David Garai, founder of Starknet-powered crypto project Nostra, has stepped down as the CEO just days after the launch of the project’s native token, NSTR.
Nostra is a platform that allows users to lend, borrow, swap, and bridge crypto.
The project launched its token on June 17, with 100% of the total supply unlocked during the token generation (TGE) event. Meanwhile, Garai resigned as the platform’s CEO today, June 28.
“I have resigned as CEO of Nostra,” Garai said in a statement posted on X. “The great @RTPthefirst will take over as the day-to-day lead of Nostra Labs,” he added, referring to Nostra head of product Richard Thomas-Pryce.
Head of Product to lead Nostra team
Garai said that while he is leaving to take a “lil break for the first time in four years,” Thomas-Price and the team are ready to continue building Nostra.
“Over the last 2.5 years, our team has built Nostra into the largest and most profitable protocol on Starknet, earning $2.5M annually with over $180M TVL. Of course, development doesn’t stop here,” the former CEO wrote. “Under the leadership of [Thomas-Price], Nostra (and its 12 full-time builders) will continue developing the product suite for the Super App, with Nostra Earn coming soon, as well as STRK liquid staking, for which Nostra is well positioned to be the frontrunner.”
Nostra token price drops after news
Nostra launched with a total supply of 100 million NSTR tokens, 11% of which went to an airdrop targeted for the community. The project allocated 25% to the treasury, earmarked 14% for future airdrops, and handed investors and the team 26.2% and 23.8%, respectively.
There was no vesting period for the tokens.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, Nostra’s market cap is currently at $9.62 million, and its price hovers near $0.096. Garai’s resignation news has coincided with a 4% decline for NSTR. On June 17, NSTR’s price reached a high of $0.21.
It was a sea of green on Monday as Bitcoin bounced back above $63,000 as investors embraced a risk-on sentiment.
Ethereum Name Service (ENS) was one of the best-performing altcoins on Monday as focus shifted to the upcoming ENSv2 upgrade. LayerZero, which recently launched its airdrop, rose to $3.6, 40% above its lowest level last week.
Mog Coin, one of the best-performing meme coins this year, rose to an all-time high of $0.0000021, up more than 200% above its lowest level in June. Bonk has also risen by over 32% from its last month’s lowest point, which made it our chart of the week. Some of the other top-performers were altcoins like Dogwifhat (WIF), Immutable X (IMX), Fantom (FTM), and Bittensor (TAO).
MOG vs ZRO vs Bonk prices chart
Bitcoin and altcoins’ recovery happened in a high-volume environment. Data by CoinMarketCap shows that the daily volume jumped by over 45% to $53 billion, its highest point since June 28th.
There was no major catalyst to justify the rally. Therefore, the likely reason why these coins gained is that investors have embraced a risk-on sentiment after the French election held on Sunday. While Marine Le Pen’s party won the election, the victory was lower than what polls were expecting.
In the aftermath, the US dollar index (DXY) dropped by 15 basis points while global stocks jumped. The French CAC 40 index rose by over 2% while the German DAX index rose by 0.70%. In the US, futures tied to the Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 index were also in the green.
Dead cat bounce?
Bitcoin price chart
Still, there is a risk that the LayerZero, Mog Coin, and Bonk price rally is a dead cat bounce, a scenario where an asset in a freefall stages a brief comeback only to resume a downtrend.
This risk is magnified by the fact that Bitcoin has formed several risky patterns in the past few months. It formed a double-top pattern at $72,000 last month. It has also failed to move above that level since March 27th.
Bitcoin has also remained below the 50-day and 100-day Exponential Moving Averages (EMA), meaning that bears are still in control. Most recently, it has formed a bearish pennant chart pattern.
Therefore, there is a risk that Bitcoin will drop and move below $60,000 this week. If this happens, altcoins like MOG, BONK, and ZRO will resume their bearish trend since in most cases, these tokens follow Bitcoin’s price action.
