Bitcoin’s Rollercoaster, Metaverse Hype, and Broader Market Concerns: This Week’s Recap

It’s been a very volatile week in the cryptocurrency market. Despite the turbulence, some altcoins managed to hold their ground and even appreciated in value, but the same can’t be said for Bitcoin.

The primary cryptocurrency is down about 4% on a weekly basis, but this comes after a week of serious volatility. On Monday, the price wicked from $57K to upwards of $59k, only to get rejected almost immediately and drop to below $56K. From there, it started consolidating and appreciating, and it seemed that it was primed for another shot at $60K by Thursday.

Today, however, bears had a mind of their own and nuked BTC from above $59K to below $54K, and even though we’re currently sitting above that level, the uncertainty is in the air. This came amid a broader market pullback on renewed worries of a newly discovered variant of the COVID virus in South Africa.

Altcoins also took a major blow today, but some of them managed to hold their ground on a weekly basis. ETH is up about 2%, and BNB is up about 10%. CRO is up a whopping 41%, whereas AVAX charted 10% gains.

Metaverse coins are where all the rage was this week. The Sandbox (SAND) leads the way with a 57% weekly increase, followed by Decentraland (MANA)’s 23%. It seems that this particular trend is only accelerating.

Elsewhere, positive news of Bitcoin’s adoption continues, despite the red week. El Salvador publicly proclaimed that it fully intends to build a Bitcoin city. Moreover, it appears that large and long-term holders are taking this opportunity to accumulate additional BTC, turning this into somewhat of a buy-the-dip opportunity. Institutional involvement also furthers as Morgan Stanley – the international banking behemoth – increased its BTC exposure considerably.

In any case, it remains exciting to see how the market will shape up in the following days and if the correction will worsen or if we will finally get a recovery.

Market Data

Market Cap: $2,590B | 24H Vol: 204B | BTC Dominance: 39.7%

BTC: $54,440 (-4.4%%) | ETH: $4,080 (+2.2%) | ADA: $1.55 (-13%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss

PlanB: November $98K Bitcoin Target Will Probably be Floor Model’s First Miss. PlanB, the creator of the popular Bitcoin Stock-to-Flow (S2F) model, admitted that his worst-case scenario in terms of BTC’s price might be proven wrong for the first time. His floor model sees BTC trading at $98K by the end of November, which seems highly unlikely currently.

The Red Hot Metaverse Space May Soon Reach $1T Market Value, Grayscale Reports. The largest cryptocurrency asset manager, Grayscale, thinks that the entire Metaverse field might be worth well over $1 trillion in the not-so-distant future. This comes amid a booming market for projects in the field.

Bitcoin Accumulation Accelerates as Whales Buy 0.29% of BTC’s Total Supply in a Week: Analysis. It appears that whale entities are back in accumulation mode. During the past few days, big wallets have bought 59,000 BTC as the price of the cryptocurrency tumbles well below $60K.

Over a Million, ETH Burned Just 3-Month After EIP-1559 Implementation. EIP-1559, the implementation that changed Ethereum’s emission model and introduced deflationary mechanics, has been responsible for the burning of more than 1 million ETH in the three months it’s been live on the mainnet. This is worth over $4 billion in fiat terms.

Morgan Stanley Increases Bitcoin Exposure, Buys More Grayscale BTC Trust Shares. The international banking behemoth, Morgan Stanley, continues to increase its exposure to Bitcoin. According to a recent filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the company has purchased a whole lot more of Grayscale GBTC shares.

El Salvador to Build a Bitcoin City: Will Buy $500M More BTC. Just a few months after adopting Bitcoin as a legal tender, the Central American country of El Salvador plans to build a ‘Bitcoin City.’ This should happen with the help of Blockstream and Bitfinex while also planning to buy $500 million more of BTC.