BTC and ETH pause as altcoins take the spotlight

Market picture

Cryptocurrency market capitalisation changed little at the end of trading on Wednesday, remaining close to $1.59 trillion (-0.14% d/d). But this modest result is a show of strength, given the pressure in equity markets, which intensified selling in Bitcoin and Ether.

Meanwhile, Altcoins got their chance to catch up with the leaders. For example, XRP added 2% in 24h) and Cardano added 4%.

XRP has formed an upward trend since mid-October. An attempt to accelerate growth last month failed, but it also failed to break this line at the start of December. In addition to the trend line, the 50-day moving average, the touch of which stops the sell-off for the last 50 days, also turned out to be on the side of buyers.

News background

Since the beginning of this year, the number of BTC addresses holding the cryptocurrency has increased by 20 per cent to more than 50 million, Santiment noted. BTC's growth is fuelled by the drop of its supply on exchanges to a six-year low.

Bitcoin has moved into the acceleration phase of the bull market, but the situation remains largely within its early stages, Glassnode noted. BTC's 142% YTD growth is consistent with the 2015-2017 and 2018-2022 cycles. Most bitcoin investors have entered the plus side, with several on-chain indicators moving into enthusiastic stage territory in an uptrend.

Coinbase crypto exchange CEO Brian Armstrong called bitcoin a great alternative to the US dollar and other fiat currencies. According to him, BTC can be an antidote to inflation.

The US SEC has asked the court to clarify whether the crypto assets sold by Terraform Labs are unregistered securities. The regulator strongly believes that these cryptocurrencies meet the criteria of securities.

With traditional finance out of reach, cryptocurrencies act as an alternative, especially in emerging markets and younger populations, the ECB study said.

Dogecoin (DOGE), the most successful meme cryptocurrency, is ten years old. It was created by programmer Billy Marcus and engineer Jackson Palmer as a parody of Bitcoin. DOGE has jumped 16% this week, hitting highs over the past year above $0.106.