Bitcoin Takes a Break, Meme Hype Rotates to Base Chain

By Mary Liu, Bitpush BitpushNews

Crypto markets were mixed today, with Bitcoin falling below $70,000 and Ether hovering below $36 million as of the day's close in the US. According to CoinmarketCap, the biggest gainers over the past 24 hours were Dogwifhat (WIF), Internet Computer (ICP), APTOS, BEAM, and SUI, with gains ranging from 9% to 19%, respectively.

As a result of the regulatory downside, KUCOIN's platform fell more than 14% in 24 hours.Earlier in the day, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) charged KuCoin with operating an illegal digital asset derivatives exchange, and the U.S. Department of Justice charged KuCoin and two of its founders with violations of bank secrecy and unauthorized fund transfers.

Base chain dominated meme hype

The rotation of speculation in the crypto segment is getting faster and faster. Several indicators suggest that cryptocurrency traders are seeking profit opportunities on the Base blockchain amidst a speculative boom led by meme coins.

Built by cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase on the OP Stack, Base went live to developers in August and initially grew slowly. Over the past few weeks, however, its Total Value of Locked Positions (TVL) increased from $450 million earlier this month to nearly $1 billion on Tuesday.

Blockchain data shows that Base's average daily transaction volume of less than 500,000 transactions over the past few months has tripled to more than 1.5 million transactions per day. The number of unique addresses has doubled to 65,000 wallets.

The ability to access Base directly from Coinbase's exchange and wallet apps may have spurred a massive rush to the network by retail investors, some market watchers said. The network has generated $1.8 million in fees in the past 24 hours.

CoinmarketCap data shows that in March 2024, 21 of the top 25 Base traded tokens were meme coins.

Over the past week, cat-themed meme coins such as toshi (TOSHI), thank you base god (TYBG), normie (NORMIE), and brett (BRETT) have risen in price by 1,300%, while tech projects such as decentralized exchanges Aerodrome's AERO and Seamless' SEAM have risen by as much as 90%. coinmarketcap data shows that Base ecosystem project tokens are currently in first place in terms of overall growth, followed by TON. Technology projects such as Aerodrome's AERO and Seamless' SEAM have seen their tokens rise by as much as 90%. coinmarketcap data shows that the Base ecosystem tokens are currently in first place in terms of overall gains, followed by TON.

Meanwhile, Optimism developer Michael Silberling pointed out on X that the popularity of meme coins on Base has led to high Gas fees that exceed what users were paying before the Dencun upgrade. Most of the transactions came from meme coin traders and trading bots designed to buy tokens within minutes of issuance, causing congestion on the network.

Spot Bitcoin ETF Ends Five-Day Net Outflow Streak

Inflows into the U.S. spot bitcoin ETF totaled $15.4 million yesterday, ending a five-day streak of outflows, according to data released by investment firm Farside.

Fidelity's FBTC led inflows with $261.8 million, followed by BlackRock's IBIT with $35.5 million. Other funds such as BITB, BTCO, EZBC and BRRR each received between $11 million and $20 million. Meanwhile, Grayscale's ETF (GBTC) continued to see outflows of just over $350 million.

In addition, the London Stock Exchange said it will launch a market for Bitcoin and Ether exchange-traded notes (ETNs) on May 28th. The stock exchange will begin accepting applications for crypto ETN trading from April 8, the notice said. The market will be approved by the Financial Conduct Authority, the U.K. regulator. ETNs are similar to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in that they are designed to mirror investments tracked by an index or benchmark.

BTC Rebound on the Horizon?

The Amberdata chart tracks 24-hour changes in the number of active bitcoin options contracts on Deribit at various strike price levels. The data shows a significant increase in open call option contracts with strike prices of $90,000 and $105,000, indicating the market's expectation that BTC will continue to rise into the six figures in the coming months.

Trader and analyst Matthew Hyland is optimistic about BTC's future prospects, stating on the X platform, "If this support is solid enough, then the likelihood of the Bitcoin price rising to $100,000 increases."

Matthew Hyland sees the daily Relative Strength Index (RSI) value falling below the key 50 level on March 20 as a "good sign" for a rebound. As of today, the daily RSI is just above 60, still below the classic bull market area of 70+.