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This Week’s Summary

• The cryptocurrency market looks to end the week at a total market capitalization of $824 billion.
• Bitcoin gained nearly 3% in value in the last week.
• Ethereum increased by almost 6% over the past seven days.
• XRP moved up by nearly 1% this week.
• Almost all altcoins have been trading in the green, with very few exceptions.
• The DeFi sector decreased the total value of protocols (TVL) to around $38 billion.

Cryptocurrency Trends for The Week of Jan. 2-8, 2023: Market Analysis and Performance

The crypto market looks set to close the first week of 2023 on better terms than when it started. Almost all its assets reported substantial gains as the market aimed to put a dreadful 2022 behind it. The market capitalization increased by nearly $30 billion as it regained the $800 billion level.

Bitcoin celebrated its 14th anniversary on Jan. 3. The landmark would usually spring a rejuvenated interest in the oldest crypto around. However, this year, the king of crypto had very little to celebrate. Last year was one for the back pages, and its decreasing popularity is more than evident.

Nevertheless, BTC traded in the green for most of the week. This helped it gain more confidence in attacking the psychologically daunting $17,000 level. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was trading only a few dollars under that level.

Ethereum followed in Bitcoin’s steps, albeit with more gains for this week’s upheaval. The second crypto in command moved up by almost 6%. This increase helped it put some worrying signals to sleep, at least for another week. Recently, ETH has been seen trading at around $1,260.

Altcoins & DeFi

Most altcoins have been trading cheerfully in the green, with some exceeding expectations. For example, Solana rose by a whopping 38% and Cardano moved up by an impressive 18%. Elsewhere, BNB moved up by over 7%, XRP by nearly 1%, Dogecoin by 3%, and Polkadot by 6%.

Outside the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, we can see that Litecoin enjoyed an 8% value boost. Meanwhile, Shiba Inu moved up by 4%, Uniswap by 6%, and Avalanche by 10%.

Only a handful of altcoins have been trading in the red. For instance, Unus fell down by 2% and TRON by nearly 4%.

The Metaverse sector has been in the same boat as the rest of the crypto market. For instance, Theta Network moved up by 6%, Axie Infinity by 12%, The Sandbox by 19%, and Decentraland by 20%. Meanwhile, ApeCoin rose by a spectacular 14% and ICP by almost 2%.

The DeFi sector lost almost $1 billion from the total value in locked protocols (TVL), now at nearly $38.28 billion.

What’s in the News?

• MasterCard unveiled a Polygon-based Web3 accelerator for musicians.
• Celsius founder Mashinsky faces fraud allegations.
• UK authorities aim to hire a crypto investigator at a $50,000 salary.

Next Week’s Crypto Market Forecast

The crypto market has been enjoying a lukewarm start to the new year. As in other years, the first few days saw very little activity. However, the traded volume for most assets has been increasing with every passing hour. It’s not enough to relinquish bear control, but this week’s green sentiment is at least hopeful.

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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