Volatility in crypto markets rises as macro shocks spoil all-time highs 📈

Hola folks!

Welcome back to our weekly update on all things crypto. The crypto market is the talk of the town right now and all the chatter around crypto is mostly for positive reasons. But this doesn't mean the crypto gains are a one-way street. 

In major news, Bitcoin is feeling the heat as it enters the ‘pre-halving’ danger zone. Ethereum, the second largest crypto, underwent a major upgrade on March 13th. The network has already started benefiting from the upgrade as the total supply of Ether dropped to its lowest level since August 2022. 

Overall, the crypto market is currently volatile. Read the newsletter to learn more about the Ethereum upgrade, its impact on the blockchain, and the major market developments in the past week. End the read by flexing your brain with a fun crypto crossword.

Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade went live on March 13. The upgrade is set to revolutionize the blockchain landscape by enhancing scalability to improve transaction speeds. This upgrade holds immense potential for Ethereum's future. Watch the video below to learn more about the Dencun upgrade and how the upgrade impacts other layer-2 blockchains.

Crypto markets had a very volatile week, as new ATHs were achieved for BTC several times during the past few days and the price surge spilled over into the Altcoin universe, sending the overall market cap to almost $2.9 trillion. 

However, hopes of reaching all-time highs of overall crypto market cap at just above $3 trillion, were crushed on Friday as US inflation data came in higher than expected. This has resulted in a readjustment of interest rate cut expectations, sharply lowering the prices of "risk-on" assets like equity and crypto. 

Bitcoin continued to post healthy gains even amongst heightened volatility, as it was able to breach through multiple all-time highs and traded above $73k. However, there was a sharp correction later in the week and prices dropped to below $66k, having currently settled around the $67k level. 

Overall, the continuous spot ETF purchases have further accelerated with this week witnessing the first day of more than $1bn in inflows. Blackrock and Fidelity continue to lead the race for accumulation, with BTC holdings now over $15bn and $9bn respectively. Microstrategy too upped the ante, by purchasing over $800mm worth of BTC using convertible debt and plans to add another $525mm to its position. 

It was an important week for the Ethereum ecosystem as well, with the much-touted Dencun upgrade going live, and ushering in the era of "Surge" for ETH. The upgrade is central to Ethereum's long-term rollup-centric roadmap and has already brought down costs for transacting on Layer 2s massively. 

ETH prices shot up above the crucial $4k levels but corrected sharply with the rest of the markets and are now trading around the $3.5k levels, ending the week in red.

It was a mixed bag for broader crypto markets as most tokens surged higher in prices, along with BTC's breach of all-time highs, but witnessed equally sharp corrections. 

The most remarkable price action continues to be in the surging meme coin segment, with a new entrant to the mix Dog in a Hat or WIF token, surging over 50% as its' community raised funds to get their mascot on the Las Vegas Sphere. 

FLOKI and PEPE too recorded healthy gains during the volatile week, but overall Meme coins corrected sharply over the week, with only WIF ending in the green. 

Solana's SOL continues to surge in prices as it has become the network of choice for launching new meme tokens and has witnessed heightened activity! It has become the 4th largest crypto by market cap, displacing Binance's BNB token, as well as becoming the 4th largest ecosystem in DeFi TVL, beating Arbitrum. Another Layer 1, seeing positive price action is Avalanche's AVAX, where the foundation disclosed the purchase of some meme tokens within its ecosystem, adding fuel to the frenzy.

In the Layer 1 competitor space, NEAR also had a great week in terms of price rise last week as the foundation announced a partnership with Cosmose AI, a leading AI analytics firm. 

• BTC $67,820 ⏬ 4.96%

• ETH $3,584 ⏬ 10.58%

• SOL $201 ⏫ 35.59%

• AVAX $60.31 ⏫ 38.06% 

(All data here is as of 2.20 p.m., 18 March 2024)

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

• Ethereum activated its much-anticipated “Dencun” upgrade, a move to spur growth on layer-2 networks like Arbitrum and Polygon, by reducing their data fees. Read more here. 

• Craig Wright is not Satoshi Nakamoto or the author of the Bitcoin whitepaper, UK judge James Mellor said after closing arguments in the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA) trial. The evidence presented during the month-long trial was “overwhelming,” the judge said, adding that he plans to write a ruling detailing his conclusions—-including that Wright did not create the Bitcoin system. 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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