March 18, 2024

Bitcoin (BTC) changed hands at around $67,800 during Asian trading hours on Monday, gaining 2.5% over 24 hours, while meme coins rallied and the CoinDesk 20 Index broad-market gauge added 3%. "The weekend was filled with both fear and greed as BTC was driven down to $64,500 lows," Singapore-based QCP Capital wrote in a note on Telegram. "BTC has since bounced back above $67,000, and we've seen heavy BTC put selling, which suggests that ‘fear’ has dissipated in BTC, and investors are happy to buy the dip." Meme coins were all the rage over the weekend, pushing the sector's market cap over $55 billion, an 11% gain, according to CoinGecko data. Top movers included (SHIB), up 10.8%, DogWifHat (WIF), up 30%, and CORGIAI up 8.5%. Likewise, the tokens behind the chains these meme coins are issued also rose. Solana's (SOL) gained 10.8% to $205, according to CoinDesk Indices data, while Avalanche's AVAX climbed 15% to $61.

Moons (MOON), the native cryptocurrency of Reddit’s r/CryptoCurrency community, is rallying ahead of the debut of Celer’s bidirectional bridging facility, which will allow token holders to transfer coins between Arbitrum Nova and Arbitrum One. MOON rose to a record high of 84 cents over the weekend, surpassing the previous peak of 65 cents registered in July 2023, CoinDesk data show. At press time, the cryptocurrency changed hands at 50 cents, down 5% on a 24-hour basis. Moons are ERC-20 tokens distributed as rewards to users for their posts or comments in the subreddit. The tokens can be freely traded, tipped or spent in the community.

U.S. prosecutors recommended that a federal judge sentence FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to 40-50 years in prison for his conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges tied to the collapse of what was once one of the world's largest crypto exchanges. Bankman-Fried "lied to investors," shared fake documents and "pumped millions of dollars in illegal donations into our political system," and that a sentence of 40 to 50 years is "necessary," alongside a recommended penalty north of $11 billion and forfeiture, the Department of Justice's Southern District of New York office wrote in a sentencing memo filed Friday.

A message from VanEck

Gain exposure to bitcoin with zero fees using the VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL).*

*Until March 31, 2025, the entire sponsor fee will be waived for the first $1.5B of the Trust’s assets. If the Trust’s assets exceed $1.5B prior to March 31, 2025, the fee on assets over $1.5B will be 0.20%. All investors will incur the same sponsor fee, which is the weighted average of those fee rates. After March 31, 2025, the sponsor fee will be 0.20%. 

An investment in HODL involves significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Please carefully read the prospectus.

Solana’s SOL and The Book of Meme (BOME), a meme coin built on Solana, were the top two trending tokens on crypto social media over the weekend, data tracked by Santiment shows.

“$BOME and $SOL are the top two trending assets across X [formerly Twitter], Reddit, Telegram, and 4Chan due to their outperforming the markets as of late. The crowd continues to regard Solana and associated meme coins as viable alternatives to Ethereum-based projects,” Santiment said in a market insights post.

SOL’s price has surged 45% in seven days, tapping highs of over $200 for the first time since December 2021, CoinDesk data show. The Book of Meme (BOME) has surged 82% since its debut on March 10. Crypto exchange Binance listed BOME perpetual futures on March 16.

- Omkar Godbole