Everything Else in Crypto Except Bitcoin ETFs

Bitcoin ETFs are a big deal. We get it. But as this week has largely been dominated by the SEC's approval, we thought we'd take a brief break from the B-word and explore what else is going on in the crypto market.

Ethereum

Ethereum is often said in the same breath as its bigger crypto brother from a competitive angle. Not quite Bitcoin's antithesis but Ethereum has provided a haven for blockchain innovators who don't devote their lives to Satoshi's manifesto.

Over the past week, Ethereum has actually outperformed Bitcoin, despite the market anticipating a surge in the latter upon the SEC's approval.

Ethereum has risen more than 17% over the past five days whilst Bitcoin, which did pump ever so slightly after the SEC's announcement before falling, has increased a measly 5%.

Now closer to $3K than $2K, Ethereum bulls have their eyes on the former target. Bulls had previously been denied at the critical price level on three separate occasions but achieved success with bullish price action and increased hype in the markets on the impending approval of Bitcoin ETFs.

Long-term buyers can target two profit levels. The first one would lie at $2,800 while the second profit level would lie at $3,000.

BONK

Loyal Blockhead readers will already be familiar with this one. In December, we reported how the Solana-based dog-themed memecoin surged 664% over the month.

Well, after a short dip at the start of January, BONK has returned to bonkers-mode. Over the past week, BONK has jumped more than 35%.

The rebound was triggered by the announcement of BONK being listed on OKX on 8 January. Its previous jump was fuelled by its official listing on Coinbase.

Unlike traditional memecoins, which offer no core fundamentals, BONK developers are building a full-fledged community coin to be used across all the dApps built on Solana. Each user has the opportunity to be part of its ecosystem.

The question on everyone's minds now is whether BONK can become the new Shiba Inu (SHIB) or Dogecoin (DOGE). Arthur Hayes certainly thinks so.

The debate essentially comes down to which coin has the stronger community. "The Shiba Inu community is built differently and BONK cannot come an inch closer to it," Watcher.Guru explains.

"SHIB investors genuinely celebrate its success, which includes price rises, and product launches such as Shibarium, among others,"

"When it comes to thrashing the dog-themed token, the hate also comes genuinely from the heart. The SHIB community is open to calling a spade a spade and making the developers correct their mistakes."

Whether BONK's Solana-based community has the legs to compete is yet to be determined.

Helium

Another one that'll be familiar to the Blockhead fam, Helium has risen 18% over the past week.

Whilst everyone was fixated on Bitcoin ETFs, Helium has continued to convince the crypto market of its worth.

Edging closer to $10, Helium has announced three mining plans with daily returns based on HNT's market price. The plans, named Shared, Mobile, and Cluster, offer different levels of returns at various price points, ranging from $0.30-$1.10 to $25.4-$67.60 per day.

These plans include zero maintenance costs, installation, and hosting services, providing a seamless 24-hour mining experience. Even if HNT drops to $5, the plans will still offer decent daily rewards.

"This price decline may occur due to market conditions, but it would still yield decent returns," Helium said. "For instance, the Mobile plan would offer $2-$5.50 per day, while the Cluster plan would lead to daily rewards of $20.50-$54.50."

Mining rewards are paid out in HNT offering users the flexibility to hold or trade their returns.

Helium Mobile has also taken the opportunity to capitalize on the Bitcoin ETF hype by poking fun at the SEC X hack. Highlighting the importance of security with its new product, SecureAF, Helium Mobile tweeted a screenshot of the regulator's hacked tweet.

"Timing felt right..." Helium Mobile said in the tweet. "A new way to monitor and prevent SIM swap attacks. Coming soon."

The Helium Foundation, which runs a decentralized wireless Internet of Things network, migrated to Solana on March 27. The migration encompassed all wallets, hotspots, and the Helium Network state.

Backed by investors Andreessen Horowitz and Tiger Global, the company promised to build a global wireless internet connection for objects like parking meters and dog collars. People could buy a machine that looked like a wifi router, plug it into their wall, and receive Helium’s cryptocurrency in return, which would supposedly provide a recurring passive stream of income.

NFTs: Dead or not?

Forget ETFs for a second, what happened to NFTs? The dominant three letters of 2022, NFTs overpromised and underdelivered.

Just this week, Elon Musk silently removed support for NFTs as profile pictures on X. The platform had previously offered a feature to premium subscribers to showcase their NFTs as profile pictures.

The move comes as Musk plans to transform X into an "everything app" with AI, P2P payments, and a focus on advertising. Everything, except NFTs.

Last week, NFTs featuring a version of Mickey Mouse from the 1928 short film "Steamboat Willie" began trending on OpenSea. One of collection reached a 24-hour trading volume of 521 ETH worth $1.2 million. 

However, Oscar Franklin Tan, the chief legal officer of Atlas, warned that there are legal restrictions on NFT owners using the cartoon icon.

“Only the specific 1928 depiction of Mickey Mouse, the scarier black and white character with a longer nose and no gloves, is public domain, under U.S. law," he said.

"Mickey Mouse, the trademark and brand, separate from the character, is still private. You cannot suddenly make your own Mickey products.”

“The NFT you saw was specifically called ‘Steamboat Willie’, and it was made clear this refers only to the 1928 version, even if ‘Mickey’ is on his T-shirt. Anyone using Mickey version 1928 would want to make it clear their creation or product is not affiliated with Disney, the trademark owner.”

Copyright issues have plagued the NFT market, undermining their core value.

Nonetheless, interest in NFTs seems to be increasing. According to DappRadar, NFT trading increased 166% last year. Unique Active Wallets rose by 124%, equalling approximately 4.2 million daily UAW by the year-end.

Could 2024 be the death or rebirth of NFTs?

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