Cryptos like ether, dogecoin, cardano are breathing new life into the market.
The cryptocurrency market has seen a strong first quarter, with optimism returning in March after prices slumped in January and February, the so-called Crypto Winter.
The long period of decline, marked by sharp price volatility, had cooled the general public toward crypto. But Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine displayed new uses for crypto other than as speculative assets.
By using crypto to help the Ukrainians, whose economy has collapsed, the general public and investors have ignored or forgotten their concerns about the sector. Especially helping is President Joe Biden’s crypto roadmap, in which he calls not to stifle innovation.
This stabilized the market, which began to rebound. The overall value of the crypto market has risen past $2 trillion, a noteworthy threshold. It was recently valued at $2.04 trillion, according to data provider CoinGecko.
The market is only two-thirds the way back to its record valuation of $3 trillion, reached in November, but crypto enthusiasts say the market seems to be on the right track.
Bitcoin, the most traded digital currency, for example, gained 2.1% to $42,979.02 in the past 24 hours. But while it’s the most popular crypto out there, it is not driving the rebound. It’s more the alt coins.
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Ether, Cardano, Dogecoin on the Rise
Ether, the native token of the ethereum blockchain, has gained 3.2% to $3,048.55 in the past 24 hours. The second digital currency is now moving above the $3,000 mark. The wind is currently at ether’s back due to planned changes to the ethereum blockchain.
This platform, which enables developers to create different apps, including those for decentralized finance and creating nonfungible tokens, by June must restructure to reduce transaction prices — called gas fees — and speed up execution of transactions.
The change that will affect the mechanism for validating operations should also address fears about the environmental impact of ethereum.
The current transaction validation mechanism consumes a lot of electricity because transactions are validated by a worldwide network of computers that compete with each other. The new mechanism will end this method. Testing over the past few days has the developers happy, according to industry sources.
Another popular crypto platform, and a rival to ethereum, is the cardano blockchain. The cardano native token in the past 24 hours has gained nearly 16% to $1.14, a level it hasn’t seen since February.
Cardano’s rise comes as Coinbase (COIN) , the most popular crypto exchange in the U.S., now offers staking for the asset. Staking is actively participating in the validation of transactions, a process known as proof of stake. Participants in the process must commit a portion of their crypto holdings to the network. In return, they receive a share of newly minted coins.
Most prices of blockchain-related tokens enabling DeFi app development are on the rise. They include polkadot, solana, avalanche and others.
Finally, meme coins dogecoin and shiba inu were also moving up. Dogecoin gained 13% in the past 24 hours. Bitcoin of America, a crypto ATM operator, has added dogecoin to its list of available assets.
