This Week in Coins: Bitcoin, Ethereum See first week of losses this year

Those hoping for a 2023 Bitcoin bull run will have to keep waiting. Most of the leading cryptocurrencies have seen large losses in value in the past week, which put a damper on it almost continuous market gains seen since the beginning of the new year.

Bitcoin (BTC) took its biggest intraweek loss of the year so far. The world’s top cryptocurrency by market cap fell 7.5% over the past seven days to $21,760 at the start of the weekend, according to CoinGecko data. Ethereum, the No. 2 cryptocurrency by market capitalization, sank 8.5% this week to change hands at $1,524 at the time of writing.

Much of the bearish sentiment this week stemmed from US regulatorswhich has kept a hawkish eye on crypto in the wake of several high-profile bankruptcies last year from firms such as Celsius, Three Arrows Capital and FTX.

On Wednesday, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted that he had heard “rumors that the SEC wants to get rid of crypto staking in the US for retail customers.”

Armstrong then defended the practice of Ethereum staking, where anyone with 32 ETH (about $50,000) can lock their coins and start mining Ethereum. The Coinbase CEO argued that this does not make Ethereum a security.

On Thursday, the rumors were confirmed when the SEC announced that it had hit Kraken with a $30 million fine and ordered it to shut down its betting service. The implications of this enforcement action are far-reaching.

As for the rest of the crypto market, one of the biggest falls in value among the top thirty coins this week came from Monero (XMR), a coin that facilitates private transactions. Monero sank 14% to reach $154 at the time of writing.

Avalanche (AVAX) similarly fell 13.5% and is trading at $18.14 at the time of writing. Popular memecoin Dogecoin (DOGE) also fell 13% and is currently at $0.082035.

Solana (SOL) faced the biggest losses among the top cryptocurrencies, shaving 17% of its market value to trade at $20.85 on Saturday.

Holders of Cardano (ADA), Litecoin (LTC), Cosmos Hub (ATOM) and Toncoin (TON) all saw their wallets fall by 8%.

The only leading cryptocurrency to make significant gains this week was the DAO token for crypto’s largest floating staking protocol Lido Finance. LDO inflated 11% to $2.55 after the team released details of one big upgrade focus on unlocking withdrawals on Ethereum and diversifying the network’s validators.

The upgrade still needs to be approved by a DAO vote, so LDO’s price rise was likely spurred by investors wanting to vote, as well as those worried about the future of Ethereum’s stake after the SEC’s crackdown on Kraken. This move is likely to continue to hang over the crypto markets for several weeks.