XRP price lost a crucial support on Thursday as a sea of red engulfed the crypto market.
The XRP token dropped to $0.4400, its lowest level since April and 41% below its highest level this month.
Ripple, one of the biggest cryptocurrencies in the industry is facing substantial challenges, which partly explains why its token has dropped recently.
On-chain data paints a picture of a network that is no longer growing. According to XRP Scan, the number of unique addresses that were active as senders have dropped from 50,000 in January to 5,850 today.
Additional data reveals that the number of transactions dropped from a high of 6.8 million in January to just over 1 million.
XRP Transaction count
Also, the number of payments from one account to another have fallen from almost 6 million in December to 1.1 million.
The weakness comes at a time when investors are concerned with the market positioning of Ripple’s network in the financial services industry. Ripple Labs’ original idea was to help companies like banks do cross-border transactions faster.
Today, these institutions have better alternatives, such as stablecoins. For example, ANZ Bank, a leading Australian company, demonstrated how customers could use Chainlink’s CCIP to transfer its issued stablecoins to move money.
Meanwhile, XRP whales are dumping the token. Data by Whale Alert showed that a whale moved tokens worth $15 million to Bitso on Wednesday. On the sane day, another whale moved tokens worth $14.8 million to Bitstap. Altogether, whales have sold XRP tokens worth $60 million this week.
Ripple is also at risk technically. It formed a double-top pattern at $0.7485, its highest point in November last year and March 2024. In technical analysis, a double-top pattern is a good signal of more downside.
XRP has now moved below this pattern’s neckline at $0.4872. It also formed a death cross on April 20th as the 200-day and 50-day moving averages crossed each other.
On Thursday, it then lost its final support when it dropped below $0.4557, where it struggle to move below since May. That could be a signal that bears have prevailed, which could push the XRP price much lower.
On July 5, the majority of altcoins, including PEPE, BRETT, JASMY and FLOKI, fell over 20%, as Bitcoin, the largest crypto asset, dropped 8% in 24 hour trading.
At the time of writing, the Ethereum-based meme coin, PEPE, was down 15% in the last 24 hours, and hands were exchanged at $0.0000082. In the same timeframe, the daily trading volume of crypto assets hovered around $1.29 billion. Meanwhile, its market cap had slumped by 15%, now standing at $3.46 billion.
PEPE 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap
BRETT, the memecoin which launched four months ago, also dropped 20%, exchanging hands at $0.1143, according to data from CoinMarketCap (CMC). In the same period, the meme coin, inspired by a character from the “Boy’s Club” comic, had a daily trading volume of $71.3 million.
BRETT 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap
Meanwhile, the crypto asset’s market cap fell to $1.13 billion, bringing it down to the 59th largest cryptocurrency per CMC.
JASMY, the native cryptocurrency that enables all the activities inside the Jasmy ecosystem, is also being affected by the recent Bitcoin price action. At press time, it was down 15% in the last 24 hours, being traded at $0.02083 with a daily trading volume of $177 million. The token’s market cap had fallen to $1 billion.
JASMY 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap
Solana-based meme coin FLOKI was also seen in the red with a drop of 15%, trading at $0.00013 at the time of publication. Its daily trading volume stood at $309 million, while the token also witnessed a drop in its market cap to $1.25 billion. The crypto asset has fallen to 55th rank among the top 100 leading cryptocurrencies.
FLOKI 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap
The general sharp in all these altcoins follows the decline in the leading cryptocurrency by market cap, Bitcoin, which fell by 8% in the past day to $54,426 on Friday morning. Its 24-hour lows and highs were recorded as $53,717 and $58,591, respectively.
Bitcoin’s dominance increased by 0.58% from the previous day, reflecting a notable decrease in altcoin market activity.
Ethereum, the largest altcoin, had dropped 11% in the last 24 hours, being traded at $2860 at the time of reporting.
The sharp decline in the altcoin market is often linked to Bitcoin’s performance due to its significant influence and market dominance.
