This week saw one of the most dramatic crashes in the cryptocurrency market—one that we hadn’t seen since the collapse of FTX in November 2022. What is even more interesting was the epic recovery of the majority of coins in the following days. Ultimately, the market ended up losing some $70 billion of its total capitalization, but it could have been much, much worse.

Starting with Bitcoin, in the early days of this week, its price nosedived below $50K, losing more than 20% in just two days. The move started on a Sunday when the liquidity in the market is traditionally thinner, and it’s a lot easier to impact pricing. On-chain data showed that one of the most active sellers was Jump Crypto – the cryptocurrency arm of Jump Trading – one of the leading market makers and a huge trading firm. The reasons behind their decision to sell remain speculative and unconfirmed.

Elsewhere, most of the altcoins took a massive beating, with Ethereum even plunging below $2.2K. This was the sentiment across most of the coins without any notable exceptions.

And then, things took an unexpected twist.

The market bounced… a lot. Bitcoin’s price is currently trading above $60K, while ETH is testing the $2.6K level. Moreover, most of the altcoins also managed to chart impressive V-shaped recoveries.

That said, a major development took place within the lawsuit between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple. Judge Analisa Torres ruled that the company should pay $125M in fine to the Commission, reaffirming her decision from last year that programmatic sales of XRP on centralized exchanges are not an investment contract.

This was interpreted as a win for XRP, which soared by 20% immediately after the news broke out. And while $125M is certainly a lot of money, it’s still a far cry from what the SEC had previously demanded (more than $1 billion).

All in all, the week turned out to be incredibly interesting, and there’s no telling if the market volatility won’t return in full force in the next few days!

Market Data

Market Cap: $2.2T | 24H Vol: $109B | BTC Dominance: 54.1%

BTC: $60,559 (-4%) | ETH: $2,595 (-14.1%) | BNB: $506 (-9%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Better Not Miss

Ripple Fined $125M in Lawsuit Against SEC, XRP Price Soars 20% Immediately. The case between the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and Ripple has reached a critical point. The judge has fined the company $125M, which is basically a far cry from what the agency was previously demanding.

3 Possible Reasons Behind Bitcoin’s $10,000 Weekly Price Dump. Bitcoin dumped from above $70,000 to below $50K in the span of less than two weeks. Some of the possible reasons include the weak US economy, ETF outflows, and the growing expectation for the next move of the US Federal Reserve.

Solana-Based ETF Approved in This Country: Report. Solana has its first exchange-traded fund approved. It happened in Brazil, where the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) greenlighted the product.

MicroStrategy (MSTR) Shares Are Now 90% Cheaper – Here’s Why. MicroStrategy opened Thursday’s trading session at around $131 – roughly the same price as they were before the company started buying Bitcoin. That’s because of the 10:1 stock split that MSTR went through.

New York Judge Approves $12.7 Billion Settlement for FTX and Alameda to Repay Creditors. Judge Castel approved a $12.7 billion settlement. This ended the lawsuit between the FTX and the US Commodity and Futures Trading Commission.

This European Hedge Fund Giant Announces $464 Million Investment in Spot Bitcoin ETFs. Capula Investment Management LLP – one of the largest hedge funds in Europe – recently disclosed that it holds $464 million in shares of BlackRock’s and Fidelity’s Bitcoin exchange-traded funds.

Charts

This week, we have a chart analysis of Ethereum, Ripple, Binance Coin, Binance Coin, and Solana – click here for the complete price analysis.