Hodl Up! Your weekly crypto catch up: Week 48
NFTs making a comeback, Bitcoin flirting with $100k again and again and the dark side of humanity revealed by pump.fun - all that happened this week in crypto.
Altcoins could be on the verge of an absolute blast off in the coming days, if we are to believe Crypto X. We have still been waiting for a $100k Bitcoin but the entire market cap of crypto has risen to $3.4 Trillion at the time of writing.
A very dark week in crypto as well with some of the nastiest stuff happening on pump.fun. Thankfully, the team banned their livestream feature after pressure from the community.
Anything and everything happened in the crypto industry this week!
NOTE: NOTHING EVER MENTIONED IN ANY OF OUR CRYPTO TALK’s POSTS/NEWSLETTERS/CONTENT IS FINANCIAL ADVICE. ALWAYS DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH.
NFTs making a comeback?
Ladies and gentlemen, fire up your digital wallets—NFTs are back in action, and they’re putting on quite the show. In the last two weeks, the volume of NFT market trade has been more than $330 million, which is a great number given how bad NFTs had it in this bear run.
Ethereum continues to be the reigning champ of NFT sales, clocking in $49 million. Bitcoin plays second fiddle with $43 million, and Solana? Oh, it’s stealing the buyer spotlight with a whopping 185,000 NFT enthusiasts, a jaw-dropping 58% increase from the week before.
Now, let’s talk collections. Floor prices for the top 100 NFT collections have surged by an average of 28% since November started. Some have skyrocketed as much as 146%! If that’s not a mic drop moment for digital collectibles, I don’t know what is.
Meanwhile, stablecoins are hitting their own stride, with total capitalization smashing records at $190 billion. Tether still rules the roost, but let’s give a round of applause to Solana’s native token, SOL, for hitting a spicy $264. This isn’t just a comeback; it’s a renaissance.
So, as Bitcoin catches its breath and altcoins keep the party going, the NFT market proves it’s here to stay. With new protocols like Sui and the ever-expanding blockchain universe, the digital collectibles space isn’t just alive—it’s thriving. Time to buckle up for NFT enthusiasts?
WTF pump.fun
It was a very messy and dark week in the meme narrative with humans’ worst sides on display on pump.fun ‘s livestream feature. The feature has now been closed after huge pressure from the crypto community.
What Happened?
Pump.fun ‘s livestream feature saw people go from degrading to downright criminal with some very henious activities going on on the platform. People being threatened, tortured, guns being fired and whatnot - all for making their token pump.
The crypto community called for a ban on pump.fun to which pump’s CEO first replied that moderation was in place but maybe was not optimal. Later, the company had to shut down their livestream feature.
You can read up more on this here.
Effect On Business
The meme coin launchpad made a revenue of $82.78 million in November, soaring 207% from the month prior. This mostly due to all the hype and PR (albeit negative) that it received in the past two weeks.
According to a report on new.bitcoin.com here, the revenue fell by $1.5M after the ban of the livestream feature. Pump.fun announced the pause would remain in effect until a moderation system could be implemented to handle the increased activity.
Rise of the dead - XRP, ADA and gaming projects
The crypto markets are buzzing, and leading the charge are XRP, ADA, and blockchain gaming projects. It's as if these assets have had a triple-shot espresso after a long nap—and they're sprinting into the spotlight with renewed energy.
XRP, the crypto market's phoenix, has seen a stellar 255% rise over the past month, climbing near the $1.85 mark. This revival is likely fueled by increased institutional interest and Ripple's expanding utility. After its regulatory saga, XRP is back, and it's looking like that underdog who won’t quit—a crypto Rocky Balboa​.
Cardano (ADA) has also put on its dancing shoes, breaking above $1 for the first time in over a year. ADA's 200% surge within 30 days recently suggests it's not just holding its ground but thriving.
Both these projects were thought to dead and buried in the past couple of years and I myself have given both of them a lot of stick over the years, no one’s happier to see them do well. (Except maybe a million people)
Meanwhile, blockchain gaming projects are coming back as well. SAND 0.00%↑ , $MANA , $GALA etc have all been pumping quite well over the last week or so and even the smaller cap gaming projects like $CREO have shown great value. Maybe we’ll get a gaming alt push after all. 🤷
A look at the markets
Speaking of the markets, as discussed before - a market cap of $3.4 T with everyone waiting for the elusive $100k Bitcoin. But really optimistic seeing the alts really pumping now with 10-80% pumps in even the large cap alts over the past 3-4 days.
Biggest Winner
ENS 0.00%↑ : It’s nearly 2025 and ENS 0.00%↑ decides to pump by 119% over the last week. Nothing to see here.
Biggest Loser
$OM: I can’t even call it a loser given OM 0.00%↑ is probably the biggest winner of this entire cycle but it is what it is for this week. Sorry Mantra, you dropped by 10%.
C4 (Crazy Crypto Community Content)
I don’t think rasco_88 gets impressed easily, do you? Context: Someone saying they weren’t worried about $DOGE’s little dip over the week.
Ouch and ouch, $XRP holders just cannot catch a break.
Well, that is it for this week folks. Hopefully we meet next week when I’m writing this newsletter in a lambo rather than at my McDonald’s job. Stay SAFU!