This week in Crypto: The market bounces back strongly

After pulling back from multi-month highs last week, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) has reversed course, storming higher in the past 24 hours to reach a new six-month high, and is pulling the entire crypto market with it into a strong upswing. The old token is trading just above the critical resistance point of $24,500, registering around 8.4% gains over the past seven sessions.

This uptrend comes on the heels of the Bitcoin network setting a new average block size record and the launch of the Bitcoin NFT Ordinals protocol. According to the latest data from Blockchain.com, the launch of the new protocol brought the average size of a Bitcoin block to more than 2.5 megabytes – the first case since Bitcoin’s launch in 2009.

At the same time, it also triggered a sudden short-term spike in network usage, contributing nearly 44 million new non-zero BTC wallets to the network’s user base.

Another reason behind BTC’s positive price momentum is the increase in short liquidations in the middle of a price squeeze. Traders have liquidated nearly $85.87 million of short BTC positions in the past day, helping BTC’s price storm higher.

Altcoins maintain their winning streak

Taking advantage of favorable market conditions and improving investor sentiment, most altcoins have extended relative to last week’s rally. While nearly every other token from the top 10 altcoins by market capitalization posted modest gains, several low- and mid-cap altcoins recorded exceptional performances throughout the week.

Hedera ( HBAR ) broke out of a long-term consolidation, rising 23% amid rising network activity after tech giant Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) joined the network’s governing council. Meanwhile, the value of Mina Protocol’s $MINA token has added another 38.7% to its previous gains, as the OpenMina node browser concept with Viable Systems continues to gain mainstream adoption.

In addition to this week’s significant gains, GameFi and Initial Game Offering (IGO) platform BinaryX (BNX) have also rallied this week. The value of the $BNX token increased by 34.50% over the past seven sessions following the BinaryX team’s decision to proceed with a 1:100 split of the original token and the unveiling of plans to add more VR and AR games on their IGO platform.

Frax Share & PancakeSwap Slip Despite Market Momentum

Despite gains across the broader market, Frax Share (FXS) and PancakeSwap (CAKE) failed to capitalize on rebounding investor sentiment this week. The value of Frax Shares $FXS token fell by 17.60% over the past seven sessions due to the growing uncertainty as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) steps up its crackdown on the crypto industry, especially the $BUSD token.

Echoing the loss on Frax Share, the value of Binance Chain-based DEX PancakeSwap’s $CAKE token fell by 8.40% this week, primarily due to the increasing scrutiny of Binance’s $BUSD stablecoin. After the SEC served a “Wells” notice to Paxos Trust Company – the issuer of the $BUSD token – to stop minting several of Binance’s dollar-pegged stablecoins, protocols with the largest $BUSD liquidity pools are facing heat.

Because PancakeSwap has $334 million in $BUSD pools, nearly half of the total $BUSD pools across the entire DeFi sector, the value of the $CAKE token was caught in the SEC’s crosshairs, resulting in its ongoing devaluation.

$2 billion Web3 Initiative, Blockchain Sim cards and more

Hub71, the Abu Dhabi-based technology company, has announced its new initiative to help advance Web3 innovations by providing Web3 startups with access to funding, partnerships and programs. The initiative, called “Hub71+ Digital Assets”, includes a $2 billion fund to help deserving startups.

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Tree-Graph Blockchain Research Institute (known as the Conflux Network) has partnered with China Telecom to develop a blockchain-powered SIM card called BSIM. According to the official announcement, this new product will serve as a secure option for users to store private keys and use the SIM’s built-in features to validate digital transactions.

Finally, notorious North Korean hackers, most notably the Lazarus Group, have begun using a new cryptocurrency mixing service to launder stolen crypto funds. This new mixer is supposedly a “relaunched” variant of Blender, which operates under a brand called “Sinbad.”

However, following crypto research firm Elliptic’s report uncovering this new mixer, crypto exchanges Binance and Huobi have frozen several accounts linked to the group, most of which were active and trying to move the funds linked to 2022’s Harmony Horizon bridge hack.

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