When Bitcoin experiences substantial price drops, it tends to create a ripple effect across the cryptocurrency market, leading to widespread declines in altcoin values as investor confidence wanes and market sentiment turns bearish.
Meme coins are enjoying their time in the green while Bitcoin (BTC), which experienced a downturn this week, has climbed 3% in 24-hour trading.
BONK, WIF, BRETT, and PEPE have all surged over 15% amid a broader meme coin rally. Let’s take a look at each.
Bonk
At the time of writing, Solana-based meme coin Bonk (BONK) was still up 12% in the last 24 hours.
The leading dog-themed Solana coin was trading at $0.000022 per data from CoinMarketCap (CMC). In the same time frame, its trading volume saw a drop of 1%, hovering around $319.5 million, suggesting traders could be holding on to their BONK tokens and expecting a further jump in price.
BONK 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap
Moreover, BONK’s market cap was standing at $1.52 billion, marking it as the 50th largest cryptocurrency per CMC. Despite the latest price surge, the dog-themed meme coin is still down 52% from its all-time high of 0.000047, which it reached on March 4.
Dogwifhat
Dogwifhat has also seen a greater jump of 22%, currently trading at $1.99 as of press time. The 41st largest cryptocurrency in terms of market cap had a daily trading volume of $580 million per CMC.
WIF 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap
At the time of publication, WIF’s market cap stood at $1.98 billion, holding the rank of 41st largest crypto asset. The canine-themed meme coin (also a Solana-based coin) is still down 60% from its all-time high of $4.85 attained on March 31.
Brett
BRETT, the meme coin launched four months ago, was still up 8%, trading at $0.12, according to CoinMarketCap (CMC).
During the same period, the meme coin — inspired by a character from illustrator Matt Furie’s “Boy’s Club” comic — had a daily trading volume of $42.7 million, down 29%.
BRETT 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap
Additionally, the crypto asset’s market cap rose to $1.13 billion, making it the 58th largest cryptocurrency, according to CMC.
Pepe
PEPE, an Ethereum-based meme coin, was also up 8.6% over the past day and exchanging hands at $0.0000090.
In the same timeframe, the daily trading volume of crypto assets hovered around $908 million, down over 32% per CMC. Meanwhile, its market cap had jumped by 8%, and it now stands at $3.8 billion.
PEPE 24-hour price chart | Source: CoinMarketCap
The general surge in all these meme coins follows a rise in the largest crypto asset by market cap, Bitcoin, which had risen by 3% over the past day to $56,713 on Saturday. Its 24-hour lows and highs were recorded as $54,839 and $56,856, respectively.
Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 53.64%, a decrease of 0.31% over the day, reflecting a notable jump in altcoin market activity. Meanwhile, the global crypto market cap has risen by 3.2%, bringing its total market cap to $2.08 trillion.
The big jump in the meme coin market is often linked to Bitcoin’s performance due to its influence on the broader cryptocurrency market.
When Bitcoin performs well, it often leads to increased investor confidence and interest in alternative coins (altcoins), including meme coins. This phenomenon can create a positive feedback loop, where rising prices attract more investors, further driving up prices.
Siacoin (SC) is among many altcoins experiencing a notable price increase on Wednesday, gaining 29% in the past 24 hours.
On Wednesday, the price of Siacoin rose to $0.005248 from its low of $0.004103, extending gains seen since the altcoin touched $0.003531 on July 5. Wednesday’s upside sees SC rank as one of the top performers in the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
SC has seen its market cap surge by 27% to over $303 million. Meanwhile, 24-hour trading volume has skyrocketed more than 2,700% to over $72.7 million.
Other coins to register double-digit gains in 24 hours at the time of writing were the meme coin Mog Coin (MOG) with 15% and Bitcoin Layer-2 network Stacks (STX) with 13%. Optimism (OP) and Ondo (ONDO) were also up 8% and 7% respectively.
