Monitoring Desk
ISLAMABAD: The crypto market is on fire in 2023, with Bitcoin leading the charge and a new meme coin, bonk, making waves.
The top cryptocurrency has recorded a 26% gain in January, skyrocketing 22% in the past week and breaking back above the $20,000 level. This puts it on track for its best month since October 2021, just before the big crypto crash.
Ether has also seen a significant rise, with a 29% gain this year, pushing the value of the international crypto market above $1 trillion, according to CoinGecko.
While referring to the theory of asset prices returning to long-term averages, Jake Gordon, analyst at Bespoke Investment Group said: “We are seeing a form of mean reversion after a rough last year for cryptos.”
Researchers said investor bets on an optimistic macroeconomic picture were behind the jump in riskier assets across the board.
The latest entrant in the world of crypto meme coins
Only a couple of tokens have benefited more than bonk, the latest entrant to the hyper-volatile world of meme coins. The token, which was launched at the end of December on the Solana blockchain, had rocketed 5,000% by early January and is currently up 910% since the start of the year.
Modeled after the same grinning Shiba Inu dog as Dogecoin, bonk is the latest in a series of cryptocurrencies inspired by online memes and jokes. Despite its impressive gains, even at its peak, bonk was worth just $0.000004873759 with a market capitalization of about $205 million.
Other meme tokens have also seen gains, with Dogecoin and Shiba Inu up 19% and 27% respectively in the new year. The crypto market continues to be a wild ride, with meme coins leading the charge and investors eagerly watching to see what the future holds.
