Bitcoin Pulls Back Slightly after Breaching $24,000
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) made a remarkable comeback over the past week, breaking past critical resistance points of previous weeks. The BTC/USD pair breached the $24,000 mark – reaching its highest level since June 13 after registering an impressive 15% gain before finally consolidating near $23,000.
The upward rally of the largest crypto by capitalization was halted in its tracks after media outlets reported that Tesla sold nearly 75% of its BTC holdings (worth around $936 million). Following the news, BTC’s price dropped nearly 2.6% on Wednesday.
Experts are anticipating more sideways movement over the coming weeks, mostly based on the excerpts of the letter sent to Mt.Gox creditors last week, which hinted that the Rehabilitation Trustee would most likely start the repayment process of nearly 142,000 BTC next month.
Meanwhile, data from the recent Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report indicates that investors continue to add short-bitcoin positions, with inflows touching $15 million last week – a four-week inflow record worth around $88 million.
Merge Marches Forward as Altcoins Continue Their Climb
Ethereum (ETH-USD), the second-largest crypto by market capitalization, experienced a spectacular winning streak recently. Following months of stagnation, the value of ETH soared by approximately 35% this week, briefly surpassing the $1,600 mark before pulling back. This can be attributed to the recent announcement that Ethereum developers have agreed to implement the much-anticipated “Merge” on September 19, 2022.
At the same time, ETH’s quick rebound triggered whale accumulation. Data from IntoTheBlock indicates that as ETH’s value increased from around $1,050 to over $1,500, whales continued buying in and are now holding more than 22.4% of ETH’s total circulating supply.
Other than Ethereum (ETH), Polygon (MATIC) also made an impressive comeback this week, adding nearly 27% to its existing value. The launch of its new scaling solution, Polygon zkEVM, which aims to cut down Ethereum’s costs further and increase throughput, is the key catalyst behind MATIC’s comeback.
In the DeFi arena, Avalanche (AVAX) rose nearly 23% this week primarily due to its ecosystem’s ongoing growth. The platform has positioned itself as a strong challenger to Ethereum’s dominance, attracting an increasing number of investors.
Meanwhile, the announcement that Near Protocol is entering the institutional investments market in partnership with digital asset company BitGo helped NEAR token recover from earlier losses this week.
That said, one of the biggest gainers of the week is Ethereum Classic (ETC). Piggybacking on ETH’s rally, the value of ETC surged nearly 75% over the last seven sessions, reclaiming about $3 billion of market capitalization.
The “Merge” is projected to benefit ETC, primarily because it can accommodate the Ethereum miners that will lose out on the transition to proof-of-stake.
Tron and Elrond Retreat
Tron (TRX) and Elrond (EGLD) are among the prominent altcoins that missed out on this week’s rally.
Compared to the rest of the altcoins, the value of Tron (TRX) rose a modest 2.3% this week. Although the total value locked (TVL) across the Tron DeFi ecosystem has swelled, the value of the platform-native token hasn’t appreciated substantially over the past few months.
Another low-cap altcoin, Elrond (EGLD), failed to cash in on this week’s bullish appetite, registering a 1.5% loss over the past seven sessions. The scalable smart contract blockchain is trading approximately 90% below its all-time high.
Vauld Seeks Protection and Exchanges Suspend Withdrawals
After more than a month of suspending withdrawals, Singapore-based crypto exchange Vauld Group has applied for protection from its creditors, seeking more time to produce a proper restructuring plan. This moratorium is like Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S., except it doesn’t grant complete closure.
As the ripple effect continues to impact crypto service providers, Thailand-based crypto exchange Zipmex paused withdrawals, blaming it on a “combination of circumstances” beyond its control. Skybridge Capital, too, has frozen crypto investors’ funds from its Legion Strategies fund – the offshore crypto-exposed fund containing over $250 million.
Finally, Swiss crypto investment firm 21Shares launched two new risk-adjusted exchange-traded products (ETP) for BTC and ETH, both of which were listed for trading on the Swiss SIX Exchange as of yesterday.
