Arbitrum token launches amid turbulence

With more than $2 billion in trading volume in the first 24 hours, the $ARB token has finally dropped onto exchanges after a turbulent launch.

Issues and volatility at launch

The most keenly anticipated token launch for many years has just taken place. With Arbitrum becoming one of the most used layer 2 blockchains for scaling on Ethereum, the launch of its token was always going to be a huge event.

After initial issues, namely that those eligible for the $ARB airdrop couldn’t claim their tokens straight away given that the Arbitrum landing page crashed under the deluge of would-be claimants

However, once exchanges started trading the token the expected extreme volatility ensued. Coinmarketcap had the $ARB token start trading at more than $11, but then some intense fluctuations followed, and the token began to make its way down to a far more reasonable valuation of between $1 to $2 dollars.

At time of writing, $ARB is trading at $1.42 on Coinmarketcap, $1.49 on Binance, and $1.41 on Kucoin. Expect this Arbitrum arbitrage gap to close as trading becomes more settled.

Crypto profits from bank nerves

Elsewhere in the crypto ecosystem things are generally muted and to the downside. Bitcoin remains strong at above $28,000. At less than 1% down on the day the king of the cryptocurrencies is perhaps gathering itself ready for another move upward.

After the recent bank scares and with the way central banks printed currency with abandon in order to prop the system up, many are looking to assets outside of the banking system with which to hedge their wealth. Some obvious candidates here are Bitcoin, crypto, and precious metals. 

Gold is just under $2,000, and silver is motoring at $23.37 an ounce so far today. 

Bitcoin dominance

Crypto is perhaps more of a speculative play right now, as bitcoin dominance is definitely in the ascendency. However, for those looking at bitcoin possibly pulling back in dominance as it reaches 48%, a possible short term altcoin surge could be on the cards.

The ETH/BTC pair could perhaps turn around now, given that $ETH has dropped more than 11% against $BTC over the last couple of weeks. Also, with the April 12 Shanghai hard fork looming into view, expect $ETH to perhaps start gaining strength going into this major event.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.