Will Matic win the Ethereum scaling race?
Unfazed by US regulatory action, Bitcoin has climbed 10% to push against $25K.
This double-digit rally beats the weekly returns of most altcoins, which appear to be more vulnerable to the market uncertainty.
Nonetheless, the hottest altcoin sectors are still showing strength: Polygon is racing higher on excitement about zero-knowledge proofs, while Chinese favorite Filecoin has dwarfed Bitcoin’s gains with a 70% rally.
Read more after the jump.
This week’s focus
– Filecoin soars 70% — will other Chinese favorites follow?
– Zero-knowledge proofs power 20% Polygon surge
– Bitcoin outpaces altcoins — could it hit $30K?
Filecoin soars 70% — will other Chinese favorites follow?
Filecoin has jumped from under $5 to brush the $9 level
Riding higher on a number of bullish catalysts, Filecoin has added 70% in a single week.
The decentralized cloud alternative was boosted by reports of rapid growth, with active storage deals up 850% YoY according to crypto data provider Messari, and excitement about the launch of the Filecoin Virtual Machine (FVM) in March. This will introduce smart contracts to the network, unlocking new functionality including staking and DeFi tools.
Yet the biggest driver of Filecoin’s gains could be upcoming regulatory changes in Hong Kong. The project has long been a favorite of investors in China, and is likely to be benefiting from reports that the city will start to legalize crypto trading in June.
Such an event could trigger a wave of investment that would boost not only Filecoin, but all of China’s favorite altcoins. Other popular projects in the country include Polkadot, which is supported by many Chinese developers, and EOS, which was previously ranked the #1 crypto by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
Zero-knowledge proofs power 20% Polygon surge
After a rally of 20% this week, Polygon is sitting on support at $1.45
As the crypto market heats up, investors are pouring funds into what is widely expected to be the next big evolution for blockchain: zero-knowledge proofs.
This has led to 20% gains for Ethereum scaling solution Polygon, which last week set a March date for the beta launch of its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM) Mainnet.
The project is now leading the race to implement zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptographic innovation that lets you prove that you know something without disclosing what you know. Much like proving that you know “where’s Waldo” without pointing to where he is in the picture.
In blockchain, this mechanism promises to help alleviate congestion by enabling transactions to be executed securely off chain.
Bitcoin outpaces altcoins — could it hit $30K?
The leading crypto is up 10% this week, and is currently nudging $25K
As US regulators take aim at crypto projects, Bitcoin is pushing ahead of the rest of the market.
This outperformance could be due to the fact that Bitcoin is the only cryptoasset that has been labeled a ‘commodity’ by SEC chair Gary Gensler, putting it in the same category as gold, oil, and other assets that are generally perceived as safe from regulatory action.
At the same time, Bitcoin’s rally is also being driven by excitement around the newly-released Ordinals Protocol, which has introduced Bitcoin-based NFTs for the first time.
According to Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz, this optimism could help push Bitcoin to its next big milestone. The hedge fund manager said at a Bank of America conference last Wednesday that “It wouldn’t surprise” him if the cryptoasset “were at $30K by the end of the quarter.”