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This Week’s Summary

• The cryptocurrency market looks to end the week at a total market capitalization of $1,060 trillion.
• Bitcoin moved down by over 6% after a disappointing week.
• Ethereum decreased by almost 6% over the past seven days.
• XRP lost more than 5% in value this week.
• Almost all altcoins have been trading in the red, with a few exceptions.
• The DeFi sector increased the total value of protocols (TVL) to around $51 billion.

Cryptocurrency Trends for the Week of Feb. 20-26, 2023: Market Analysis and Performance

The cryptocurrency market had a poor week following a surprising and enriching bull run. Most assets have lost some recent gains as they experienced a mild correction. Meanwhile, the market capitalization dropped by around $60 billion but remained above the $1 trillion mark.

Bitcoin started the week riding high at around the $25,000 level. The more optimistic BTC supporters hoped for a continuous surge all the way to $30,000. Unfortunately, the king cryptocurrency went on a slow and slippery slope to welcoming support at $23,000.

While some may be disappointed in this devaluing, Bitcoin may not spend too much time in these shallow waters. Recently, BTC has been seen trading at around $23,200, and it has appeared eager to grow on a 1% boost over the past 24 hours.

Ethereum followed in Bitcoin’s footsteps and dropped by 6% of its value, as well. The second crypto in command has recently been seen trading at around $1,600, but the dreams of reaching $2,000 have remained alive. A resurging interest in trading could see ETH back to higher-gaining days.

Altcoins & DeFi

Almost all altcoins have been trading in the red, with only a few insignificant exceptions. For example, BNB moved down by over 4%, XRP by 5%, and Cardano by 11%. Meanwhile, Polygon decreased by 15%, Dogecoin by 9%, and Solana by 7%. Elsewhere, Polkadot moved down by 15%, Shiba Inu by 6%, Litecoin by 7%, TRON by 3%, and Avalanche by 9%.

The Metaverse sector has been in the same boat as the rest of the crypto market. For instance, Theta Network moved down by 3%, Axie Infinity by 11%, and Decentraland by 10%. Meanwhile, ApeCoin decreased by 11%, ICP by almost 25%, and The Sandbox by 9%.

The DeFi sector added almost $4 billion to the total value of locked protocols (TVL), now at nearly $51.32 billion.

What’s in the News?

• Spotify is running a pilot program for NFT-enabled playlists.
• Sam Bankman-Fried saw his criminal charges increase by four more official accusations.
• Coinbase launched the ETH Layer-2 Network running on the Optimism token.

Next Week’s Crypto Market Forecast

The cryptocurrency market contracted this week as most assets lost nearly half of their recent gains. This is a normal movement for a financial market that has struggled for over a year. The recent bull run, or rather sprint, was bound to bring a mild contraction. Hopefully, this downtrend will not last too many days, and the market will recover soon.

About the Author

Born and raised in Romania, and currently living in Spain, the author discovered a knack for writing from a tender age, and even won some minor awards for fiction that didn't pay much.

Iulian became a content writer in 2011, and he is still doing it to some degree of success today. He is currently specialized in cryptocurrencies, technology, online marketing, and social media. In his free time, Iulian likes reading, traveling, and watching sports. His dream is to see Bitcoin reach $100,000 just so he can tell his friends “I told you so!”

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