Massive BTC Price Rollercoaster and Australia’s First Bitcoin ETF: This Week’s Crypto Recap

This week saw the cryptocurrency market go through some serious turbulence, as the prices for the largest coins by means of total capitalization went on a rollercoaster. The tumultuous market dynamics ultimately resulted in a slight gain of about $15 billion added to the cap.

Leading the market was, of course, Bitcoin. The price was sitting at around $40K this time last week, and it remained there for a few days. On April 18th, we saw BTC crashing below $39K to a monthly low, but the bulls were quick to recover. A day later – on Tuesday – the price had surpassed $41K. On Thursday, BTC surged towards $43K, which was a 10-day high but was unable to close above it and collapsed.

At the time of this writing, bitcoin is exchanging hands at more or less the same price it was last week – $40,000.

The rest of the market followed suit, and it’s evident from the weekly change in price as most altcoins chart insignificant gains or losses. ETH is down 1.7%, whereas SOL is up 0.6%. There are, of course, certain exceptions. LUNA is up 17% in the last week, eyeing the coveted $100 once again. Memecoins in the face of DOGE and SHIB are the most significant losers of the week, charting a decline of 5.2% and 6%, respectively.

Meanwhile, Australia became the next country that will launch a Bitcoin ETF. A collaboration between 21Shares and ETF Securities has resulted in two products that would provide investors with direct, regulated exposure to both Bitcoin and Ethereum. the exchange-traded funds are called ETFS 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (EBTC) and ETFS 21Shares Ethereum ETF (EETH) and are scheduled to start trading on April 27th.

Last Saturday – April 16th, also saw the launch of the Moonbirds NFT collection. It turned out to be one of the most-heavily anticipated drops as it garnered massive attention and generated over $300 million in volume in six short days.

Market Data

Market Cap: $1,951B | 24H Vol: $122B | BTC Dominance: 38.9%

BTC: $40,400 (-0.1%) | ETH: $2,973 (-1.7%) | ADA: $0.90 (-3.2%)

Crypto is Probably the Most Mature Investment Asset, Says Mastercard Exec. The Global Head of crypto and blockchain at the world’s leading payments processor Mastercard – Raj Dhamodharan – said that cryptocurrencies are “probably the most mature” investment instrument. Needless to say, he doesn’t see a threat in them either.

EOS Launches EVM Support in Attempt to Revitalize Platform. EOS – largely known for conducting the largest ICO ever – has now introduced EVM compatibility. This is intended to assist developers who weren’t supported adequately under the previous leadership of the project and with the aim of setting the record straight going forward.

DeFi Giant Uniswap Sweeps 50% Market Share on Polygon. Uniswap – the leading decentralized exchange and automated market maker – has managed to occupy a market share of almost 50% on Polygon. This comes three short months after the protocol was first deployed on the ETH layer-two scaling solution network.

US Sanctions Its First Cryptocurrency Mining Company – And It Is From Russia. BitRiver – a cryptocurrency mining company – is the first one to be sanctioned by OFAC, along with its subsidiaries and a Russian bank. The mining operation is based in Moscow, and it has been prohibited of having any business relationships with US citizens.

Russia Could Mine Bitcoin and Other Cryptocurrencies to Evade Sanctions, IMF Warns. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) believes that the Western sanctions imposed on Russia have a good purpose and raises a warning that the latter could mine Bitcoin to overcome their effects.

21Shares and ETF Securities to Launch Bitcoin and Ethereum Spot ETFs in Australia. In a collaboration between 21Shares and ETF Securities – Australia will see its first cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds to provide investors with direct access to Bitcoin and Ethereum. The funds in question will be called ETFS Shares Bitcoin ETF (EBTC) and ETFS 21Shares Ethereum ETF (EETH).

Charts

This week we have a chart analysis of Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Luna, and Polygon (MATIC) – click here for the full price analysis.