Bitcoin beats uncertainty to reconquer $17K – Crypto Roundup

Uniswap and Yearn lift DeFi coins into the green

The crypto market appears to have stabilized, with Bitcoin pushing above $17K even as the collapse of a major exchange in November continues to create uncertainty.

Last week, another large crypto lender filed for bankruptcy after months of financial trouble, yet the prices of Bitcoin and Ethereum failed to move lower on the bad news. This could be due to tailwinds from elsewhere, with Bitcoin benefitting from weakness in the US dollar as Fed chair Jerome Powell discussed slowing down rate hikes, and the capitulation of miners introducing hopes that we could be nearing the end of the bear market.

As Bitcoin and Ethereum slowly rise on this mixed news, many altcoins are already making double-digit gains: Fantom flew 30% higher last week on reports of good financial health, while Uniswap added 17% on the launch of a new NFT marketplace. On the losing side, Solana fell another 0.5% to mark total losses of almost 60% in November.

This Week’s Highlights

– Fantom flies 30% higher on Cronje comments
– Uniswap adds 18% on NFT marketplace launch

Fantom flies 30% higher on Cronje comments

Blockchain platform Fantom gained 30% last week on a proposed referral program and revelations about its financial health.

Announced on Thursday, the referral program is designed to drive growth by rewarding dApp developers, and according to Andre Cronje, will make Fantom “the Youtube/Twitch of blockchain platforms.”

This news added momentum to the rally sparked by an earlier blog post from the famous crypto developer, in which he revealed that the Fantom Foundation has enough funds to continue operations for another 30 years.

Uniswap adds 18% on NFT marketplace launch

The biggest decentralized exchange by trading volume, Uniswap, is adding another string to its bow.

The token gained almost 20% this week on the launch of an NFT trading platform that encompasses listings from OpenSea, Sudoswap, LooksRare, and other popular NFT marketplaces.

Described as a “marketplace for all digital assets” by Uniswap founder Hayden Adams, the new venue aims to simplify the NFT shopping experience, and will be “the first major NFT marketplace that has an open source front end.”

Week ahead

Although uncertainty and negative headlines are likely to continue pressuring crypto prices in the coming week, we may now be seeing a light at the end of the tunnel after Jerome Powell said it was time to slow down interest rate hikes.

This bullish thesis could be tested in the week ahead, as the US is set to release more inflation data in the form of the November US Producer Price Index.

The bigger test, however, will come in the following week, when further interest rate hikes are expected to be announced at the Fed’s last meeting of 2022.