By Kapil Rajyaguru
Bitcoin Recovers, Ethereum Slides: Solana’s Meme Coins Lead the Charge
The crypto market had a wild ride this week, with Bitcoin showing signs of resilience while Ethereum and ADA struggled. After Bitcoin dropped to a low of $65,000—its weakest since mid-October—it recovered $2,000 and is now sitting just under $67,000. The dip followed a rollercoaster start to the week, where BTC hit a three-month high of $69,500 before the bears swooped in.
Meanwhile, Ethereum and ADA remained deep in the red, with ETH continuing its downward slide as other altcoins showed mixed performances. The spotlight, however, was stolen by a surge in Solana-based cat-themed meme coins.
Popcat (POPCAT) and Cat in a Dogs World (MEW) hit new all-time highs, with MEW’s price surge coinciding with its listing on Upbit, sparking a 24-hour trading volume of $150 million on Korean exchanges.
Solana itself is on a tear, climbing 5% daily and 14% for the week, fueled by a rise in on-chain trading volume, which reached $2.6 billion—levels not seen since August. Its Total Value Locked (TVL) skyrocketed to a 34-month high of $6.5 billion, signaling growing investor confidence.
BRICS Nations Mull Bitcoin for International Trade to Counter Western Sanctions
Moving on… BRICS nations are considering using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for international trade to avoid Western sanctions. By leveraging digital assets for imports, the bloc aims to reduce dependency on traditional financial systems and mitigate geopolitical risks.
This move could speed up global cryptocurrency adoption and highlight Bitcoin’s role in bypassing traditional finance, indicating a shift toward a decentralized trading approach.
Aurum’s $1bn Tokenized Fund Taps XRPL for Global Data Center Boom
Meanwhile… Aurum Equity Partners, an India-focused investment banking firm, has launched a $1 billion tokenized fund on the XRP Ledger to drive Real World Assets (RWAs) tokenization, focusing on data centers across the U.S., UAE, Saudi Arabia, India, and Europe.
As the tokenization market is projected to hit $30 trillion by 2030, XRP’s price is set to rise once it’s stablecoin RLUSD gains approval from New York regulators, further boosting XRPL’s dominance in the tokenization space.
Bitcoin Hash Rate Hits New All-Time High, Surges 74% Year-Over-Year
In another interesting development… The Bitcoin hash rate, a key indicator of the network’s security and efficiency, jumped to an all-time high (ATH) level of 791.62 million TH/s, according to Ycharts. This new level also shows a remarkable 73.95% improvement on the particular metric from a year ago.
Interestingly, despite the rising difficulty and hash rate, data shows that BTC miners are still benefiting from steady revenue streams. As of October 20, 2024, daily Bitcoin mining revenue stood at $38.38 million, a slight 1.17% dip from the previous day.
Tron’s Q3 2024 Revenue Grows by 6% in TRX Amidst Meme Coin Boom
Moving on… The surge in meme coins significantly contributed to Tron’s record revenue of $151.2 million in Q3 2024. According to a report by Messari, the latest figure marks a 29% increase from the previous quarter.
This growth can be largely attributed to the launch of SunPump, a platform designed specifically for launching meme coins. The heightened activity surrounding meme coins not only boosted Tron’s revenue in USD but also led to a 6% increase in revenue in TRX to 1.05 billion.
USDT and USDC Account for 50% of Transaction Volume Among Crypto Assets: ITB
Elsewhere… The stablecoin market is growing, increasing liquidity and stabilizing the crypto space. This growth can be seen in the two largest stablecoins, Tether USD (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC), which are now responsible for a large portion of the crypto market’s transaction volume.
A tweet by the decentralized finance analysis platform IntoTheBlock revealed that USDT and USDC now represent roughly 50% of the total transaction volume among major cryptocurrencies. IntoTheBlock’s analysts said this growth highlights the crucial role of stablecoins in the crypto ecosystem.
Crypto Exchange Kraken to Launch Its Own Blockchain Next Year
Moving on… Following over a decade of operating as one of the largest digital asset trading platforms, the United States-based crypto exchange Kraken has decided to launch its own blockchain. A Bloomberg report disclosed that Kraken’s network would likely go live in early 2025.
The new blockchain, dubbed Ink, would be designed primarily for decentralized applications enabling users to trade, lend, and borrow cryptocurrencies without intermediaries.
Ink will be a layer-2 (L2) network built on the Optimism Superchain, which powers an ecosystem of blockchains built on a common standard codebase that shares Ethereum’s security, governance, and values.
Radiant Capital Hacker Transfers Nearly $52M in Stolen Crypto to Ethereum
Meanwhile… The person behind the recent Radiant Capital exploit has reportedly moved nearly all of the stolen crypto, valued at about $52 million, from Layer-2 networks to Ethereum.
Blockchain security firm PeckShield shared the information on October 24, further dampening any hopes of recovering the funds.
CoinSwitch Co-Founder Accuses WazirX Of Moving $75mn To Bybit And Kucoin After Hack
and lastly… Ashish Singhal, co-founder of Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch, has accused rival WazirX of transferring $75 million in user funds to crypto exchanges Bybit and KuCoin following a July 2024 cyberattack. The claim was made alongside CoinSwitch’s release of a public dashboard tracking WazirX’s recent wallet activity.
A day after the assertions, WazirX CEO Nischal Shetty took to social media to give his side of the story. Describing the claims as a “false narrative” and a “coordinated campaign,” Shetty denied there had been any “secret” movement of funds as had been widely reported in the press following the CoinSwitch accusation.
According to him, the company shifted the assets to the exchanges as part of a legitimate process to onboard a new custodian after parting ways with Liminal in the aftermath of the July attack.
Despite offering a $23 million bounty and tapping forensic experts and law enforcement for help, the crypto trading site has yet to recover any of the money stolen in the July attack.
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