It has been a busy day in terms of news, so let us catch you up on the latest and greatest.

Today’s Agenda:

• Market Watch
• Highlights of the Day
  • Memecoin Presales Hype
  • Cardano Making Waves 
  • Bitget Wallet Introduces $BWB Token and its Airdrop
• Project of the Day
• Crypto Corner
• NFT News
• Business and Political Insights 

Market Watch

Top Gainers

• Fantom ($FTM): +9.3%
• Avalanche ($AVAX) : +7.1%
• Bittensor ($TAO): +4.8%

Top Losers

• dogwifhat ($WIF): -17.1%
• NEAR Protocol ($NEAR): -16.9%
• Bonk ($BONK): -14.2%

Trending Crypto Sectors/Categories

• Reddit Points
• Liquid Restaking Governance Tokens
• Ether.fi Ecosystem

Total Crypto Market Cap – 2.647 Trillion

Fear and Greed Index – 79

Top NFT Sale

• Achi, the dog wif hat Sold for 1210.76 ETH 

Highlights of the Day

Memecoin Presales Hype

Over the past weekend, the world of cryptocurrency witnessed a remarkable surge in new Memecoin projects, collectively raising over $100 million in presales. The recent surge in Memecoin presales was catalyzed by the meteoric rise of “The Book of Memes” ($BOME). Starting with a modest valuation of around $4 million, $BOME quickly skyrocketed to a peak market cap of over $1.4 billion in less than 3 days. This success spurred the launch of several other Memecoin projects, each raising millions of dollars in presales:

• $SMOLE: $30 million
• $LADYS: 18.7 million
• $NAP: $10 million
• $LIKE: $10 million
• $SLERF: $10 million
• And numerous others

What’s the Reaction Like?

While this frenzy has undoubtedly presented opportunities for some investors to amplify their gains, it has also raised significant concerns within the crypto community. On one hand, investors who feel Memecoins only harm the crypto market, are calling this presale phase the “peak of degeneracy”. On the other hand, some OG Memecoins fans are calling this a death trap for memes, as investors are leveraging their risk at this point. 

Cardano Making Waves 

Cardano’s recent milestones signal promising prospects for the blockchain’s future. 

First Fiat-Backed Stablecoin on Cardano 

Mehen Finance’s introduction of $USDM, Cardano’s first fiat-backed stablecoin, fills a longstanding gap in the network’s ecosystem. $USDM’s integration with Plaid and commitment to regulatory compliance mark a significant step forward. And despite the dominance of Tether’s USDT with over $100 billion in circulation, USDM’s introduction injects a much-needed stablecoin presence into the Cardano network.

Development Update on Cardano’s Hydra L2

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson took to social media to dispel rumors surrounding the Hydra project, an integral part of Cardano’s scalability strategy. Amid concerns regarding the project’s status, Hoskinson reassured the community of Hydra’s continued progress and vitality. Misunderstandings arose from discussions about exploring alternative scaling technologies like Hyperledger Firefly, leading to speculation about Hydra’s sidelining. However, Hoskinson clarified that Hydra remains central to Cardano’s scalability efforts, emphasizing the active development phase the project is undergoing. 

Bitget Wallet Introduces $BWB Token and its Airdrop

Bitget Wallet, formerly recognized as BitKeep, is making waves in the cryptocurrency world with its announcement of the upcoming launch of its native token, $BWB and its Airdrop campaign. This strategic move follows a significant milestone for the wallet, as it secured a $30 million controlling stake investment from the prominent crypto exchange Bitget in March 2022. Subsequently, the wallet underwent a rebranding from BitKeep to Bitget Wallet, signifying a new chapter in its evolution.

Token and Utility

The introduction of the $BWB token serves multiple purposes within the Bitget Wallet ecosystem. Primarily, it aims to incentivize and reward the platform’s growing user base, fostering deeper engagement and loyalty among its community members. Additionally, the token is poised to unlock exclusive benefits for its holders, including governance rights, airdrop access, and dividends from platform rewards, thereby enhancing the overall user experience.

Project of the Day

Base Chain

Coinbase’s Base Chain, launched in August 2023, addresses Ethereum’s scalability issues as a Layer-2 solution. It aims to reduce congestion and transaction fees on Ethereum while maintaining security. Base boasts cost-efficient transactions, ten times cheaper than Ethereum’s, and full compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), making it attractive to developers. 

Recently, the L2 scaling solution has picked up traction, attracting a huge inflow of users. While the fervor is all in anticipation of an airdrop, many do believe that with the support of Coinbase, Base is going to be one of the best L2 scaling solutions.

Crazy Day in Crypto

• Once again, $PEPE swiftly reclaims its title as the third-largest memecoin by market capitalization, having been briefly overtaken by Solana’s $WIF.
• Avalanche’s $AVAX surpasses Cardano’s $ADA in market cap, signaling its growing prominence and potential to reshape cryptocurrency market dynamics.
• Solana ($SOL) has surpassed Ethereum ($ETH) in Google searches, driven by the popularity of memecoins. Despite concerns of overheating, Solana has overtaken Binance Coin ($BNB) as the fourth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
• Following the March 16th token unlock event on Arbitrum, which released 1.1 billion ARB tokens valued at $2.32 billion, whales transferred 34 million tokens worth $58 million to exchanges, causing market fluctuations.
• Despite a recent 11% price drop, around 89% of Ethereum holders are still profitable, with the asset’s outlook contingent on maintaining support at $3,500 and potential SEC approval of ETFs.
• Activity on Coinbase’s BASE chain has experienced a notable spike, indicating increased engagement and usage within the network.
• OKX Exchange has announced the discontinuation of USDT trading pairs for users residing in the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA). 

Market Predictions

• According to Standard Chartered Bank’s projections, Bitcoin is anticipated to surge to $250,000 by the end of 2025, with an interim target of $150,000 expected to be achieved by the end of this year.
• Head of research at digital asset manager 10x, Markus Thielen warns that if Bitcoin ETF inflows remain low next week, the cryptocurrency’s price could drop to around $59,000.

Business Talks & Political Insights

• Apple to potentially integrate Google’s Gemini AI into future iPhone features, signaling a significant collaboration between the tech giants. 
• Nvidia ($NVDA) unveils its highly anticipated next-generation Blackwell AI chips along with the innovative NIM software, designed specifically to enhance performance and efficiency in artificial intelligence (AI) applications.