Siacoin’s decentralized storage network
Siacoin is the native token of Sia, a decentralized cloud storage network that offers a marketplace where tap into their unused storage space.
On Sia, one can rent out their storage, with those who lease entering into smart contract agreement to pay hosts via the native utility token. Hosts on the other hand, use SC as collateral to guarantee reliability and trust. SC therefore plays a crucial role in not just helping secure the proof-of-work (PoW) coin but also as the payments currency on the network. Notably, the PoW mechanism allows for 30,000 SC as block reward.
The project launched officially in June 2015, and saw the price of SC rise to the all-time high of $0.09287 in January 2018.
Sia Foundation provides grants update
On July 9, the Sia Foundation published an update indicating availability of grant funding for community contributors. Applicants get funded to research, develop and deploy projects and tools that support decentralized cloud storage and broader Sia ecosystem.
In its latest report, the grants committee said it approved new grants for four projects: S5 Network, SkyMusic 2, SiaLearn, and Sia NFS Gateway.
Shiba Inu’s price continued its recovery this week as Bitcoin and most altcoins bounced back and the crypto fear and greed index stabilized.
The SHIB token has risen for four consecutive days, reaching a high of $0.0000020, its highest point since June 17.
Shiba Inu token burn momentum slows
Shiba Inu’s rally coincided with Bitcoin jumping to a high of $65,000 for the first time since June 19 and the crypto fear and greed index approaching the greed zone of 60.
Other meme coins have done well this week. As was reported earlier, tokens like Pepe, Floki, Dogwifhat, and Brett were up by over 20% in the past hours.
Notably, Shiba Inu’s daily trading volume of $650 million was smaller than Pepe’s $2.9 billion. It was also lower than Dogwifhat’s $978 million and Floki’s $978 million. This indicates that Shiba Inu, along with Dogecoin, is losing momentum among traders.
On-chain data shows that the volume of Shiba Inu token burn has dropped in the past few weeks. The biggest burn this month happened on the 11th when users burned over 72 million tokens. Since then, it has averaged less than 200,000 a day.
Shiba Inu monthly burn
Crypto traders are now focusing on Shiba Inu’s chart for clues on whether the ongoing recovery will continue.
Shiba Inu price crossed a key resistance
SHIB price chart
On the daily chart, the ongoing rebound occurred after the token formed a hammer pattern on July 5. This pattern is one of the most popular bullish reversal signs in the market.
Shiba Inu has now crossed the important resistance point at $0.000018, its lowest swing on April 13, signaling that it is gaining momentum.
Most importantly, the token has now found substantial resistance at the 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA).
Therefore, more upside will be confirmed if the token breaks above this EMA and closes above its intraday high of $0.000020. If it fails to do that, it will form a doji or a shooting star candlestick pattern and resume its downtrend.
Are current market conditions, including spot Ethereum ETFs and Bitcoin volatility, pointing towards an imminent altcoin season? Read on.
Table of Contents
In recent weeks, the crypto market has experienced critical shifts, keeping everyone on edge. The turmoil began when the defunct Mt. Gox exchange started repaying its creditors, causing a sharp drop in Bitcoin (BTC) prices and triggering widespread panic, fueling speculation that the bull run might be over.
Adding to the uncertainty, the German government initiated a large-scale sell-off of its crypto holdings, pushing BTC prices down further to around $53,700 by July 5.
Despite these setbacks, Bitcoin climbed back to the $58,000 mark as the market absorbed the shocks from both the Mt. Gox repayments and the German sell-off.
However, the real game-changer came unexpectedly with a dramatic incident involving former U.S. President Donald Trump. Known for his pro-crypto stance, Trump was shot in the right ear during a political rally.
Post the attack, speculation surrounding Trump’s potential political comeback and its positive implications for the crypto market acted as a catalyst.
As a result, Bitcoin’s price soared from $58,000 to over $63,000 by July 14, briefly touching $65,000 on July 16 before settling at $64,937 at the time of this writing.
