$100B Cryptocurrency Price Boom Sees These Coins Leave Bitcoin And Ethereum In The Dust

bitcoins
bitcoins
and ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies by a large margin, soared this week, helping the combined cryptocurrency market add about $100 billion.

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The price of bitcoin has added 12% in the past week, with the price of ethereum adding a similar amount as a predicted market earthquake rocked the stock and cryptocurrency markets.

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However, bitcoin and ethereum’s gains pale in comparison to the rallies seen by some smaller cryptocurrencies this week (including a viral meme-based dogecoin challenger).

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“Investors are hoping that the bear market is over with the start of the new calendar year,” said Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at FxPro, in email comments.

Two of Ethereum’s main rivals, cardano and solana, have each jumped more than 20% since this time last week. Solana
SOL
which had suffered in the aftermath of the FTX crash due to its close ties to founder Sam Bankman-Fried, is now within striking distance of the top ten cryptocurrencies, as measured by CoinMarketCap.

Further down the charts, another Ethereum rival that emerged from the ashes of Facebook’s failed digital currency, aptos, has skyrocketed 30%, nearly doubling its price in a week.

Gala
GALA
, a cryptocurrency linked to blockchain-based gaming platform Gala Games, more than doubled in price after the network’s developers announced via Twitter that Gala Games was partnering with Hollywood A-listers Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Mark Wahlberg. The post was then deleted without explanation, but the gala kept most of its earnings, with a Gala Games rep saying that Coindesk the rally was unrelated to the canceled ad.

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Lido DAO
DAO
, the native cryptocurrency of Lido Finance, has added 50% in the past seven days as traders bet it will be a beneficiary of ethereum’s upcoming Shanghai upgrade that will allow users to withdraw their staked ethereum. The update, ethereum’s first major upgrade since its long-awaited shift from bitcoin’s proof-of-work to the more energy-efficient proof-of-play, is slated for March.

Avalanche’s Avax skyrocketed 35% after developer Ava Labs announced it would offer crypto infrastructure through Amazon Web Services (AWS) with the aim of facilitating “the adoption of blockchain by enterprises, institutions and governments “.

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Despite bitcoin, ethereum and the broader cryptocurrency price rally, market watchers are still nervous that there could be more volatility ahead.

“Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies have been trading in a tight range for most of the month,” said Michael Safai of Dexterity Capital in an emailed note.

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“Cooling inflation and a slower news cycle are allowing cryptocurrencies to break some of that correlation with stocks and the global macro that drove prices in 2022. Any recovery will continue to be a long slow march and the Major risk sensitivity remains. Chances are, however, that there are still a couple of big fallouts to cryptocurrencies, with some bankruptcy issues needing resolution and other companies still struggling to stay solvent. This will have a bigger impact on prices in the next two months.”