Crypto market shakes off the summer heat 😎

Your weekly market round-up

Last week, the crypto market was largely rangebound, with BTC leading the consolidation phase, trading in the narrow $27k-$29k range. Despite the US regulatory crackdown intensifying last week, the broader crypto market is still trading comfortably above the $1.2 trillion market cap.

The world’s largest crypto exchange Binance came under regulatory spotlight last week. The US commodities regulator CFTC accused it of trading against customers, misusing internal trading channels, and making unregulated derivative markets. However, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has denied all charges and plans to fight these claims in court.

In another noteworthy development, the CFTC clarified that BTC, ETH, and LTC are commodities, in contrast to SEC Chair Gary Gensler's recent comments that ETH is a security. 

Meanwhile, XRP is experiencing a significant price increase as investors bet on a favorable verdict in the Ripple vs. SEC lawsuit. XRP experienced a 25% price increase last week before cooling off slightly.

Another major development to watch in the coming weeks is the significant drop in liquidity and trading volumes, particularly on Binance. Such conditions can be accompanied by high volatility in prices on either side, as large orders can sway prices rapidly. The regulatory fallout, too, is likely to keep the market on shaky ground.

On-chain activity

Over the last few weeks, the crypto market has decoupled from Nasdaq, which it had been closely following since the beginning of last year. And bitcoin has also posted strong gains amid highly uncertain market conditions. 

The Bitcoin: Accumulation Trend Score of Glassnode shows that market participants are aggressively accumulating coins as BTC climbs towards the $30,000 level. The current buying pattern draws parallels with the 2018-19 bull cycle. 

Source: Twitter

Chart of the week

AirSwap- AST

After testing one of its key support levels around the ₹7.4 level, AST has been in an uptrend for several days. It peaked at ₹12.28 before falling slightly. It is currently attempting to establish itself firmly around the ₹11 level, which is another important support level.

The RSI momentum indicator is rising and approaching the 70 level, indicating strength in the upward momentum. Furthermore, the ADX, or momentum strength indicator, is rising. If ADX is greater than 24 and rises in tandem with the token or security price, the uptrend is likely to continue. A break above ₹12 may assist AST in reaching the ₹15 level. 

Source: Tradingview

Coin of the week

Stellar- XLM

XLM witnessed a meteoric rise last week with over a 25% spike in price. It crossed above the $0.10 level for the first time in five months, rising from the $0.077 level. 

The recent tie-up with Polkadot gave a boost to XLM price. The multi-chain network will connect with Stellar Network to harness more liquidity and facilitate the smooth flow of assets between the two networks via the Spacewalk bridge. 

It will connect Polkadot with Stellar Network’s fiat on-ramps around the world, connecting DeFi applications with forex exchange. The strategic partnership comes amid liquidity concerns in the crypto market. 

Hot of the press

Algorand launches AlgoBharat 

Algorand, a Layer-1 blockchain, launched AlgoBharat, on 29 March. The aim of the initiative is to develop real-world blockchain utilities for the country. It will focus on three things: broadening the Web 3.0 developer base, supporting and investing in Web 3.0 startups, and partnering with organizations. The team will be led by Anil Kakani, the Foundation’s VP, and Tech Lead Nikhil Varma. (Source: The Hindu)

Epoch for Shapella fork confirmed   

Ethereum's core developers confirmed the epoch for the Shapella fork. It will take effect at epoch 194,048, which is scheduled for 10:27 p.m. UTC on 12 April. Ethereum validators can soon withdraw their Ether from the Beacon Chain. Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP-4895 will enable the withdrawals by pushing staked Ether from the Beacon Chain to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). (Source: Cointelegraph)

MicroStrategy increases its bet on BTC 

MicroStrategy’s co-founder and former CEO Michael Saylor took to Twitter to announce a 6,455 BTC purchase by the firm. The purchase was made between 16 February and 23 March at an average price of $23,238 per BTC. With this addition, MicroStrategy’s BTC holdings have increased to 138,955. Referring to an SEC filing, Saylor also clarified that MicroStrategy has now repaid its Silvergate loan. (Source: Cointelegraph)

Polygon’s zkEVM mainnet is out now 

Ethereum scaling solution Polygon released the zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) mainnet on Monday. The mainnet will increase the finality and lower the costs of  Ethereum smart contracts. Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s creator, initiated the first transaction with a hex-coded message that read, “A few million constraints for man, unconstrained scalability for mankind.” (Source: Decrypt)

Crypto wallet firm Ledger raises $108M  

French crypto wallet firm Ledger has raised $108 million in a Series C funding round. The company raised $385 million in 2021. The latest round of funding is led by new investors in the company, including True Global Ventures, Digital Finance Group, and VaynerFund. Existing investors such as 10T and Cap Horn also participated in the funding round. (Source: Techcrunch)

Arbitrum’s first governance proposal hits a major roadblock

Arbitrum’s first governance proposal that would give Arbitrum Foundation control of 750 million ARB tokens that would fund a special grant program to fast-track the growth of the platform has hit a roadblock. The governance proposal also allows the Arbitrum Foundation to sidestep community governance when issuing the tokens from special grants. The latest proposal undermines the importance of token holders in the governance proposal, which is of concern to crypto experts. (Source: Coindesk)

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

Adios. See you later!