BTC one-week price chart | Source: TradingView
As if the market wasn’t volatile enough, another major development looms on the horizon: the approval of spot Ethereum (ETH) ETFs.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted preliminary approval to at least three of the eight asset managers seeking to launch spot ETH ETFs. Final approval hinges on the submission of their S-1 documents to regulators by the end of this week.
The approved asset managers, including heavyweights like BlackRock, VanEck, and Franklin Templeton, are expected to receive the green light from the SEC on July 22, with trading in these new products slated to begin the very next day, on July 23.
Update: Nate’s instincts were right, hearing SEC finally gotten back to issuers today, asking them to return FINAL S-1s on Wed (incl fees) and then request effectiveness on Monday after close for a TUESDAY 7/23 LAUNCH. This is provided no unforeseeable last min issues of course! https://t.co/D21FD9Qf94
With these events sending ripples across the crypto market, the big question remains: what does this mean for altcoins? Are we on the brink of an altcoin season, or will BTC and ETH continue to dominate?
Let’s delve into the data and market sentiment to uncover whether an altcoin season is indeed around the corner.
Altcoin dominance taking a hit
The altcoin market has been on a volatile ride recently, and understanding what’s going on requires looking at some important data.
First, let’s talk about Bitcoin dominance. Since November 2022, BTC dominance has been strengthening. Back then, Bitcoin’s share of the total crypto market was around 40%. It then climbed steadily and hit over 56% in April 2024. Since then, it’s been hovering between 54% and 56%, standing at nearly 55% as of July 16.
On the other hand, altcoin dominance (excluding top 10 coins by market cap) has followed a different pattern. It was high at around 19.3% in January 2022 but then dropped to as low as 8.22% by June 2023. There was a recovery to 13.4% in March 2024, but after Bitcoin made its all-time high, altcoin dominance fell again to about 10.27% by July 16.
Ethereum has been the main driver behind any increases in altcoin dominance. When ETH prices went up, altcoin dominance followed, but other altcoins didn’t see the same level of interest or investment.
We can see this dynamic reflected in the Altcoin Season Index, which measures the performance of altcoins relative to Bitcoin. Typically, an Altcoin Season is deemed active when more than 75% of the top 50 altcoins, excluding stablecoins, outperform BTC.
In October 2023, the crypto market turned bullish, and altcoins gained strength. The index moved from 16 to a high of 84 in January 2024, suggesting an altcoin season was starting.
Altcoin season index | Source: Blockchaincenter.net
However, the momentum of spot BTC ETFs pushed altcoins aside, and the index dropped back to 16 by June 2024. Recently, as BTC lost some steam, the altcoin market picked up, and the index rose to 46, marking the quickest rise since January.
But Mt. Gox repayments and the German sell-off fears quickly brought the market down again, and the index dropped to 33 as of July 16.
Ethereum has played a major role in these movements. Data shows that whenever Ethereum prices increased, the Altcoin Season Index also rose, indicating that Ethereum is a key booster for the entire altcoin market.
For a real altcoin season to begin, this index needs to stay above 75 consistently for several weeks to months. Until that happens, Bitcoin will likely continue to dominate, with Ethereum playing a key supporting role.
Is the altcoin season around the corner?
A lot of the speculation about altcoins revolves around the upcoming events and historical patterns observed in the crypto market.
According to Wise Advice, a crypto analyst, the timing of altcoin season often aligns with Bitcoin halving events. Historically, after each Bitcoin halving, which reduces the block reward for mining new bitcoins, Bitcoin’s price tends to reach new all-time highs (ATH) about 1 to 1.5 years later.
I know when altcoin season will happen.
And I’ll show you it👇
◾Halving
It all depends on it. Wait a minute, what???
Yes, you’ve read it right.
When halving happens, after 1–1.5 years, the BTC ATH comes.
This surge in Bitcoin’s price is followed by a sharp rise in Ethereum and other altcoins. For example, during the third halving bull run in November 2021, Bitcoin reached its ATH, and shortly after, Ethereum hit its peak at $4,800.
