This Week in Crypto: Market Rebounds Sharply

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

This uptrend comes at the heels of the Bitcoin network setting a fresh record in terms of average block size and the Bitcoin NFT Ordinals protocol launch. Per the latest data from Blockchain.com, the launch of the new protocol propelled the average size of a Bitcoin block to more than 2.5 megabytes – the first instance since Bitcoin’s launch in 2009.

At the same time, it also sparked a sudden short-term surge in network usage, contributing almost 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 amid a price squeeze. Traders have liquidated nearly $85.87 million worth of short BTC positions over the past day, further helping BTC’s price storm higher. 

Altcoins Maintain Their Winning Streak

Harnessing favorable market conditions and improving investor sentiment, most of the altcoins have expanded upon the prior week’s gains. While almost every other token from the top 10 altcoins by market capitalization delivered modest gains, several low and mid-cap altcoins recorded exceptional performances throughout the week.

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

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

Frax Share & PancakeSwap Slip Despite Market Momentum

Despite the gains across the broader market, Frax Share (FXS) and PancakeSwap (CAKE) failed to capitalize on rebounding investor sentiment this week. The value of Frax Share’s $FXS token dropped by 17.60% over the last seven sessions due to the growing uncertainty as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ramps up its crackdown on the crypto industry, especially against the $BUSD token.

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

Because PancakeSwap has $334 million in $BUSD pools, nearly half the total of $BUSD pools across the 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 Card, and More

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

Meanwhile, the Shanghai Tree-Graph Blockchain Research Institute (known as Conflux Network) has partnered with China Telecom to develop a blockchain-powered sim card called BSIM. Per 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, infamous North Korean hackers, especially the Lazarus Group, have started using a new cryptocurrency mixing service to launder stolen crypto funds. This new mixer is supposedly a “relaunched” variant of Blender, operating 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 tied to 2022’s Harmony Horizon bridge hack.

Disclosure