April 2021 will go down in history as one of the turning points in the world of cryptocurrency. Why? One of many reasons is the major selloff of Bitcoin, bringing the high-flying coin prices down significantly in a one-day plunge. Another factor is the rapidly growing acceptance of alternative money like BTC and Ethereum among investment banks, vendors, retailers, and financial institutions. Finally, a new political administration in the U.S. has already signaled its intentions to raise taxes, which is a move that always seems to jostle the cryptocurrency markets. Here’s a roundup of what’s happening in the alt-coin space amid the second quarter of 2021.
All the Major Players
Over a 10-day period in April, Bitcoin (BTC), the largest capitalized crypto in existence, dropped from its all-time high price of $64,829 to $48,605. in a value loss that represents about one-fourth of its total value. In stock market terminology, BTC crashed, but alt-coin investors have been through this drill before. It’s part of the scenery in the space.
Ether didn’t drop as quickly or by as much as its rival, BTC, falling about 15 percent during the same 10-day span from $2,550 to $2,188. It’s not fair to say that all the virtual coins rise and fall together, even though they often have periods in which they do travel in tandem. For example, BTC and ETH are quite different, both in terms of how they’re used and who holds them. The month of April is a good example of that principle. Ether suffered a major drop from mid-month until the 24th, as did Bitcoin. But, if you look at the entire month, ETH did much better, rising about 34 percent overall compared to its larger rival, which experienced an April drop of around eight percent.
Coinbase
In the alt niche, it’s not all about the coins. Because the market is still relatively new, the exchanges themselves are the subject of much media attention. Case in point that Coinbase, the premier crypto exchange. April 2021 marked a historic event in the company’s long journey and battle for acceptance as it finally won a place among the other firms listed on the NASDAQ board. Coinbase is a first-stop website for investors who have skin in the alt-coin game. Another place people go to take the pulse of the cryptocurrency market is the Crypto10, the top crypto index available for investors, traders, and speculators alike.
Mainstream Acceptance
Months ago, PayPal announced that it would accept BTC as a form of payment and account storage. That was a huge boost to the altcoin as it was evidence of yet one more major entity that viewed it as being on a par with fiat forms of national money, like the dollar, yen, and euro. The latest company to jump on the alt-coin bandwagon is Venmo, which announced this week that it would allow users to buy and trade cryptocurrency on its widely used app. Add to that all the fast-food giants, tech corporations, banks, and retailers who accept one or another form of crypto, and there’s no doubt that social and economic acceptance is gaining steam.
The Crypto10
No asset class really has gained a foothold in the financial world until it has its own index. Cryptocurrency already has several, but one of the most followed is the Crypto10, officially known as the Bitwise Crypto10 Index Fund. The index did a good job of tracking the recent fall in the major coins, falling about 17 percent from mid-April until the 24th. Right now, the index stands at a value of $78.05, having hit $94.38 on the 13th. The index measures the collective changes in price for the 10 largest altcoins based on their total capitalization and is closely followed by anyone who holds altcoins or simply wants to use the information for other investing purposes.
If you want to know what’s going on in the crypto space, the Bitwise 10 will give you a big picture view. For example, in the depths of the COVID pandemic, when the index came into existence, it entered at the $12 level but quickly gained legs and shot up to the $32 point by Dec. 2020. Then it broke through the $135 mark in late December, slid back down, and then rose again above $135 in late February 2021. Since then, there have been ups and downs, but mostly downs, bringing the benchmark measurement to its current $78.05 price mark. Whether you look at the two major coins in the space or simply use the Bitwise 10 as your guide to the world of crypto, April has been an iffy month, with plenty of downward adjustment. Indeed, Bitwise 10, from April 1 until the 24th, fell from $82 to $78, which represents a five percent decline.
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