Last week’s promising rally has come to a halt, as the majority of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization consolidated below key levels.
Although President Joe Biden’s executive order on crypto temporarily moved the needle higher for markets, momentum quickly reversed, erasing earlier gains.
BTC Consolidates Below $40K Again
Although BTC’s value jumped by almost 8.5% after a “now-deleted” post on the White House’s long-awaited executive order on cryptocurrency, Bitcoin has been unable to hang onto gains. Since then, Bitcoin has fallen back below $40,000 and is currently consolidating just above $39,000 — marking a dip of almost 10% this week.
From the outset of 2022, BTC has faced significant obstacles to surpass the $43,000 level. While the leading crypto has found strong support in the range of $36,000 to $39,000, breaking past key resistance has presented a recurring problem for BTC bulls. Still, this hasn’t deterred institutional capital, with inflows to Bitcoin-related funds reaching the highest level since December last week.
According to Arcane Research’s latest weekly report, BTC trading volumes have risen recently after languishing at low levels for most of 2022. This indicates that the network is becoming more active as larger amounts of coins are moved around the chain.
The on-chain activity report by Glassnode this week highlighted that the percent of total BTC supply on exchanges has stopped declining recently and is now moving sideways, indicating a trend that could conceivably be bearish for BTC.
Altcoin Breakout Materializes
While major cryptos are trimming gains or reversing lower, lesser-known altcoins are registering meteoric growth irrespective of higher inflation, a strengthening dollar, the ongoing war, and historically high oil prices.
The latest data from TradingView shows that the value of Monero (XMR) and Kyber Network (KNC) have surged significantly as traders pile into privacy protocols.
Between March 7 and 9, XMR pumped by more than 36%, jumping from lows of $155 to move past the $200 mark. This sudden growth in value comes at the heels of the increase in global regulatory concerns and sanctions, as users transition towards privacy-focused protocols to prevent their assets from being frozen or seized.
Kyber Network (KNC) has notched almost 37% growth in the last couple of days, jumping from lows of $2.33 to a daily high of $3.19 alongside a 222% spike in daily trading volume.
Data from VORTECS suggest that KNC had a bullish outlook since the release of Kyber 3.0 in January 2022. However, the protocol’s launch on Arbitrum this week to offer faster transaction speeds at lower costs has helped KNC rally.
This week’s top gainer is Waves (WAVES), which has maintained its meteoric rally from last week. WAVES has risen by more than 40% in the past seven sessions.
Despite the ongoing geopolitical challenges, the Waves ecosystem has seen token prices and TVL (total value locked) rise in tandem.
Other Waves ecosystem-based coins like Neutrino USD (USDN) stablecoin, the Neutrino Token (NSBT), and the VIRES Finance (VIRES) token have also delivered promising returns.
The WAVES token has maintained its upward rally largely due to the platform’s ongoing migration to Waves 2.0. Once completed, the Waves 2.0 ecosystem will offer advanced interoperability features, connecting Waves to other prominent blockchains.
Leading Coins Follow Bitcoin
Leading altcoins in terms of market capitalization had a rough week. Among the top losers were Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), Cosmos (ATOM), and Avalanche (AVAX).
Memecoins DOGE and SHIBA, too, met with the same fate. With most of these tokens registering double-figure losses, the top 10 list by capitalization witnessed a significant reshuffle.
Trading volume for most of the leading altcoins is on a consistent decline. For instance, the 24-hour ETH trading volume is down by 14%, ADA and ATOM by 5%, SOL by 3%, and AVAX by 18%.
Still, as the broader market continues to rebound, some experts claim that these lows will play a critical role in driving investor interest, which could spark a bullish breakout.
Crypto Donations Continue to Flood Ukraine
With Russia showing few signs of compromise in ongoing talks with Ukraine, the total crypto donations to the Ukrainian government, NGOs, and other charities have topped $108 million, with the official BTC and ETH addresses of the government and the BTC address of NGO Come Back Alive among the top three beneficiaries.
Other industry leaders are also stepping up to support Ukraine. Crypto exchange Kraken will be donating $10 million from its revenues for the first half of 2022 from Russia-based trading to relief efforts.
Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has also joined the fundraising efforts for Ukraine, offering $2 million in ETH.
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