The largest cryptocurrencies recorded modest losses over the past 24 hours. Crypto firms in the UK that still lack regulatory approval may consider relocating operations, as the government deadline approaches in two days.
US stock indices closed higher yesterday amid renewed optimism about a potential ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, after Moscow pledged to scale back activities near the Ukrainian capital. Technology shares led gains on the NASDAQ 100, which rose about 1.84%.
Top cryptos
Among the underperformers were Cardano and Avalanche, each down nearly 3%. Bitcoin was trading above $47,000 at the time of writing, slipping less than 1% over the last 24 hours. Notable exceptions to the broader weakness included Terra and Near Protocol, which climbed roughly 3% and 8%, respectively.
Top movers
Outside the top 20 tokens, market performance was more mixed. Zilliqa continued its strong advance ahead of the launch of its metaverse project in early April, with ZIL up about 42% for the day.
Other notable winners included VeChain, which rose around 11%, along with Aave, Chiliz, and STEPN (GMT). GMT has been rallying since its listing on Binance in early March 2022 and recently jumped after reports of a significant, unnamed partnership—widely believed to involve Binance—boosted speculation and demand.
Lionel Messi’s multimillion-dollar agreement to become a global brand ambassador for fan token platform Socios also sparked interest. Chiliz, the blockchain powering Socios, jumped roughly 21% on the news of the high-profile partnership.
Lending protocol Aave saw strong gains following its V3 upgrade two weeks ago. The upgrade introduced improvements in decentralization, security, interoperability, and risk controls. AAVE has rallied significantly since the release and was up about 30% today.
Trending
The day’s biggest gainer was Pyroblock (PYR), a Binance Smart Chain token tied to a series of collectible, hand-drawn NFTs. Each NFT card block features a distinct rarity index, and ownership of PYR is required to purchase these NFTs. Holders can stake NFT cards to earn rewards, potentially generating high yields. PYR surged approximately 2,000% in the last 24 hours.