crypto donations via the Pledge fundraising platform.

The platform’s newly launched PledgeCrypto feature allows nonprofits to accept donations in more than 130 cryptocurrencies. 

In the meantime, leading crypto wallet Metamask has expanded its institutional offerings by entering into strategic partnerships with custodians, including Hex Trust, Parfin, Gnosis Safe, and GK8.

Finally, Virgil Griffith, a former Ethereum developer, faces 63 months in prison and a $100,000 fine for helping North Koreans evade sanctions using cryptocurrencies. 

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