Cardano surpasses Solana as L1 chains lead recovery
The tide has started turning for Bitcoin, which briefly reclaimed the $43K level last week after falling 15% since the start of the year
Shifting sentiment in the market is being driven by positive news. Last week saw the steady march of adoption continue, with governments in Rio de Janeiro and Tonga announcing big plans for Bitcoin, just as US inflation data hit a 40-year-high. This was matched in the corporate world, with Walmart looking to enter the metaverse and Tesla accepting Dogecoin for merch.
Aside from Dogecoin which leapt to $0.20, the biggest movers were smart contract platforms: Cardano rose 30% to overtake Solana, while Ethereum added 7% and Polygon (MATIC) increased 16%.
This Week’s Highlights
- Dogecoin fetches double-digit gains on Tesla adoption
- Governments embrace Bitcoin
Dogecoin fetches double-digit gains on Tesla adoption
Leading the pack, Dogecoin fetched 20% weekly gains after Elon Musk tweeted that Tesla now accepts the meme coin as payment for merchandise.
Tesla fans can now buy items such as a children’s electric quad — the Cyberquad — for 12020 DOGE, and a limited-edition Cyberwhistle for 300 DOGE.
Meanwhile, Dogecoin’s biggest rival Shiba Inu added 12% last week on rumors of upcoming exchange listings.
Governments embrace Bitcoin
The world took two steps towards global Bitcoinization last week, with authorities in both Tonga and Rio de Janeiro following El Salvador in their embrace of cryptoassets.
Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Paes said he will invest 1% of the city’s treasury in crypto, and the tiny island nation of Tonga introduced a ruling “almost identical to the El Salvador bill” that could see Bitcoin becoming legal tender by November.
The news arrived as Wall Street giant Fidelity released a note saying that other countries and even a central bank may follow El Salvador and Tesla into Bitcoin this year, and that doing so could make them “better off competitively than their peers.”
Week ahead
With traditional markets closed on Monday for Martin Luther King day, and institutional trading desks empty, we could see thinner order books and heightened volatility in the crypto market.
MATIC, the token of Polygon Network will undergo the London Hard Fork on Tuesday, introducing a token burn feature which will increase token scarcity.
Then on Thursday, the entire market will be under the spotlight as the US House Committee on Energy and Commerce discusses crypto in a hearing on the industry’s energy consumption.
