Ethereum's Dencun goes live

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Bitcoin whales make a move after BTC’s latest all-time high

Key points:

• Bitcoin’s new ATH close to $73,000 had an impact on whale behaviour.

• This was accompanied by Bitcoin’s dormant supply going active.

News - Whales are finally taking some action now that the world’s largest cryptocurrency has hit a new ATH on the charts. After weeks and months of holding out, some Bitcoin whales are now unable to resist the temptation to cash out. This, on the back of the entire Bitcoin supply recording profits.

What happened? AMBCrypto’s analysis of Santiment’s data revealed that whales holding over 1,000 BTCs fell by over 5% in the last 2 weeks alone. Additionally, holders with 10 - 1,000 BTCs fell by 0.5% over the same period.

It can be hypothesized that many of these whales placed limit orders when BTC went past its previous ATH at $69,000. When this level was hit, sell-offs were triggered across the market.

This trend of cashing out had a corresponding impact on previously idle BTCs, with dormant supply finally going active.

On the contrary, miniature addresses holding units of less than 0.1 BTC rose by 0.5% in 2 weeks - A sign of returning retail interest.

Schiff has his say too - With Bitcoin expected to climb higher, most people have very bullish expectations for the cryptocurrency. Most people, except noted critic Peter Schiff.

According to the exec, the halving scheduled for next month will have little effect on the price. Instead, he said its supply growth will be affected. Needless to say, his predictions were greeted by skepticism by many in the community.

Dogecoin to buy Teslas? ‘At some point,’ says Elon Musk

Key points:

• Tesla’s Elon Musk continues to air his love and appreciation for Dogecoin

• Comments made on the back of great internal interest for DOGE use

News - At a Tesla manufacturing plant in Berlin, Elon Musk made headlines after he responded to a question by claiming that DOGE might soon be used to buy Teslas. This, on the back of the memecoin already being used to buy merchandise on Tesla’s website.

Coming soon - Musk’s comments were a response to a question from an audience member. When asked if a Tesla can ever be bought by DOGE in the near future, he said, “At some point, I think we should enable that.”

Tesla first started accepting DOGE as a mode of payment for merchandise back in January 2022. Since then, the memecoin has emerged as a popular option, with the company since refusing to accept any other crypto as an alternative.

For a time, Bitcoin was one of the payment options available for Tesla. However, Musk suspended vehicle purchases using BTC back in 2021 citing environmental concerns.

Musk’s comments come at an interesting time, with X (Formerly known as Twitter) expected to soon launch an in-app payments feature.

Happy Musk, Happy DOGE - Musk has always been a proponent of the popular memecoin, with the exec often proclaiming “DOGE to the moon.” His appreciation of Dogecoin has always contributed to the memecoin hiking on the price charts.

This was the case this time too, with DOGE surging by 8% over a 24-hour period.

Ethereum still on uncertain ground despite Dencun upgrade

Key points:

• The much-awaited Dencun upgrade went live on the Ethereum network on 13th March

• Upgrade corresponded with ETH holding the $4,000-level on the price charts

News - Dencun, the biggest upgrade on the network since the Merge, has finally gone live. Not only is it expected to help with Ethereum’s scalability, but Dencun will significantly reduce the transaction fees of L2 Networks.

Dencun follows the Shanghai upgrade from April 2023 which allowed network participants to finally unstake their ETH.

No guarantees yet - Dencun is a combination of 9 different Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs), with the name itself a product of the Execution Layer’s Cancun and the Consensus Layer’s Deneb.

At the time of writing, however, it was difficult to assess the upgrade’s impact on ETH. Despite the altcoin holding a level close to $4K, daily active addresses had begun to drop.

Additionally, there seemed to be great demand for put options to protect against losses accruing from speculative long positions.

For ETH holders, this isn’t unexpected or out of character. Traditionally, the altcoin hasn’t performed very well immediately after major upgrades. For example, a major correction ensued after the Merge update went live on the network.

Not all bad news - That being said, the market wasn’t free of any bullish signs. Consider this - ETH accumulation has grown over the past two weeks among both retail and whale addresses, despite the disparity in the rate of growth across both demographics.

This finding coincided with Ethereum’s Weighted Sentiment and Social Volume peaking on the charts.

