Bitcoin Steady at $41K Amidst Memecoin, Ordinals Surge Overloading Blockchains

• Bitcoin and Ether Experience Slight Increase in Trading
• Market Response to Ledger Hack
• Bitcoin Predictions Remain Positive
• Impact of Memecoins on Layer-1 Chains

Bitcoin and Ether Experience Slight Increase in Trading

In opening the trading week, Bitcoin$42,260 -0.64% (BTC) was slightly up, maintaining a trade value above $41,000. Ether (ETH) followed a similar trend, trading above $2,100. According to data from Coinglass, there have been liquidations amounting to $103.5 million in token-tracked futures over the past 12 hours; $95 million of these were longs, essentially bets on higher prices. From the $103.5 million total liquidations, Bitcoin positions liquidated were $33 million, with $29 million being long Bitcoin positions.

Market Response to Ledger Hack

Lucy Hu, a Senior Analyst with Hong Kong-based digital asset management firm Metalpha, opines that despite the recent Ledger hack, the broader market continues to show resilience. Hu says that the anticipated rate cuts and the increasing interest in Bitcoin, fuelled by factors such as ordinals, have helped maintain market stability. Hu acknowledges that the significant Ledger hack did influence sentiment in the DeFi space, highlighting the need for enhanced wallet security. However, she also notes the continued enthusiasm for Bitcoin miners, fuelled by the remarkable rise of Bitcoin Ordinals. Hu expects that Bitcoin's long-term growth momentum will stay on track.

Bitcoin Predictions Remain Positive

Despite Bitcoin currently undergoing a correction phase, the predictions for the years 2024-2025 are still bullish, a stark contrast to the previous year's pessimistic predictions of Bitcoin trading at $10-12k. According to a recent end-of-year report by the Woo Network, there is a target of a $75K price point for BTC by early 2024. Bitwise shares a similar optimistic outlook, predicting Bitcoin to trade above $80,000. Bitwise also projects that spot Bitcoin ETFs will receive approval and collectively result in the most successful ETF launch ever recorded. The fund also anticipates Coinbase's revenue to double, exceeding Wall Street expectations tenfold.

Impact of Memecoins on Layer-1 Chains

Gas$6.78 -2.22% fees are seeing a sudden increase on Ethereum$2,315 -2.42% and several layer-1 chains, such as Avalanche, due to the influx of new meme coins in the market. Avalanche has recently generated $5 million in fees over 24 hours, whilst Ethereum, with a significantly larger market cap, has generated $13.52 million. Layer-2 solutions Arbitrum and Optimism$3.67 -1.41% have also seen a considerable increase in gas fees over the past week. Some layer-1 tokens depreciated faster than either Bitcoin or Ether, with AVAX down by 6% and Solana$104 5.03%'s SOL token down by 4%.

Edited by Jonathan Stoker