Over the past seven days, most of the top 30 cryptocurrencies by market cap saw little loss or gain. Bitcoin (BTC), for example, started the weekend trading around $26,051, which is in line with the previous week’s level.
A brief surge in Bitcoin’s popularity came Tuesday when a US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit judge ordered a review of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) rejection of Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF application. According to the court, the SEC has not provided a “conclusive explanation” for its denial.
Ethereum (ETH) has seen inconsistent losses of 0.4% over the past week and is now changing hands at around $1,633. Most other leading cryptocurrencies are priced at similar levels to the previous weekend. Exceptions are Toncoin (TON), which is up 32% to $1.95, and Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which is up 8.6% to $206.87.
The rise in the price of Toncoin can be attributed to the development of the TON ecosystem. The TON Foundation, which was spun off from Telegram to develop TON, recently released a Web3 app store for Telegram and launched a community-driven initiative called Believers.ton to encourage ecosystem development. Bitcoin Cash was seeing one of its fastest gains when Grayscale/SEC news broke on Tuesday. The price increase continued until the weekend. Coinbase shares also surged 15% following the news.
However, any gains Bitcoin and Ethereum made during the week were wiped out early Friday. The industry reacted to the news that the SEC needed more time to approve or deny six bitcoin ETF applications. Accordingly, it’s been another week of a decent news cycle for those looking for signs of increasing global cryptocurrency adoption. A highlight was the launch of an NFT-based loyalty program by Lufthansa on the Polygon platform on Thursday. However, Polygon’s MATIC token barely reacted to the news, ending the week up 1.2% at a price around $0.55.
News of the week
Apart from the developments of the individual cryptocurrencies, there was of course also some other news that shaped the course of the markets or will only influence price events in the future. Here are the most important ones:
The US Circuit Court of Appeals sharply criticized the SEC in the Grayscale case
A U.S. appeals court has slammed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for its baseless denial of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Cash ETF application. This decision could have far-reaching implications, not only for the democratization of crypto investments, but also for the regulatory control of digital assets as a whole.
X receives crypto license
X, the company formerly known as Twitter, has received a license from Rhode Island to offer cryptocurrency-related services, including exchanges and digital wallets. X’s exact plans for this license are still unclear, as neither the platform nor Elon Musk, the owner of X, have commented on the matter. It’s also unclear whether this license will allow X to operate nationwide or just in Rhode Island. However, X has already integrated the ability to donate in bitcoins, showing its openness to crypto assets.
India supports the development of cryptocurrencies
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken out in favor of the democratization and acceptance of cryptocurrencies, stressing that it is “pointless” to slow down their development. Modi advocates global regulation that includes countries in the Global South, noting that these assets could offer new economic opportunities for emerging markets. These remarks come at a time when India holds the G20 presidency and is attending BRICS+ meetings.
Hong Kong is developing blockchain bonds
A positive report was released by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on the tokenization of $102 million of green bonds conducted in February as part of its Evergreen project. The report highlights the potential of distributed ledger technology (DLT) to improve the efficiency, liquidity and transparency of bond markets. For this project, HKMA used Hyperledger Besu and Canton, technologies that enable blockchain programming and interoperability. The HKMA has also announced that it will continue to work with market participants to explore other blockchain applications.
Ethereum is in good shape
Staking on the Ethereum blockchain is growing in popularity. Currently, over 24 million ETH, which is 20% of the total supply, is deployed to secure the network. Since Ethereum switched to proof-of-stake consensus almost a year ago, the number of validators has increased by almost 35%. Despite a slowdown in on-chain activity and a drop in ETH price, staking remains resilient, offering an annual return of around 3.7%. These numbers show that Ethereum is resilient even in a volatile market environment.
SEC again postpones decision on Bitcoin Spot ETFs
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has once again postponed its decision on applications for Bitcoin Spot ETFs. This delaying tactic by the SEC is met with increasing frustration in the crypto community, as many hope that the approval of Bitcoin Spot ETFs would open the door to broader institutional investment and bolster the legitimacy of cryptocurrencies in the traditional financial system. However, the repeated SEC adjournments raise questions about the regulatory challenges and uncertainties still associated with cryptocurrencies.
Highly Interesting Crypto Project Hits $1,000,000 in PreSale
Over the past week, the Sonik project, an exciting innovation in the cryptocurrency space, has reached a significant milestone by launching in PreSale passed the one million dollar mark. This project, which despite being called a meme coin, has features that set it apart from some other memecoins, has garnered notable attention from the crypto community, particularly in Asia.
A key feature of $SONIK is the introduction of a staking feature. This allows $SONIK token holders to generate passive income by locking their tokens for a period of time and receiving additional tokens as a reward. This feature has already been embraced by a significant number of PreSale buyers, indicating the attractiveness of this feature.
The Asian market has played a crucial role in reaching the million dollar mark. Despite the clear demarcation of the Sonik project from the well-known Sega character Sonic the Hedgehog, $SONIK has garnered a sizeable following in this region, where cryptocurrencies in general are growing in popularity.
SONIK’s pre-sale is a crucial element for the development of the project. The fact that it has already reached $1 million shows the community’s interest and trust in the potential of $SONIK. However, it is important to note that despite this success, the project is still at a very early stage and there are always risks in the crypto space.