Written by: Mary Liu, BitpushNews
The crypto market was mixed today. As of the close of the US stock market that day, Bitcoin fell below US$70,000 and Ethereum hovered below US$36 million. According to CoinmarketCap data, the biggest increases in the past 24 hours were Dogwifhat (WIF), Internet Computer (ICP), APTOS, BEAM and SUI, with increases ranging from 9% to 19% respectively.
Affected by negative regulations, the KUCOIN platform currency fell by more than 14% in 24 hours. Earlier that day, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) accused KuCoin of operating an illegal digital asset derivatives exchange, and the U.S. Department of Justice charged KuCoin and its two founders with violating the Bank Secrecy Act and unauthorized fund transmission.
Base chain dominates meme hype
The rotation of hype in the crypto segment is getting faster and faster. Several indicators show that cryptocurrency traders are seeking profit opportunities on the Base blockchain amid a speculative boom led by meme coins.
Built on the OP Stack by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, Base went live to developers in August and initially saw slow growth. However, over the past few weeks, its total value locked (TVL) has increased from $450 million at the beginning of this month to nearly $1 billion on Tuesday.
Blockchain data shows that Base’s average daily transaction volume in the past few months has tripled from less than 500,000 to more than 1.5 million. The number of unique addresses doubled to 65,000 wallets.
Some market observers say the direct access to Base from Coinbase's exchange and wallet apps may have spurred massive retail adoption of the network. In the past 24 hours, the network has incurred $1.8 million in charges.
CoinmarketCap data shows that in March 2024, 21 of the top 25 tokens by Base trading volume were meme coins.
Over the past week, the prices of cat-themed meme coins such as toshi (TOSHI), thank you base god (TYBG), normie (NORMIE) and brett (BRETT) have increased by 1,300%, with decentralized exchanges Aerodrome’s AERO and Seamless’ The tokens of technology projects such as SEAM have increased by as much as 90%. Coinmarketcap data shows that the overall increase in the Base ecological project token currently ranks first, followed by TON.
Meanwhile, Optimism developer Michael Silberling pointed out on X that the popularity of Meme coins on Base has resulted in high gas fees that exceed what users paid before the Dencun upgrade. Most of the transactions came from meme coin exchanges and trading bots designed to buy the token within minutes of its release, causing network congestion.
Spot Bitcoin ETF ends five days of net outflows
According to data released by investment firm Farside, the total inflow of U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs yesterday was $15.4 million, ending five consecutive days of outflows.
Fidelity's FBTC led inflows at $261.8 million, followed by BlackRock's IBIT at $35.5 million. Other funds such as BITB, BTCO, EZBC and BRRR received between $11 million and $20 million each. Meanwhile, Grayscale's ETF (GBTC) continued to see outflows of just over $350 million.
Additionally, the London Stock Exchange said it will launch exchange-traded note (ETN) markets for Bitcoin and Ethereum on May 28. The notice stated that the stock exchange will begin accepting crypto ETN trading applications from April 8. The market will be subject to approval by UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority. ETNs are similar to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in that they are designed to reflect investments that track an index or benchmark.
Is a BTC rebound imminent?
The Amberdata chart tracks 24-hour changes in the number of active Bitcoin options contracts at different strike levels on Deribit. The data shows a significant increase in open interest in call options with strike prices of $90,000 and $105,000, indicating market expectations that BTC will continue to rise into six figures in the coming months.
Trader and analyst Matthew Hyland is optimistic about BTC's future prospects. He said on the X platform: "If the support is solid enough this time, then the possibility of Bitcoin prices rising to $100,000 will increase."
Matthew Hyland believes that the daily relative strength index (RSI) value fell below the key 50 level on March 20, which is a "good sign" for a rebound. As of now, the daily RSI is just above 60, which is still below the classic bull market territory of above 70.
