BTC, ETH Retrace, Tesla Sold No Bitcoin in Q1, New Memecoin (PEPE) Hype Soars: This Week’s Market Roundup

Last week was considerably more eventful inside and outside of the cryptocurrency industry, with CPI numbers showing declining inflation rates in the US, while Ethereum underwent its most notable upgrade since the merger.

Consequently, the entire market reacted positively, with BTC surging to $31,000 to chart a 10-month high, while ETH skyrocketed to over $2,100 and painted its highest price point in 11 months. This week began with less volatility, but the landscape changed for the worse a few days ago.

Bitcoin’s peak came exactly one week ago. The following days were quiet before the cryptocurrency went south on Monday morning. Despite recovering its losses almost immediately, the asset began to fall hard again in the middle of the week. This time, the bears took it from over $30,000 to under $29,000. The last 24 hours were not kind either, with BTC falling below $28,000 for the first time in 12 days.

ETH was among the best after the Shapella upgrade, but it quickly lost momentum amid large-scale withdrawals and deposits. The asset lost over $200 in the past few days, falling to and below $1,900.

Most of the alternative coins are in similar, if not worse, shape on a weekly scale. The most significant losses from the top 100 alts come from Stacks (-20%), Immutable (-17.5%), Lido DAO (-17%), Algorand (-16%), Conflux (-15%), Kava (- 15%), and many others.

OKB is among the few altcoins that have managed to defy general market sentiment by gaining over 13% in the same time frame. As a result, the asset is trading well above $50. Overall, however, the total crypto market cap has fallen by roughly $100 billion on CoinGecko.

Market data

Market Cap: $1.238 Billion | 24H Vol: $59B | BTC dominance: 44.1%

BTC: $28,215 (-7.2%) | ETH: $1,916 (-5%) | BNB: $327 (+0.9%)

This week’s crypto headlines you shouldn’t miss

How someone turned $27 into $1 million in days with PEPE, but there’s a catch. Cryptocurrency hype fads are a relatively frequent development amid bull markets, but this one, involving a new memecoin called PEPE, came out of nowhere for most. However, one investor was savvy enough to make a fantastic profit.

Tesla did not sell BTC during Q1 2023. The most famous electric car manufacturer made the news in 2021 when it bought bitcoin for over 1 billion dollars. Since then, however, the Elon Musk spearhead has disposed of certain portions of the BTC holdings. Nevertheless, Tesla refrained from selling more during the first quarter of 2023.

Gary Gensler: The SEC won’t change its stance on crypto exchanges. The SEC chair has become among the most hated people from the crypto community due to his policies on regulating the industry. Despite the massive backlash, some of it coming from SEC personnel and U.S. politicians, Gensler said his agency has no plans to change its behavior.

Coinbase is about to go to court with the SEC: Brian Armstrong. Some of the aforementioned backlash came from the largest US-based crypto exchange – Coinbase – and its CEO, in particular. Brian Armstrong warned the SEC that both parties could go to court if the latter fails to clarify its regulatory stance.

NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal served in the FTX Class Action. The FTX drama doesn’t seem to be stopping, and it’s involving more and more celebrities. The last to be served in a class action lawsuit was NBA legend – Shaquille O’Neal – who managed to evade the authorities on several occasions before that.

Do Kwon Transferred $7M to Law Firm Just Before Terra Crash (Report). The OG drama in 2022 started with the Terra collapse, and there’s more development on that front as well. One of the latest reports on the case claimed that Do Kwon had transferred $7 million to a law firm shortly before the crash