Monday Market Report | Apr 30th - May 6th

Every Monday, we cover the latest developments and trends in the dynamic and ever-evolving world of cryptocurrency. From price movements, to industry news, and our favorite resources, we strive to provide our readers with a comprehensive overview of the crypto landscape.

Happy Monday Ndax community, here’s what happened in crypto last week:

• Fed holds rates steady “Higher for longer”; Bitcoin price adjusts. 
• Will BTC Layer2s gain traction as a result of Runes network congestion? ‍  
• Can AI help law enforcement detect money laundering on-chain? 

Highlighting the ongoing battle against inflation, the Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate steady on Thursday. Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated that a rate cut is unlikely until inflation is sustainably moving towards the 2% target. This decision caused a dip in Bitcoin and Ethereum prices, along with stock market declines. The persistent inflation concerns and potential for prolonged high interest rates have dampened expectations for risk assets such as/are cryptocurrencies. The Fed's cautious approach reflects its challenges in achieving its ‘inflation goals’, impacting the risk markets' performances. Decrypt  

High demand for the new Runes protocol on Bitcoin has led to soaring transaction fees and network congestion leading up to and through the halving on April 19th, highlighting the need for Bitcoin Layer-2 (L2) scaling solutions. Several L2 projects like Rootstock, Stacks, and Build on Bitcoin (BOB) are emerging to bring smart contracts, faster transactions, and expanded functionality to the largest blockchain network. The Stacks network is set for a major upgrade to become a usable L2. Coinweb Labs plans to enable smart contracts monitoring Runes for added use cases. However, some caution that many announced L2s may just be hype, and true L2s should use Bitcoin for settlement and depend on its security model. Cointelegraph  

Elliptic Research and MIT-IBM Watson AI Lab used deep learning AI to analyze Bitcoin transactions and detect money laundering patterns and illicit wallet activity. Here are the top points:

• The public nature of the Bitcoin blockchain enabled this analysis by providing transparent transaction data and counterparty information.
• The AI model was trained to identify "subgraphs" or chains of transactions representing Bitcoin being laundered through multiple hops.
• When tested with a cryptocurrency exchange, the model accurately flagged 14 out of 52 predicted money laundering subgraphs ending at the exchange. Decrypt 

Market Summary

• The global cryptocurrency market has reached a total market capitalization of CAD $3.23 Trillion.  
• Bitcoin continues to lead the market with a dominance of 53.2%, followed by Ethereum at 15.9%.

Performance

• After slowly regaining lost ground over the past few weeks, Bitcoin continued its price consolidation. BTC ended the week down a whopping 9% with a weekly amplitude—volatility of roughly 15%. BTC is now trading somewhere between the CA$87K and $89K levels. 

Top Weekly Movers at Ndax

Who were the top-performing assets on Ndax last week?

• Up by around 2.7%, the Cosmos Hub’s ATOM utility token (spot #31) is currently trading around CA$ 12, about 80% from its most recent all-time high (ATH), 2 years ago. 
• Up around 5.5%, the Polkadot token DOT (spot #15) is currently trading just shy of CA$ 9.96. DOT is still trading over 86% from its ATH 2 years ago.  

But week over week, the top performer at Ndax, in spot #39, up by 17%, was the new Optimism protocol’s token OP. With a market cap of CA$4.1B, OP is currently trading around CA$4.12, 40% from its ATH 2 months ago.

Prices as of 05/06/2024 10:00 AM EST

Keep an eye on the market here 👉 Cryptocurrency Prices

In the cryptocurrency community, there's always something going on. Here are a few events and happenings that you might be interested in:

• New research: Enhancing blockchain analytics through AI Elliptic 
• Bitcoin’s Volatility Is Falling and This Will Continue as It Matures: Fidelity Coindesk 
• PayPal Expands Crypto Offerings With MoonPay Integration Decrypt 
• Bitcoin's daily transaction fees fall to Ethereum levels as Runes hype subsides The Block 

For more new stories, visit our LinkedIn

Mark your calendars!

• May – SEC Decision on BlackRock's Ether Spot ETF Decision 

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide investment, legal, accounting, tax or any other advice and should not be relied on in that or any other regard. The information contained herein is for information purposes only and is not to be construed as an offer or solicitation for the sale or purchase of cryptocurrencies or otherwise.