BTC, ETH Retrace, Tesla Sold No Bitcoin in Q1, New Memecoin (PEPE) Hype Soars: This Week’s Market Recap

Last week was significantly more eventful within and outside the cryptocurrency industry, with the CPI numbers showing declining inflation rates in the States, while Ethereum underwent its most notable upgrade since the Merge.

Consequently, the entire market reacted positively, with BTC spiking to $31,000 to chart a 10-month peak, while ETH skyrocketed to above $2,100 and painted its highest price point in 11 months. This week began with less volatility, but the landscape changed for the worse a few days ago.

Bitcoin’s peak came exactly a week ago. The following few days were silent before the cryptocurrency headed south on Monday morning. Despite recovering the losses almost immediately, the asset began dropping hard once again mid-week. This time, the bears took it from over $30,000 to under $29,000. The past 24 hours were not kind either, and BTC slumped to under $28,000 for the first time in 12 days.

ETH was among the top performers after the Shapella upgrade, but it quickly lost momentum amid large-scale withdrawals and deposits. The asset lost over $200 in the past several days, dropping to and below $1,900.

Most of the alternative coins are in similar, if not worse, shape on a weekly scale. The most substantial losses from the top 100 alts come from Stacks (-20%), Immutable (-17.5%), Lido DAO (-17%), Algorand (-16%), Conflux (-15%), Kava (-15%), and many others.

OKB is among the few altcoins that have managed to defy the overall market sentiment by gaining over 13% in the same timeframe. As a result, the asset trades well above $50. Overall, though, the total crypto market cap has declined by roughly $100 billion on CoinGecko.

Market Data

Market Cap: $1,238B | 24H Vol: $59B | BTC Dominance: 44.1%

BTC: $28,215 (-7.2%) | ETH: $1,916 (-5%) | BNB: $327 (+0.9%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Better Not Miss

How Someone Turned $27 into $1 Million in Days With PEPE, But There’s a Catch. Cryptocurrency hype manias are a relatively frequent development amid bull markets, but this one, involving a new memecoin called PEPE, came out of nowhere for most. However, one investor was savvy enough to make a mind-blowing profit.

Tesla Didn’t Sell BTC During Q1 of 2023. The most well-known EV maker made the news in 2021 when it purchased over $1 billion worth of bitcoin. Since then, however, the Elon Musk-spearheaded company has disposed of certain portions of its BTC holdings. Yet, Tesla refrained from selling any more during Q1 of 2023.

Gary Gensler: The SEC Will Not Change its Attitude Toward Crypto Exchanges. The SEC Chair has become among the most hated people from the crypto community due to his policies on regulating the industry. Despite the massive backlash, some of it coming from SEC personnel and US politicians, Gensler said his agency has no plans to change its behavior.

Coinbase is About to Go to Court With the SEC: Brian Armstrong. Some of the aforementioned backlash came from the largest US-based crypto exchange – Coinbase – and its CEO, in particular. Brian Armstrong warned the SEC that both parties could go to court if the latter fails to reach clarity on its regulatory stance.

NBA Legend Shaquille O’Neal Served in FTX Class Action. The FTX drama doesn’t seem to stop, and it keeps involving more and more celebrities. The latest to be served in a class action lawsuit was the NBA legend – Shaquille O’Neal – who did manage to avoid the authorities on numerous occasions before that.

Do Kwon Transferred $7 Million to a Law Firm Shortly Before the Terra Crash (Report). The OG drama in 2022 started with the Terra collapse, and there’s more development on that front as well. One of the latest reports on the matter claimed that Do Kwon had transferred $7 million to a law firm shortly ahead of the crash