Memecoins
This Week in Coins: Bitcoin is boring, but the bizarre coin antics continue
Illustration by Mitchell Preffer for Decrypt.
Most cryptocurrencies are down this week, as Bitcoin price and other major coins and tokens struggled to gain traction during another depressing week.
Bitcoin is now trading at $61,275, according to CoinGecko, down more than 3% over seven days.
For a market known for its up-and-down volatility, things are…well, boring. This is the verdict of analyst and founder of Capriole Investments, Charles Edwards, who said on Twitter on Thursday, the lack of movement for the leading cryptocurrency is part of the normal cycle.
The largest digital asset, which exploded in value following the historic approval of U.S. exchange-traded funds (ETFs), struggled to gain traction after dipping below its 2021 record of $69,044 early april.
The exhaustion of ETF hype amid concerns that the Federal Reserve will not cut interest rates has put the brakes on the coin’s seemingly unstoppable rise.
But things could improve: for three days this week, the money flowed in TradFi products based on Bitcoin.
It may be a while before Bitcoin reaches its all-time high again. A Friday report from CoinShares said that ultimately it will depend on what the US central bank does.
Coin mania continued, as developers continued to do weird and wacky things to get their assets noticed, but more established cryptocurrencies that made big gains last week still suffered, with the frothy activity ultimately not lifting the needle. Solana-base Bonkfor example, is down almost 15%, trading at $0.00002342.
dog hat, which also runs on Solana, fell more than 7% over seven days. Its price is now $3.12.
Finally, Dogecoin– Elon Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency and 10th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization – enters the weekend down more than 10% at $0.145. But it’s not all bad news: the original meme coin looks set to reward long-term holders as it approaches a “golden cross”.
Somewhere else, Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, struggled more than other major cryptocurrencies, falling almost 7% during the week. Its price is now $2,927.
The asset has been gradually declining since a high-profile lawsuit filed by software company Consensys. alleged that the SEC was deliberately trying to make things difficult for players in the Ethereum sphere.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.