Similar patterns were observed in previous halving events, where altcoins like Solana (SOL), Polkadot (DOT), and Avalanche (AVAX) also saw their ATHs following Bitcoin’s rally.
The underlying mechanism behind this pattern is the flow of money in the market. Initially, investors flock to Bitcoin, driving its price up. As Bitcoin investors make profits, they often reinvest in Ethereum and other altcoins. Due to the lower market cap of these altcoins, even a relatively small influx of capital can cause substantial price increases.
This cycle of investment from Bitcoin to Ethereum and then to smaller altcoins leads to a temporary drop in Bitcoin’s dominance, making way for altcoin rallies and eventually towards altcoin season.
Meanwhile, Yann Allemann, co-founder of Glassnode, pointed out a recent market rotation where riskier equity assets outperformed more stable ones, a sign that could indicate a similar shift in the crypto market.
Rotation coming?
Yesterday, we saw how #Nasdaq declined >2% – while #IWM rallied >3%.
This is a clear indication of Rotation. The move to riskier assets.
Comparing it to a similar event in November 2020, he suggests that we might see a massive rally in altcoins if this rotation continues. Back in 2020, such a shift led to a 400% increase in altcoin values over the next four months.
While these predictions paint a promising picture, it’s essential to approach them with caution. The market is inherently volatile, and while opportunities for gains exist, they come with risks that should not be overlooked.
Always do your research, stay informed, and avoid making decisions based purely on hype.
Cardano has risen after bottoming at $0.3174 earlier this month
Cardano (ADA) has has bounced back by 40% from its lowest point this month but remains 45% below its highest point this year. Despite being one of the largest cryptocurrencies, Cardano has faced intense pressure in recent months, with its market cap falling from over $90 billion in 2021 to $15.9 billion on Wednesday.
External data indicates that Cardano’s interest among developers and investors has waned recently. According to DeFi Llama, the number of monthly developer commits dropped from 3,380 in May to 3,300 in June, and currently stands at less than 2,000 this month.
Additionally, the amount of money locked in Cardano’s DeFi applications has decreased from a record high of 633 million ADA in December 2023 to 538 million ADA on Wednesday. Its TVL of $247 million is much smaller compared to newer blockchains like Base, Blast, Sui, Mode, and Aptos.
Unlike Solana, BNB Chain, and Ethereum, Cardano has no major meme coin or decentralized exchange (DEX). Minswap, its biggest DEX, handled less than $1 million in transactions in the past 24 hours, whereas Solana’s Raydium processed $851 million.
Cardano also has a limited market share in the declining NFT market as it handled sales worth $1.6 million in the last 30 days. The number of Cardano addresses has dropped to less than 30k, and the amount of stablecoins is less than $20 million.
Cardano’s sentiment is waning
Sentiment among traders has been falling recently. The daily volume of Cardano has remained below $500 million since July 5th. In contrast, smaller meme coins like Pepe and Dogwifhat are handling over $700 million daily. The same trend is observed in the futures market.
Data by Santiment shows that interest among traders has dropped to the lowest level in months. Most traders are mostly concerned about the coin’s underperformance and lack of developer activity.
🥳😱 Trader sentiment is following the price action. With XRP making an emergence this week, bullish narratives have erupted. On the other end of the spectrum, Cardano is seeing the most bearishness in over a year. Counter-trading the crowd’s consensus could prove profitable. pic.twitter.com/yin7ZeRYqC
Cardano also has one of the lowest staking yields in the market. Data by StakingRewards shows that it has a staking yield of less than 3%.
Technically, Cardano remains below the 200-day moving average, suggesting that the ongoing recovery may be short-lived.
Cardano price chart
On a positive note, the crypto fear and greed index is about to flash green as hopes of a Federal Reserve rate cut rise. Therefore, ADA price will likely rise if Bitcoin sustains its rally and crosses the year-to-date high of $73,400.
