OKB Defies Altcoin Crash, Bitcoin Slips to $112K as Markets Brace for Powell Speech: Your Weekly Recap

Bitcoin had a tough week, losing almost ten grand in the process, but more volatility is expected in the following hours and days after the Jackson Hole speech by US Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

But first, let’s rewind the clocks to last Friday. During our previous weekly summary, the main narrative was entirely different as bitcoin had just painted a new all-time high of over $124,000. Although it had already started to retrace, the overall sentiment was bullish even as Trump was about to meet Putin and later European leaders to discuss a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

No actual positive developments came out of either meeting, and BTC started to retrace at the beginning of the current business week. After a calm weekend in which the asset stood primarily around $117,500, it nosedived to $115,000 almost immediately on Monday. Its struggles intensified as the week progressed, and bitcoin slipped to $113,000 by Wednesday and Thursday.

The past few hours have been painful as well, with the asset dumping below $112,000 for the first time since July 10. This is a crucial support level, which, if lost, could spell further trouble and perhaps a revisit of a five-digit price territory.

All eyes have now turned to the big speech coming later today, in which Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is expected to shed some light on what the central bank’s monetary policy will be in the next few months.

For now, though, the weekly charts are quite grim in the crypto markets. Aside from BTC’s 6% drop, ETH has lost 9%, XRP has plunged by over 10%, while HYPE, ADA, and SUI have marked even more substantial losses. BNB is among the exceptions as it marked a new all-time high this week, while OKB has stolen the show with a massive 130% surge that took it to a fresh peak of its own above $225 earlier today.

Market Data

Market Cap: $3.870T | 24H Vol: $121B | BTC Dominance: 57.5%

BTC: $112,040 (-6%) | ETH: $4,220 (-9%) | XRP: $2.79 (-10.4%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss

MetaMask Enters Stablecoin Wars With Stripe-Backed mUSD Launch. One of the big news stories coming out this week involved the leading ETH-focused self-custodial wallet MetaMask, which entered the stablecoin game by introducing its own. Backed by Stripe, mUSD has already launched and operates on-chain through M0.

Strategy’s Bitcoin Stash Nears 630K BTC After Latest Buy. Despite the shaky price performances of BTC and ETH, the biggest companies that have accumulated the assets kept buying this week. This included Strategy, which acquired an additional 430 BTC, and MetaPlanet, which scooped up 775 BTC.

Ripple Taps SBI to Distribute RLUSD Stablecoin in Japan, But XRP Falls. The company behind the third-largest cryptocurrency continues to expand its global reach by collaborating with SBI Holdings to distribute its own stablecoin through the latter’s subsidiary, SBI VC Trade.

Kanye West Launches YZY Meme Coin on Solana, Hits $3B Before Crash. The celebrity meme coin world got a new entrée this week in the form of the hip-hop legend Kanye West (legally known as Ye). He launched his own cryptocurrency on Solana, called YZY, which soared to a $3 billion market cap before it plunged by almost 80% amid speculations of a rug pull.

SEC Chair Confirms ‘Very Few’ Cryptos Are Securities, But Markets Continue to Correct. Unlike his predecessor, who used to claim that almost all cryptocurrencies must be considered securities, the current SEC Chair, Paul Atkins, said that most are actually not.

Solana Records Over 100,000 TPS in Weekend Mainnet Test. The blockchain industry saw a significant milestone recently as Solana briefly surpassed 100,000 transactions per second on its mainnet.

Charts

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