Polkadot steals the show from Bitcoin

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Bitcoin remains in search of ground, while Polkadot, Cardano and the DeFi space currently seem to be rather sounding out where the ceiling might be. Market Update.

After a weekend of comparatively low volatility, the bitcoin price continues to search for ground. Although the cryptocurrency did not manage to attack the 40,000-US dollar again. But on the downside, a support seems to be established at 35,000 US dollars, which could serve as a base for a run to the next ten-thousand mark.

Date Open Close High Low Trading Volume

  • Jan 18, 2021 35,839.51 35,351.39 (preliminary) 36,198.87 34,784.40 447,967,566.69
  • Jan 17, 2021 36,025.26 35,839.51 36,860.67 33,854.83 1,806,688,237.48
  • Jan 16, 2021 36,790.17 36,025.26 37,942.44 35,395.88 1,995,053,500.31
  • Jan 15, 2021 39,155.58 36,790.17 39,695.43 34,396.19 3,288,447,634.87
  • Bitcoin trading range since Friday, January 15. All figures in U.S. dollars (USD).

As of press time, bitcoin is trading at $35,200. The meager weekly balance (down 8.18 percent) puts into perspective a look at the monthly gains, which are more than respectable at 52.5 percent.

Can be left alone: Bitcoin price in 30-day comparison

While the Bitcoin rally of the past few weeks has meanwhile reached the mainstream media and prompted BaFin to issue a general warning against crypto investments, some altcoins are about to steal Bitcoin’s thunder. Namely, Cardano (ADA), Chainlink (LINK), and most notably Polkadot (DOT) can boast 7-day price gains that clearly set them apart from the rest of the top 10 cryptocurrencies.

Polkadot knocks Ripple (XRP) off the pedestal

Polkadot’s DOT token is currently panting from one all-time high to the next. In the last seven days alone, the Polkadot price has risen by almost 90 percent. The 30-day balance is even more impressive. Here, DOT, which was still trading just above the 5 U.S. dollar mark on December 15, 2020, has gained a whopping 229 percent. The majority of the price gains were made in the last seven days. One possible explanation for the current Polkadot rally lies in Plasm Network’s announcement of the first parachain for the Polkadot testnet.

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Parachains are among the elementary building blocks in the Polkadot network. This is entirely dedicated to the interoperability of different blockchains and other application-specific data infrastructures. These dock onto Polkadot’s relay chain via parachain. This has a limited number of slots for connecting new Parachains. These slots are auctioned off individually. Anyone who wants to connect a parachain to the relay chain must deposit DOT for it: Polkadot is a proof-of-stake network.

Polkadot (DOT) puts the bitcoin rally in the shade

DOT’s price explosion has ensured that Polkadot has now disputed XRP, the digital asset from Ripple, for the spot as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization (excluding the special case Tether).

Cardano benefits from advance laurels

In addition to Polkadot, Cardano is another proof-of-stake coin that is enjoying significant price gains. The last 30 days have also brought ADA Hodler triple-digit percentage price gains. At press time, ADA is trading just below the 40 cent mark – 130 percent above the level of a month ago. Cardano’s share price gains also correlate with positive news from the developer side.

Cardano price (ADA) in the last 30 days

So, as early as Mary – the next hard fork planned for February – the Cardano network could be expanded to include an important feature: support for other digital assets besides ADA. That’s what Charles Hoskinson, head of IOHK, one of the three organizations behind Cardano, announced in an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on YouTube on Jan. 10. Creating new tokens, Hoskinson promises, will be much easier and (gasp) more cost-efficient with Cardano than with Ethereum. However, while the latter has always supported smart contracts, their introduction in Cardano is only due with the next major update, Gougen.

DeFi is thriving

What connects the price increases of Polkadot and Cardano is the prospect that all networks are heading for entry into the decentralized financial services (DeFi) sector. This continues to enjoy growing popularity among investors willing to experiment. Just today, January 18, the sector hit a new all-time high. According to data from DeFi Pulse, there are now more than $24 billion in DeFi smart contracts. A year ago, this figure was still less than one billion US dollars.