Bitcoin, Ethereum Enjoy Bullish Week as Crypto Market Adds $77B

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are leading the weekly gains among the ten largest cryptocurrencies by market cap as their prices soared 11.2% and 9.7%, respectively.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was changing hands at $20,981, up 1% over the day, with Ethereum trading at $1,551, up 2% in the past 24 hours, data from CoinGecko shows.

These are by far the best results among the market’s largest crypto assets, with the sixth-placed XRP gaining 5% over the past week, followed by Polygon (MATIC), which is up 4.3% over the same span.

The solid performance shown by the two leading cryptocurrencies comes despite the Wednesday correction that occurred in anticipation of a major announcement from U.S. federal prosecutors that many thought would target a major player in the sector.

Though markets indeed felt the pinch, with both BTC and ETH plunging about 5% immediately after the announcement of the announcement, the correction turned out to be largely short-lived as the criminal charges were filed against a little-known Hong Kong-based cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato, which the Feds called of a key member of a so-called “crypto crime axis.”

The latest move has also been seen in the hefty rise in the entire market’s capitalization. This time last week, the crypto market hovered around a $943 billion capitalization; today, that figure is over $1 trillion.

Has Bitcoin bottomed yet?

With Bitcoin eyeing the key $21,000 level, the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has once again surpassed the $1 trillion mark, something experts see as a sign of the market’s potential recovery after the painful crypto winter of 2022.

According to CoinGecko’s recent annual crypto industry report, last year, which saw the demise of several high-profile players, ended with a total crypto market capitalization of $829 billion, which is 64.1% lower than the $2.3 trillion in January 2022.

Daily trading volumes have steadily trended downwards over 2022 as well, averaging at $86.0 billion, said the report.

“2022 marked a turning point for the crypto industry—one that flushed out unsustainable excesses from the bull run,” CoinGecko co-founder Bobby Ong said in a statement shared with Decrypt. “In this new year, we hope to see crypto slowly make a recovery, with more efforts going towards rebuilding trust and credibility.”

As for last week’s performance beyond the top ten, the three top gainers performers are Solana (SOL), which is up 28.5% over the past week, the Ethereum-based meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB), whose price rallied 20.7% over the span, and Polkadot (DOT) with a 10.9% surge.