TL;DR
- Bitcoin (BTC) began the new year with a significant price rally, surpassing $45,500, influenced by expectations of a US spot Bitcoin ETF, but experienced a downturn to around $42,000 amid market speculations.
- Ripple’s XRP faced a recent drop in value, reaching a two-month low, but analysts remain optimistic about its future, predicting significant price increases following Ripple’s legal victories.
- Shiba Inu (SHIB) has gained attention due to its popularity in certain markets and the successful launch of its Shibarium blockchain solution, leading to substantial increases in transactions and wallet addresses on its network.
BTC’s Rollercoaster
The primary cryptocurrency started the new year with a splash, rallying above $45,500 (a price last seen in April 2022). A possible reason behind the uptrend was the growing hype that a spot Bitcoin ETF would see the light of day in the US in the following weeks.
However, the jolly was short-lived. BTC’s value dropped yesterday (January 3) below the $42K mark, followed by a slight resurgence toward the current level of around $43K (per CoinGecko’s data). The Matrixport report hinting that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would not approve a single ETF application in January might be one factor playing a role.
However, prominent names like Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas and Scott Melker (also known as “The Wolf of All Streets”) opposed, describing the report as one man’s speculation, which is not based on verified sources.
“The Matrixport report is not “fake news” as many are reporting. It’s an analyst giving an opinion. We all do it daily. We are mostly wrong. It went viral. They are allowed their opinion. They couldn’t know that their research report would rock the market,” Melker stated.
BTC miners’ actions should also be mentioned. As CryptoPotato recently reported, BTC’s hash rate hit an all-time high of 544 exahashes per second around Christmas. This might have made the network more secure, but it has also resulted in higher costs for miners who dumped a large chunk of their holdings onto exchanges at the start of 2024.
And while the price might have corrected, it’s still true that BTC is up a lot in the past few months. Take a look at our most recent video to find out what a prominent expert thinks about the rally.
Where is XRP Headed?
Ripple’s XRP is another digital asset that suffered from the recent market downfall, with its price plunging to a two-month low of $0.55.
Analysts like EGRAG CRYPTO and Dark Defender, though, remain optimistic that 2024 would offer much prosperity to XRP investors.
The former noted Ripple’s success in its lawsuit against the SEC, claiming this could allow the asset’s price to skyrocket during the next potential bull run to as high as $27. Dark Defender was less bullish, setting a short-term target of $1.
SHIB’s Developments
Shiba Inu has also made the headlines, thanks to its growing popularity in certain regions and the launch of its layer-2 blockchain solution – Shibarium.
As CryptoPotato reported, the memecoin was the second-most traded crypto asset on the Indian exchange WazirX in 2023, trailing behind Bitcoin (BTC).
For its part, Shibarium (which was designed to improve Shiba Inu’s speed and lower transaction costs) has blasted through multiple milestones. Total transactions on the network are close to 250 million, while wallet addresses surpassed 1.3 million.
