Altcoins such as Litecoin and XRP experience a surge on Wednesday while the prominent Bitcoin faces a period of stagnation.
On Wednesday, while Bitcoin and Ether maintained their stability, Altcoins experienced significant surges. Litecoin recorded a notable rise of 5.67%, and XRP saw a respectable increase of 6%, as reported by Coin Metrics.
Additionally, the Sandbox token demonstrated a significant jump of 4%. Meanwhile, the Axie Infinity token witnessed an impressive surge of approximately 8%.
Gains among Ether competitors on a surge – Ripple acquires Metaco
Further, within the realm of Ethereum competitors, the Solana token exhibited a modest gain of 2%. Also, Cardano’s ada added a promising 3.5%, and the Polkadot token displayed a notable leap of 3%.
Notably, Ripple, the prominent global payments company behind XRP, made an exciting announcement on Wednesday. They revealed their acquisition of Metaco, a Swiss crypto custody services firm.
This strategic move is expected to grant Ripple access to prestigious clients such as Citi and BNP Paribas. It will also expand its overseas presence and influence.
Despite the recent surge in market liquidity leading to some volatility, the overall price action within the crypto sphere has remained relatively subdued over the past month. However, Glassnode reports that the 30-day realised volatility for both bitcoin and ether has shown a slight increase from their record lows earlier in the year.
Shifts in investor focus owing to volatile fluctuations in Altcoins
Consequently, a noticeable shift in investor focus from Bitcoin to smaller and newer Altcoins, commonly referred to as “altcoin season,” has emerged.
In recent months, Bitcoin and Ether have been regarded as “blue chip” or “flight to safety” assets in the crypto market. However, with the current market conditions, attention has shifted toward exploring the potential of these alternative cryptocurrencies.
Noelle Acheson, the esteemed author of the “Crypto is Macro Now” newsletter, highlighted the similarity between the crypto market and macro markets. She remarked, “Just like the macro markets, juggling tough stock prices with increasingly weak economic data points, the crypto market is also dealing with duality. There are some signs of frothiness.”
She also observed that despite these indications, activity and prices have been down by more than 10% for the month, with volumes trending lower. On Wednesday, Bitcoin and Ether continued to maintain their positions, hovering around the $27,000 and $1,800 levels, respectively, reflecting the current stabilisation of these prominent cryptocurrencies.