Your guide to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Web 3.0
Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) lead the weekly gains among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization as their prices rose 11.2% and 9.7% respectively.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin was changing hands at $20,981, up 1% on the day, with Ethereum trading at $1,551, up 2% in the past 24 hours, data from CoinGecko shows.
These are by far the best performers among the market’s biggest cryptoassets, with sixth-ranked XRP gaining 5% over the past week, followed by Polygon (MATIC), which is up 4.3% over the same time period.
The solid performance shown by the two leading cryptocurrencies comes despite Wednesday’s correction that occurred in anticipation of a major announcement by US federal prosecutors that many believed would target a major player in the sector.
Although markets were indeed feeling the pinch, with both BTC and ETH plunging around 5% immediately after the announcement was made, the correction proved largely short-lived as criminal charges were brought against little-known Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato, which the Feds called a key member of a so-called “cryptocrime axis.”
The latest move has also been seen in the sharp increase in the entire market’s capitalization. This time last week, the crypto market was hovering around a $943 billion capitalization; today this figure is over 1 trillion dollars.
Has Bitcoin Bottomed Yet?
With Bitcoin eyeing the key $21,000 level, the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has once again crossed $1 trillion, which experts see as a sign of the market’s potential recovery from the painful crypto winter of 2022.
According to CoinGecko’s latest annual crypto industry report, last year, which saw the demise of several high-profile players, ended with a total crypto market value of $829 billion, down 64.1% from $2.3 trillion in January 2022.
Daily trading volumes have also declined steadily in 2022, averaging $86.0 billion, the report said.
Source: CoinGecko.
“2022 marked a turning point for the crypto industry — one that washed out unsustainable excesses from the bull run,” CoinGecko founder Bobby Ong said in a statement shared with Decrypt. “In this new year, we hope to see crypto slowly recover, with more efforts to rebuild trust and credibility.”
In terms of last week’s performance beyond the top ten, the top three performers are Solana (SOL), which has risen 28.5% in the past week, Ethereum-based meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB), whose price rose 20.7% over span, and Polkadot (DOT) with an increase of 10.9%.
