Last week, Ethereum welcomed the Dencun upgrade, reducing transaction fees across multiple layer 2 protocols. Bitcoin (BTC) fell below the $65,000 level, while spot Bitcoin ETFs continued to break new records and hit record highs.
Ethereum welcomes Dencun
- The Dencun upgrade has finally arrived on the Ethereum network, marking the beginning of “The Spurge.” Notably, the update was released on March 13th, exactly as the developers had planned.
- Shortly after Ethereum witnessed the implementation of the upgrade, crypto.news reported a significant decrease in average transaction fees across several Ethereum layer 2 protocols.
- Zora saw its average cost fall 99% on March 14 to $0.003, while Optimism fell 98.8% to $0.035 within the same period. Base also saw a similar reduction in fees to $0.035 per transaction.
- Arbitrum’s fees remained the same because the protocol decided not to implement Blob yet. Instead, they revealed plans to implement Blob through an imminent ArbOS update.
MicroStrategy Strengthens Bitcoin Bags
- According to a report earlier this week, MicroStrategy raised $821 million worth of cryptocurrency assets by increasing its Bitcoin holdings during the price discovery phase.
- The broader cryptocurrency market has witnessed a roller coaster ride this week. Bitcoin started the week strong, eventually soaring to an all-time high of $73,750 on March 14 amid intensive accumulation by long-term holders and whales.
- The rest of the market continued to rise and the global cryptocurrency market capitalization soared. Dogecoin (DOGE) also gained attention, rising 11% after Elon Musk said the asset could be used as a payment method for Tesla.
- DOGE and the rest of the market fell as BTC faced strong selling pressure above $73,000. The leading cryptocurrency asset fell to a low of $67,000 on March 15, with ITB analysts warning of a steeper correction.
- Bitcoin’s correction continued into the following days, with the asset plummeting below $65,000 on March 16, hitting a 10-day low of $64,780. However, BTC found a bottom at this price and has since recovered above $67,000.
- Market observers remain optimistic. Veteran trader Kevin Svenson expects BTC to reach $83,000 after the halving scheduled for next month.
Solana, BOME turns the trend on its head
- Ecosystem meme tokens, including Solana (SOL) and Book of Memes (BOME), continued to post massive gains despite the broader market decline.
- Solana saw an impressive 10% rise in 24 hours, with some related meme coins such as Jupiter (JUP) and dogwifhat (WIF) also surging.
- Book of Memes, a new meme coin based on Solana that was launched on March 14th, also rode the upward trend of the Solana ecosystem. The asset soared 345% in the 24 hours leading up to March 16th, and 39,000% from March 14th to 16th.
Spot Bitcoin ETFs continue to see record numbers.
- The spot Bitcoin ETF market received significant attention this week as demand for the investment product continued. According to a March 11 report, last week was a successful one as the cryptocurrency market saw a record $2.7 billion inflows last week.
- Spot Bitcoin ETFs continued to break records, with 14,261 Bitcoin tokens purchased on March 12th. This dwarfed the 900 BTC miners produced that day.
- Market experts at Bitcoin mining company Luxor Technology say investors have switched from cryptocurrency mining stocks to these products. Despite the demand, Vanguard’s outgoing CEO remained bearish on the product.
Craig Wright is not Satoshi, British court rules
- In COPA v. Craig Wright, the British High Court ruled that Wright was not Bitcoin founder Satoshi Nakamoto, despite Wright’s persistent claims.
- COPA’s goal was to prevent Wright from filing additional lawsuits against community figures for exposing his claims. This week a British court ruled that there is evidence to show that Craig Wright is not Satoshi.