Beyond Bitcoin Flash Crash

It is almost a week since the flash crash in crypto space that coincided with the rollout of Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender in the central American nation of El Salvador. Though turmoil and turbulence continue in crypto sphere, some coins have clearly outperformed the broader market and are offering a glimmer of hope to the world of digital assets.

Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading at $44,749.70. The market leading cryptocurrency has lost 2.68 percent in 24 hours and 12.98 percent over a seven-day horizon. BTC has shed close to 25 percent over a six-month period while recording a gain of about 350 percent during the past twelve months.

Rival contender Ethereum (ETH) is currently trading at $3,232.30. The lead alternate coin has lost 5.77 percent in 24 hours and 17.32 percent in seven days. ETH has gained more than 75 percent in 6 months and more than 800 percent in twelve months.

But if we thought the legal tender fiasco has shaken the entire crypto world, we are clearly mistaken.

In the top-15 currencies ranked according to market capitalization as per coinmarketcap.com. there are four coins that are making positive returns over the past one week. Sixth ranked Solana (SOL) has gained 12.10 percent; ninth ranked Terra (LUNA) has added 11.69 percent; tenth ranked Avalanche (AVAX) has gained 11.19 percent; closely followed by thirteenth ranked Algorand (ALGO) that has strengthened by 55.52 percent.

The surge in prices of the above coins has also meant that Avalanche (AVAX) has moved up from rank 15 to rank 10 in less than a week. Algorand (ALGO) has entered the top-15 league, pushing Filecoin (FIL) from the coveted toppers group.

Avalanche (AVAX) prices had suffered following news of hacking on a DeFi based on Avalanche ecosystem. Its price crashed from the day’s high of $64.47 to a day-low of $49.39. It is currently trading at $53.55.

Algorand (ALGO) a seemingly lesser-known cryptocurrency till recently has been raging for the past few days. It was invented to speed up transactions and improve efficiency in response to the slow transaction times of Bitcoin and other blockchains. Algorand is designed so that there are very lower transaction fees, as well as no mining (like Bitcoin’s energy-intensive process), as it is based on a permissionless pure proof-of-stake blockchain protocol. It was founded by Silvio Micali, a professor of computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Source:coinmarketcap.com).

ALGO is currently trading at $2.05, implying a gain of 80 percent in six months and 440 percent in a year. Its current market capitalization is almost $10.6 billion. Circulating supply of ALGO is 5.23 billion as compared to maximum supply capped at 10 billion. ALGO’s recent rally could be attributed to the announcement by Koibanx, a leading Latin American asset tokenization and blockchain financial infrastructure company, that it has signed a cooperation agreement with the government of El Salvador, to develop its blockchain infrastructure on top of Algorand’s technology.

While celebrity coins like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Binance Coin(BNB) and XRP(XRP) are struggling to consolidate post last week’s losses, hitherto unnoticed coins are entering the limelight and outperforming the broader markets.
Gone are the days when bitcoin and cryptocurrency were considered synonymous. Given the fact that crypto sphere is close to 12000 coins, investors are closely watching the crypto space and keeping abreast of not only the technology that drives and differentiates the digital asset ecosystem but also the relative price performance over the period.

Unless major challenges like cyber security, extreme price volatility, etc. are addressed, retail participation in crypto assets would remain a challenge. Crypto world and the wider world are watching the space earnestly for the cues.

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