This Week in Crypto: Some Promising Green Patches

After moving sideways, the aggregate crypto market took a tumble into the end of the last seven sessions, with leading tokens sinking.

Top performers from the previous weeks are now battling to recoup losses, while the broader altcoins market shows signs of recovery.

BTC Dips to 1-Month Low

The new year hasn’t been favorable to the BTC-USD price thus far. The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization started the year facing extreme resistance at the $47,500 mark.

Even though BTC experienced upward traction a few times over the last week, prices hit a one-month low within minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting to discuss the central bank’s $8.3-trillion balance sheet.

The price of BTC slid more than 3.3% on January 5, dropping to $42,798.22 at one point, its lowest since December 2021.

Meanwhile, BTC futures and options, which had taken a tumble during the BTC/USD retracement at the end of 2021, are making a promising comeback.

The latest data suggests that the open interest rate is back at the levels last reached in week three of November when BTC/USD itself reached all-time highs of $69,000.

Altcoins Buck Crypto Market’s Recent Slump

After kicking off the new year with a seven-day low of $19.14, Chainlink (LINK) registered a significant rally this week, with its value rising to reach a 60-day high of $27.29. Following this quick ramp higher, LINK moved up two ranks in terms of total capitalization, securing the 17th slot with $11.4 billion and counting.

LINK’s recovery above the psychological price barrier after trending under $25 for more than two months seems to have reignited optimism amongst token holders, especially amid substantial whale transactions in the altcoin.

Per the latest data from WhaleStats, Ethereum whales are stocking up on LINK, accounting for 2.21% of all holdings (over $261.4 million) across the 1,000 wealthiest non-exchange Ethereum addresses.

Another altcoin, Cosmos (ATOM), has also started 2022 in full-bull mode. Since recording lows of $20 in mid-December, ATOM has rallied at an average of almost 35% throughout this week, registering a daily high of $43.98 on January 4 as 24-hour trading volume shot past $2.54 billion. 

Part of this latest move is attributed to the cross-chain bridges most recently launched, helping Ethereum-based projects move to Cosmos along with the forthcoming Theta upgrade. Overall, the number of projects connected to Cosmos has helped the ecosystem experience dramatic growth, contributing to its rising valuation.

Meanwhile, technical analysis indicates that ATOM’s RSI (relative strength index) is close to moving above 70. The last time ATOM’s RSI crossed 70 was in August 2021, following which the value of ATOM spiked by 240%, leading to the all-time high of $44.80.

Accordingly, all technical indicators for ATOM are currently pointing in the bullish direction.

Cyberthreats, Clogged Infrastructure Clobber Polygon Valuation

Polygon, Ethereum’s PoS sidechain, had a rough start this week. The value of MATIC dipped at an average of almost 14% in the last seven days. MATIC is currently trading at just above the $2 price level, marking a 12% drop over the last 24 hours. 

The Polygon platform experienced heavy on-chain activity over the last week, with newly launched NFT game Sunflower Farmers clogging its network.

This has led to a massive surge in gas fees, surpassing 700 gwei at one point. Other than this, Polygon was also the victim of a recent cyberattack, where the hackers stole 801,601 MATIC tokens (roughly $1.6 million).

Between the 16x rise in gas fees and hackers siphoning off funds, MATIC has slipped down on the top crypto by market cap list, and is now ranked 14th.

Investment Pours into NFT Universe at Stunning Valuations

Demand for NFTs is showing no signs of slowing. With collectibles, blockchain gaming, and the metaverse cementing themselves as the newest trends, leading NFT marketplace OpenSea has emerged as one of the most valuable private firms in the cryptoverse, with a $13.3-billion post-money valuation.

Per the official press release from OpenSea, the platform added $300 million in funding from a Series C round. Led by Coatue and Paradigm, the funding drive aimed to help OpenSea become the go-to destination for thriving digital economies.

The new $13.3-billion valuation is a jaw-dropping increase for OpenSea, which was previously valued at $1.5 billion during its $100-million Series B funding of July, 2021.

The platform has maintained its dominance over the NFT market, logging in 1.6 million Ethereum transactions and a trading volume of $2.4 billion over the last 30 days.

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Disclosure: At the time of publication, Reuben Jackson did not have a position in any of the securities mentioned in this article.