Crypto markets correct as macro pressures intensify along with increasing market FUD

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Welcome to another edition of Switch Weekly, your go-to newsletter for everything crypto.

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Crypto markets witnessed a healthy correction last week, as macroeconomic uncertainties prevailed with an impending rate cut, now delayed by a quarter, bringing down the overall crypto market cap to around $2.7trn.

Market leader Bitcoin was further bogged down by increasing FUD around the US government moving more than $2bn worth of Bitcoin, which they had seized from the illegal online marketplace, Silk Road. The movement to Coinbase wallet was assumed to result in massive sell pressure on Bitcoin, which resulted in prices falling below $65k, but the Spot ETF inflows continued to bid prices back higher, and BTC ended the week above $69k, with sustained momentum that took prices higher over the weekend! Blackrock and Fidelity continue to lead the race for accumulation, with BTC holdings now close to $17bn and $10bn, respectively.

Ethereum's price fall was much sharper than Bitcoin's, along with the rest of the market, as BTC's ETF bid cushioned a free fall in prices. ETH was trading below the $3.3k price level, correcting almost 10% during the week, but later staged a comeback to head higher closer to the $3.6k level. JP Morgan came out with a note saying that ETH could be defined as a commodity and not a security because of its increasing decentralization, as LIDO's staking dominance seems to be decreasing.

For the broader crypto markets, it was a mixed bag as most token prices witnessed a correction after the runup from recent weeks, although there were pockets of positive price action as well. The most prominent correction came in the surging meme coins category, which had risen exponentially in price and came under strong selling pressure and profit booking last week. DOGE, SHIB, BONK, WIF, and PEPE all corrected heavily in prices.

But all was not gloomy, as there were pockets of positive price movement. The excitement around the "halving event" for one of BTC's hard forks, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), resulted in a surge in its price. DeFi giant Maker's MKR continues to outperform the market as it announced using Ethena's USDe for collateralization of loans, resulting in higher yields on the protocol.

In Layer 2 space, it was the recently launched Mantle's MNT token that touched all-time highs, as it announced the launch of its rewards system. BitTensor's TAO made a comeback in prices as it continues to be the leader of the Crypto + AI narrative.

• BCH $695 ⏫ 1.67%

• MKR $3,660 ⏬0.54%

• MNT $1.49 ⏫ 5.50%

• TAO $594 ⏫ 6.52%

(All data here is as of 3:30 p.m., 8 April 2024)

Before we conclude, here’s a quick look at some important news from around the crypto world.

• BlackRock has added five additional authorized participants (APs) to the iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), bringing the total number to nine as the fund continues to attract billions of dollars from investors. The new APs include Wall Street banking giants Goldman Sachs, Citadel Securities, Citigroup, and UBS as well as clearing house ABN AMRO, according to a prospectus filed with the US SEC. Read more here.
  

• Cross-chain bridge Wormhole initiated an airdrop that will reward early users with 617 million of its newly issued governance token, W. The token opened at $1.66 on Solana-based decentralized exchange (DEX) OpenBook with a market capitalization of $2.98 billion and a fully diluted value figure of $16.5 billion. Read more here.

Before you get on with your day, don’t forget to flex those brain muscles with our weekly crypto crossword.

That’s it for now. Thanks for sticking around.

See you later, folks! 👋

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