MATIC increases 7% to show Ethereum’s strength
The global market panic spread to crypto over the weekend. Bitcoin plummeted to $42K and then bounced to close to $50K.
The markets are currently absorbing multiple uncertainty, including those of Omicron and the possible end to central bank stimulus during a pandemic. Combine this with the lack of weekend trading volumes and the build up of leverageThis led to a cascade of sell orders and liquidations on the crypto market Saturday. Nevertheless, El Salvador’s President Nayib BukeleHe was not discouraged and joined MicroStrategy to purchase the dip.
Ethereum beat Bitcoin in the downturn, proving its strength. The leading smart contract platform stayed above $4K, showing only 6% weekly losses compared to Bitcoin’s 15%. Layer 2 solution Polygon(MATIC) emerged with strong weekly gains of 6%.
This Week’s Highlights
- Ethereum surpasses Bitcoin
- Polygon’s MATIC rises against the market
- eToro offers Celo
- On the Digest & Invest podcast this week…
Ethereum surpasses Bitcoin
Ethereum’s relative strength was evident during the weekend fall. It lost less value but recovered quicker than the trend over the past months.
While both cryptoassets fell significantly from record-setting November highs, Bitcoin and Ethereum have doubled their value since December 2020. Ethereum, however, has seen a significant increase of 530%. In response, some traders are calling for a “flippening” where Ethereum overtakes Bitcoin as the biggest cryptoasset.
The outperformance could be down to Bitcoin’s more established role as a macro asset that trades on economic data and global trends, compared to Ethereum which is more associated with the hottest crypto growth sectors such as decentralized finance (DeFi), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and the metaverse.
Polygon’s MATIC rises against the market
A flash of green in a sea of red, Polygon’s MATIC token pushed against the falling market to finish the week with 6% gains.
A new partnership was announced with GameOn Entertainment in order to create NFT games via the Layer 2 network. Also, a JavaScript library has been released. This could explain the Layer 2 network’s buoyancy.
Elsewhere, few other smart contract platforms matched MATIC’s resilience. Algorand was able to hold the downturn in its grip, while Polkadot & Cardano both suffered losses of double digits.
eToro offers Celo
eToro’s expansion of supported cryptoassets continues with the listing of Celo.
Celo, the native token for the Celo platform is Celo. It aims to use Blockchain to Bank the Unbanked. This makes it possible to make payments in cryptocurrency between mobile devices, without the need to go to financial institutions.
This launch increases the number of available cryptoassets on eToro by 41.
On the Digest & Invest podcast this week…
Tune in to Digest & Invest to hear eToro’s Sam North interview the CEO of Chiliz and Socios.com Alexandre Dreyfus.
Week ahead
Market sentiment has changed to Extreme Fear as traders fear that there could be more downturns.
Others argue that the wipeout is over excess leveragePotentially creating healthier market conditions that will allow for an easier price increase in the future.
As a few executives from the crypto industry testify in front of US legislators Wednesday, the regulatory changes could be the key to trading.
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