Crypto market awaits Shanghai outcome ⏱️

With an overall market cap of over $1.2 trillion, the market traded sideways last week. There was a lot of token-specific action, though. So let’s begin by highlighting the main developments for you.

With the clock ticking for Shanghai, ETH witnessed a rally of around 5%. One may expect more volatility in ETH prices in the coming days as the market digests the development and we witness the effects of ETH withdrawals. Other beneficiaries from the upcoming upgrade include liquid staking protocols. So Lido (LDO) and Rocket Pool (RPL) are witnessing a surge in trading activity.

BTC is still trading around the $28,000 mark, having traded between $27,800 and $28,600 for most of the last week. The little volatility witnessed was due to higher regulatory scrutiny in the US. One of the most affected cryptos was Binance, and rumors surrounding it led to BTC price moves, too.

The rumor that Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao would receive a red notice from Interpol was at the heart of it all. It triggered temporary BNB and BTC sell-offs, which only came to a halt after Binance denied the allegations.

Meanwhile, DOGE managed a rally, as Twitter’s desktop icon changed from a blue bird to the memecoin’s dog mascot! DOGE prices spiked 35% in the hour after Musk confirmed the change via a tweet. The rumor mills are now abuzz with news of Musk integrating DOGE payments for Twitter. However, no such development has been confirmed as yet. DOGE ended the week close to 10% higher.

BTC’s on-chain activity is noteworthy this week. Because the number of BTC holders is on a rise, according to on-chain analysis platform Santiment. And the rate at which the number is rising is very similar to January 2021, when BTC made the all-time high of $68,789.

As interesting as developments on the BTC front are, ETH warrants a closer look. With its Shanghai upgrade taking place this week, ETH is trading in a narrow range between ₹1,59,000 and ₹1,65,000. As the upgrade opens up staking withdrawals, the market will closely look to see what those who staked ETH during the Beacon launch will do. Any mass withdrawal requests are likely to be followed by a sharp drop in prices.

According to data from Santiment, the amount of ETH in self-custody wallets is at an all-time high. And there is a steady decline in ETH on exchanges. Currently, ETH on exchanges stands at 10.3%. This shows remarkable confidence of investors in Ethereum.

During this week, if ETH breaks above ₹1,65,000 with strong trading volumes, it will meet the next major resistance at ₹2,15,000. Thankfully, the RSI is moving in the 50-70 level, indicating a bullish attitude. However, you may want to maintain caution ahead of the big event.

If you are new to charts, read our beginner’s guide to TradingView charts. 

ApeCoin- APE

Although ETH, BNB, BTC, and DOGE have all been in the news, APE is one to look out for this week. We’d understand if you asked why. After all, since the onset of 2023, APE has failed to arrest its downward momentum. It has corrected by almost 30% since February, despite the overall market positivity. Yet, it’s our coin of the week because, despite the price direction, Santiment data shows that it has been witnessing the largest network growth for two months now.

APE token holders are also increasing their balances, indicating a rise in retail investors. Also, ApeCoin is witnessing network growth—meaning, more developers are getting involved.

These developments are significant because a price rise often follows a hike in network activity.

Before we close, a quick look at the news to help you do your fundamental analysis.

MicroStrategy buys more BTC

MicroStrategy has purchased an additional 1,045 BTC for $23.9M at an average price of $28,016 between 23 March and 4 April this year. With the latest addition, MicroStrategy holds about 140,000 BTC, worth around $4B. The average purchase price of these holdings is $29,803. Earlier, on 27 March, MicroStrategy disclosed that it purchased 6,455 BTC for $161M in the preceding five weeks. (Source: Coindesk)

LayerZero raises $120M at a $3B valuation

LayerZero Labs, a blockchain infrastructure provider, has raised $120 million in a Series B funding round valued at $3 billion. Investment firm a16z, auction house Christie’s, and VC firms Sequoia Capital and Samsung Next are among the investors. The funds wil go toward funding growth initiatives such as hiring and expanding the company’s presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

LayerZero provides interoperability and cross-chain messaging infrastructure. That means it allows dApp developers to connect to multiple blockchains without relying on middlemen. (Source: Coindesk)

March NFT sales close to $2 billion

The NFT market reached $2 billion in sales in March, according to DappRadar. The spike was preceded by a noteworthy rise of 117% in February. However, the data shows, the trading volume fell by 4% from $2.04 billion in February to over $1.95 billion in March. The current figures come with the highest NFT trading volume since May 2022—the Terra collapse time. The majority of the trading volume comes from the popular NFT marketplace, Blur, which made up for $1.3 billion of it. (Source: Decrypt)

Swiss government-owned bank to offer crypto services

PostFinance, Swiss government-owned financial services firm, has announced a partnership with regulated digital asset services provider, Sygnum Bank. The aim is to provide its users with access to crypto.

The bank will begin by allowing its 2.5 million customers to buy, store, and sell popular cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH. More crypto tokens will follow in time.

The move by the government entity reflects a stark contrast to the situation in the US, where crypto enterprises are being subjected to increasing regulatory scrutiny. (Source: CoinDesk)

Latin American bank launches BTG Dol stablecoin

Last Tuesday, Rio de Janeiro-based BTG Pactual, Latin America’s biggest investment bank, launched its stablecoin, BTG Dol. The asset will run on Polygon. BTG said the dollar-backed stablecoin would allow holders to dollarize a part of their equity.

Polygon, which is a sidechain network compatible with Ethereum, is already a favorite with big brands such as Starbucks and Disney. (Source: Decrypt)

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

See you later, folks.👋

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