Bitcoin’s price remained relatively steady this week, consolidating above the pivotal $70,000 level. After a mid-week push to $72,000, a $3,000 pullback occurred before BTC found support once again around $70,500. Bitcoin’s market dominance dipped slightly to 49.5% as some altcoins saw impressive gains.
The top altcoin performers over the past seven days were Bitcoin Cash (BCH) +30%, Internet Computer (ICP) +30%, Dogecoin (DOGE) +20%, and Solana (SOL) +13%. Additionally, a newer project named CORE exploded 130% to crack the top 100 rankings, while meme coin dogwifhat (WIF) surged 90% to become one of the week’s biggest winners. Today they are up over 30% and 5% respectively.
Ethereum (ETH) Fueled by Whale Accumulation
Ethereum’s native token Ether (ETH) rallied over 18% from last week’s lows, propelled by significant accumulation from wealthy investors (whales). Entities holding 1,000 to 10,000 ETH increased their holdings by 1.15% this month.
Capital appears to be rotating into ETH from Bitcoin and other altcoins. The ETH Dominance metric rose 2.16% in 48 hours, while the ETH/BTC pair gained 2.5%. Open interest in ETH futures hit new highs above $14 billion as the funding rate for perpetual futures spiked to 1.24% per week, indicating rising demand for long positions.
Technically, ETH bounced off the lower trendline of a rising wedge pattern, with the next key resistance around $4,000. However, a breakdown below $3,280 could trigger if the bearish wedge pattern plays out.
Other Key Industry Developments
Asset manager Fidelity filed for a spot Ethereum ETF with staking after the launch of the first Bitcoin spot ETF. MetaMask parent ConsenSys urged the SEC to approve a spot ETH ETF, citing Ethereum’s security.
In business news, HSBC launched retail gold tokens, while Polygon resumed its zkEVM mainnet beta. KuCoin launched rewards to retain users amidst some controversy, Tether plans an AI focus, and analysts see BlackRock’s tokenized fund bolstering Ethereum.
Regarding security incidents, Prisma Finance was hacked for $11.6M, but the Munchables $62M hack funds were returned. Updates were provided on CBDC testing and various crypto regulatory actions.
Most notably, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud relating to the collapse of his crypto exchange.
