Surging network stats drive optimism for the big event
Despite the surging US stock market, Bitcoin and Ethereum are flashing small losses after a large crypto exchange was sued by the SEC.
Nevertheless, the top altcoin performers of the last few weeks continue to show resilience, including TRON, Solana, and a couple of old favorites. As eToro Global Strategist Ben Laidler notes, XRP has risen 3% “on hope that its long-running SEC lawsuit is near ending” and Litecoin is equally buoyant as it “nears its August 10th supply ‘halving’ event.”
Read more after the jump.
This week’s focus
– Litecoin holds steady as August halving comes into focus
– XRP breaks $0.50 barrier — is the SEC battle almost over?
– TRON adds 4% as other altcoins dip — will Sun’s ambition come to fruition?
– 146% surge in users drives optimism for Solana
Litecoin holds steady as August halving comes into focus
LTC has been pushing upwards in an ascending triangle since the new year
As summer enters full swing in the northern hemisphere, Litecoin’s August halving has come into sharp focus.
This event is likely to be the primary driver behind the recent period of out performance for Litecoin, which is 3% down on the week, but up 5% over the last 30 days — beating both Bitcoin and Ethereum over the same period.
In addition, Litecoin continues to benefit from a recent burst of activity related to the Ordinals protocol, which represents a way to inscribe digital content on the blockchain.
As a result, network stats are surging, which is helping to create optimistic sentiment ahead of the big event in August.
“Litecoin had a strong month” tweeted market data firm IntoTheBlock last week. “Total addresses with a balance have increased more intensely since the end of April and we now observe nearly 8.5 million LTC addresses with a balance!”
XRP breaks $0.50 barrier — is the SEC battle almost over?
After breaking through resistance at $0.50, XRP is now testing the same level as support
XRP has broken through the $0.50 threshold that has been blocking upwards momentum for months.
The rally comes on rising hopes that Ripple’s long legal battle against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could be drawing to a positive conclusion.
“I feel very confident that we’ll see a decision from the courts this year,” said Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse in an interview last week. “In fact, I think I would guess that it will be in weeks, not months.”
Garlinghouse’s words sparked bullish sentiment among XRP’s biggest supporters, including lawyer John Deaton, who speculated that a positive outcome could unlock latent demand for the token: “#XRP sits at .48 cents and it’s crazy to think about how many people, who refuse to buy it now, are going to buy it over $1.” tweeted Deaton. “What’s even more crazy is that fomo won’t likely kick in until $2.”
TRON adds 4% as most altcoins dip — will Sun’s ambition come to fruition?
TRX has retraced most of its gains after suddenly jumping 11% on a tweet
TRON unexpectedly jumped 11% last Friday, making a total of 4% weekly gains after founder Justin Sun tweeted that the cryptoasset is going live on Ethereum.
This development, made possible through the BitTorrent bridge, enables TRON to integrate with Ethereum-based DeFi platforms and dApps, creating new opportunities for the Tron ecosystem to expand.
In addition to this cross-chain innovation, TRON could also be benefiting from continued success in the stablecoin sector. Tether tokens issued on the Tron blockchain hit another all-time high last week of $46 billion, accounting for over 60% of USDT’s circulating supply.
This milestone prompted rousing commentary from Founder Justin Sun, who spoke of his team’s ambition to double the protocol’s transaction volume in the coming year.
Sun laid out his plans in a tweet, noting that he expects the growing number of transactions to help bolster the protocol’s revenue, which would prove that “TRON’s fundamentals remain strong even in a challenging market.”
146% surge in users drives optimism for Solana
Despite the good news, SOL continues to trade in the same range as it has since February
After successfully breaching the $20 psychological level, Solana touched $22 before falling alongside other altcoins amidst legal concerns around one of the largest exchanges.
The impressive price action could be driven by a substantial increase in the number of active users on the network. This spiked to roughly 3.5 million in May, marking an astonishing 146% surge from April, according to blockchain data from Dune Analytics.
Solana’s rise may also be fueled by the furious pace of new product releases, with recent highlights including a web3-focused Android smartphone, and expansion into AI via a new Chat GPT plugin aimed at facilitating user onboarding into web3.
These developments, according to the network’s cofounder, Raj Gokul, could help make Solana “the Apple of crypto.” He told TechCrunch last week that the likes of the iPhone and iPad became what they are today through “relentless focus on a simple interaction that had to work perfectly,” which is what Solana’s engineers are focusing on.