In a contrasting turn of events in the cryptocurrency market today, major digital currencies Bitcoin and Ethereum saw their values fall, while select decentralized finance (DeFi) assets saw notable gains. Bitcoin dropped more than 2% to trade at $36,049, and Ethereum followed suit with a drop of nearly 3% to $2,041.
The DeFi sector, however, painted a different picture. dYdX, a DeFi protocol built on top of the Ethereum network, saw its native token ETHDYDX soar 42% last week. The platform itself saw a nearly 7% increase in value over the last 24 hours, trading at $3.34. Maker (MKR), another prominent player in the DeFi space, saw its price peak at $1,423 before settling with a modest 1% gain for the day. PancakeSwap (CAKE), known for its automated market making, also saw a rise in value of nearly 3%, with its price hitting $2.24.
Last week’s announcement regarding BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) Advisors’ application for an Ethereum ETF initially sparked a bullish trend for Ethereum, leading to a significant increase in both its price and trading volume. Following the news, Ethereum surpassed the $2,000 mark, resulting in a 259% increase in trading volume and a 10% increase in the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization.
Meanwhile, Solana (SOL), another major cryptocurrency, continued to show resilience despite cooling enthusiasm for bitcoin and ethereum-related ETFs. It traded at just over $56 per coin after adding more than $3 billion to its market cap in a single day last week. Solana‘s market cap briefly surpassed that of the USDC stablecoin, highlighting the dynamic shifts taking place within the crypto market.
Today’s market moves underscore the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies and the various factors that can influence investor sentiment and asset prices in this rapidly evolving space.
