Altcoin season has officially started; crypto stocks, like MicroStrategy and Coinbase are also booming and one bank expects a massive bitcoin price increase much sooner than they originally thought. These stories and more, this week in crypto.
Altcoins Outperform Bitcoin
Bitcoin touched $39000 this week, its highest price since April 2022, but explosive gains for many altcoins outperforming BTC prompted calls of an altcoin season. AVAX, the native token of the Avalanche blockchain, surged 97% as JPMorgan is testing asset tokenization on its network. Beyond AVAX, Helium, Blur and Rune were among the best performing altcoins, doubling in value in just one month.
Reddit’s MOON Token on the Rise
Social platform Reddit has reached a major milestone by completing the decentralization of its MOON token. By relinquishing control of the distribution contract, the supply of MOON coins is capped, and it ensures that no further modifications can be made to that contract, establishing MOON as a fully decentralized entity. The price of Reddit’s coin reacted positively to the news, trading 150% higher than just a month ago.
MicroStrategy Doubles Down on BTC
Microstrategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, bought around 16,000 bitcoins in November, worth about $600 million, thereby increasing its holdings by 10 percent. The software firm now holds 175,000 bitcoins bought at an average price of about $30,000 per coin and the November purchase marks an acceleration in the firm’s bitcoin buying activities.
Coinbase Stock Triples
Coinbase’s shares surged 62% this month, showcasing Wall Street’s renewed trust in the top US crypto exchange. Amid Binance’s legal issues, investors anticipate increased activity for Coinbase, contributing to the stock’s threefold rise in 2023. Analysts say that Coinbase is in its best position since going public, having survived the industry shake out over the past couple of years.
FTX to Sell Grayscale Assets
FTX received approval in bankruptcy court to sell its $744M in investments in Grayscale trusts to raise money and repay creditors, who are owed billions of dollars. Since FTX filed for bankruptcy last year amid fraud allegations, the company’s advisers have been untangling a complex web of debt owed to various creditors. So far $7 billion in assets have been recovered.
Another Superstar Sued for Endorsing NFTs
Cristiano Ronaldo faces a $1 billion class action lawsuit over the promotion of his NFT collection on Binance. The collection featured animated statues depicting key moments in the star footballer’s life, with some NFTs selling for up to $10,000. Plaintiffs in the case now claim Ronaldo’s endorsement led to costly and risky investments, accusing him of making deceptive statements in connection to Binance promotions.
AI-related Crypto Tokens Rally
AI-related cryptocurrencies surged by $2 billion in less than two weeks, with top tokens experiencing significant gains. Notably, Bittensor’s TAO token soared 86% in the last couple of weeks, notable for its blockchain-based machine learning network. The FET token of Fetch.AI, which specializes in AI-powered data solutions climbed 46%, while Covalent, which offers unified blockchain data access, saw its CQT token gain 42%.
Standard Chartered: Crypto Spring is Here
Standard Chartered Bank has revised its $100,000 Bitcoin forecast to occur before the halving, citing increased optimism due to the anticipated introduction of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs. Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s head of crypto research, referred to a crypto spring, and highlighted Bitcoin’s dominance and miner hoarding as driving factors for its surging value.
That’s what’s happened this week in crypto, see you next week.