Survey forecasts $5K before end of year
The 2023 crypto rally is accelerating as we move into April, with Bitcoin adding 8% to break through $30K for the first time since June 2022.
Behind Bitcoin, Ethereum is up 6% as it approaches $2K ahead of the Shapella upgrade, while Enjin has risen 8% amidst growing interest in blockchain gaming. Elsewhere, Dogecoin has dropped 10% after a short-lived rally triggered by Elon Musk’s Twitter antics.
Read more after the jump.
This week’s focus
– Ethereum eyes $2K ahead of Shapella
– Dogecoin drops 10% following antics on Twitter
– Enjin steps on the gas to add 9% — will other gaming altcoins follow?
Ethereum eyes $2K ahead of Shapella
ETH has broken out of an ascending triangle pattern to reach for $2K
Ethereum has surpassed $1,900 to hit a new 2023 high as it approaches the Shanghai hard fork on April 12th.
A hard fork is a term that describes a set of changes to the blockchain. Such changes could be an upgrade, or in some extreme cases, a split resulting in a new token (which is not the case here). This specific hard fork will allow stakers to withdraw their staked Ether (ETH).
In addition to Shanghai, Ethereum will also simultaneously undergo another upgrade: Capella.
Together, these two upgrades are referred to as Shapella. This term references both Shanghai, which upgrades the part of Ethereum that processes transactions, and Capella, which upgrades the part of Ethereum that verifies each transaction is genuine.
Once complete, these two upgrades will represent the completion of the blockchain’s transition from the proof-of-work to the proof-of-stake mechanism, which is expected to create new levels of efficiency and scalability.
In a recent survey by a large exchange, 83% of crypto Investors indicated that they expect these improvements to help the price of Ethereum hit $5K by the end of this year.
Dogecoin drops 10% following antics on Twitter
DOGE jumped almost 40% before quickly reversing
The most valuable dog-themed meme coin is back in the spotlight, having spiked in price on two separate social-media fuelled occasions.
Dogecoin’s first jump was caused by its biggest fan, Elon Musk, who triggered a 40% rally last Tuesday by replacing Twitter’s classic blue bird logo with a Shiba Inu, the dog that inspired the meme coin.
As eToro Global Market Strategist Ben Laidler points out, this event could have stoked “Twitter payment hopes” among Dogecoin fans, who are speculating that Twitter could soon integrate a permanent Dogecoin payment system.
Nevertheless, Dogecoin ended the week with 10% losses, even after Burger King UK sparked more excitement with the tweet: “trying to convince my manager to let me have an office doge.”
Enjin steps on the gas to add 9% — will other gaming altcoins follow?
ENJ is humming steadily higher on a diagonal trend line
Blockchain gaming and NFT platform Enjin has accelerated in the last week, pushing ahead of other altcoins to add 8%.
The gains could be driven by the upcoming release of the new Enjin platform, which was teased with a tweet showing the new interface on April 4th. In addition, anticipation is also building about NFT.io, an upcoming gaming NFT marketplace based on Enjin.
In the bigger picture, Enjin could also be benefiting from increased investor interest in blockchain gaming. A recent report from DappRadar and the Blockchain Games Alliance found that Web3 gaming projects attracted $739 million in investment in the first quarter of 2023, suggesting that gaming-focused tokens like Enjin and Immutable X could be well-positioned to ride a wave of growth.