The crypto markets are higher this morning, with the majority of the top 10 cryptocurrencies posting gains over the past 24 hours. Dire predictions of a market crash from Fortune and other major outlets did not materialize.
The announcement that Russia may accept crypto as a legitimate form of payment did not have the expected immediate impact on prices.
Top Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin climbed roughly 5%, trading above $40,000 at the time of writing. Ethereum rose about 4%, while Cardano, XRP, and Solana each advanced roughly 5%.
The biggest gainer among the top 10 was Terra, up 15% at the time of writing. Terra revealed a self-pay loan feature and its stablecoin UST surpassed Binance’s BUSD in market capitalization.
At 16th place, NEAR Protocol jumped 13%, continuing its recent bullish trend.
Leading Movers
Outside the top 20, ApeCoin surged roughly 9%. Most other cryptocurrencies also posted gains. All top 100 coins were in the green except for Stacks and Decred, which were the only coins in the red earlier.
Notable winners included ICON and SAND, each up 12%; Loopring, up 11%; Zcash, up 15%; and THORChain, up 16%. Privacy-focused coins are experiencing renewed interest and rising valuations.
The biggest single token move so far was GMT (STEPN), which rallied 40% at the time of writing. STEPN announced a revamped GEM (mystery box) system and reported a major milestone of 300,000 daily active users (DAU).
Recently, STEPN launched the STEPN x ASICS NFT collection — a unique sneaker NFT collaboration with the well-known sports brand ASICS — available on the Binance NFT marketplace. These factors helped drive the sharp price increase.
Trending Now
Another dog-themed token, Sanji Inu, has gained significant traction, surging 842% over the past 24 hours.
Sanji Inu is generally presented as a community-driven platform focused on financial well-being, aiming to empower people of all ages and backgrounds to take control of their finances and create opportunities for wealth generation.