Bakkt faces delisting threat from the New York Stock Exchange

Key points:

• NYSE’s threat comes on the back of Bakkt reporting eight quarters of net losses

• Bakkt’s average closing share price now below $1

News - Crypto custody firm Bakkt is facing the risk of delisting from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). According to the trading platform’s press release, NYSE believes Bakkt isn’t in compliance with its listing rules over a 30-day period.

No lower than $1 - Back in 2021, Bakkt was trading as high as $40. However, it has fallen dramatically since, with it closing with a trading price of $0.60 on the 13th of March. With its monthly average well under $1, NYSE designated Bakkt to be in violation of listing rules.

Under the threat of delisting, Bakkt now has 6 months to correct its “stock price deficiency” in order to comply with NYSE standard. According to the trading platform, it might even consider a reverse stock split if shareholders approve - A way to possibly increase the stock price.

While Bakkt is confident it can report compliance at any time within the next 6 months, it’s worth mentioning that according to reports, the platform doesn’t have enough cash to remain in business for the next 11-12 months.

Fall from grace - When it was launched, Bakkt was touted as a platform that will truly herald institutional entry into Bitcoin markets. However, it didn’t turn out as it was once expected, with the platform struggling to perform well even in a bull market.

In fact, Bakkt itself recently acknowledged its troubles by amending its quarterly report to claim that it “may not be able to continue.”

More stories from the crypto ecosystem

1. XRP’s rally – Now or later? What these price predictions say

2. Tether follows BTC, ETH’s footsteps – How do you think it will turn out?

3. This Bitcoin ETF is now ‘abandoned’: Are your holdings safe?

4. Why MakerDAO’s Endgame is a ‘new’ MKR and DAI

5. AVAX up by 13% to cross $50 – Is $100 a good price prediction?

Interesting facts

• The average American crypto-investor is 38 years old. On the contrary, the average American stock investor is 47 years old. 

• Bitcoin’s network has been functional for 99.99% of the time since its creation over 13 years ago.

• A prankster grabbed the spotlight during former Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s speech before the House Financial Services Panel in mid-2017 after he flashed a ‘Buy Bitcoin’ sign. He was subsequently sent a donation of $10,000 by the community. 

Top 3 coins of the day

Dogwifhat (WIF)

Key points:

• The Solana-based memecoin hiked by over 80% in just 7 days.

• Indicators seemed to point towards an imminent correction on the charts.

What you should know - WIF has been one of the market’s biggest hits of this bullish season. The memecoin has hiked exponentially, with the alt recording consistent double-digit gains over the last few weeks. In fact, thanks to the likes of WIF, Solana itself has performed pretty well on the charts too. However, it would seem that WIF might have hit a local top now. The RSI, for instance, was well into the overbought zone. This is usually the first sign before a correction. Additionally, volumes have radically fallen over the past week, denoting decreasing interest in the popular token. With the Bollinger Bands so wide around the price candles, it might be a sign that the correction will be fairly significant.

PEPE

Key points:

• Despite a brief correction, PEPE appreciated significantly over the last 24 hours.

• As it stands, PEPE is up by over 68% in 7 days on the charts.

What you should know - With Bitcoin doing well and hitting new ATHs, altcoins followed suit. Memecoins, especially, did particularly well, with PEPE one of the leading examples of the same. Despite concerns that major corrections are incoming, PEPE reinvigorated its bullish trajectory by hiking again over the last 48 hours. The scale of this hike was highlighted by the altcoin’s indicators. The Parabolic SAR’s dotted markers, for instance, were positioned under the price candles - A bullish sign. Finally, the Moving Average underlined the bullishness of the market too.

Fantom (FTM)

Key points:

• FTM is up by over 40% over the last 7 days.

• Volumes have fallen by over half since the first week of March.

What you should know - FTM’s price performance over the past few weeks has grabbed the attention of many in the market, with the altcoin hiking by over 40% to hits its highest price level since August 2022. Here, it’s worth noting that the said hike was precipitated by FTM whales scooping up the crypto to hold. Additionally, the crypto’s trading volumes spiked significantly too. Despite some minor correction over the last 24 hours, bullish signs were clearly evident too. For example - The Chaikin Money Flow had a reading over over 0.20 and indicated positive capital inflows into the market. Similarly, the the Moving Average highlighted the market’s position.