Share this article
Bitcoin, Ether Dive While Some Alternative Cryptocurrencies Hit Record Highs
The balance of bitcoin held on major exchanges is on the rise in what some analysts say is a bearish sign.
By Muyao Shen
Updated Sep 14, 2021, 12:56 p.m. Published May 15, 2021, 5:42 p.m.
Ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is poised to log its first weekly loss since the end of March, as its price, along with that of larger sibling bitcoin, are in the red on Saturday.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW
Don't miss another story.Subscribe to the Crypto Daybook Americas Newsletter today. See all newsletters
At press time, ether was changing hands at $3,779.81, down 8.48% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk 20. Meanwhile bitcoin, the No. 1 cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has also fallen, down 5.88% in the past 24 hours to below $48,000.
After a six-week-long winning streak, ether is set to end the week on a down note, according to data from TradingView and Kraken.
As for bitcoin, the balance of that cryptocurrency held on major exchanges is increasing again after dropping for more than a year, according to data from Glassnode. Some analysts interpreted that as a bearish sign for the market. as it could show more BTC is available to sell on exchanges.
Meanwhile, the winners of the day appear to be tokens of so-called Ethereum Killers and layer 2 scaling projects, as some of those tokens have logged new all-time highs on Saturday.
The price of scaling solution Polygon Network’s native token, MATIC, was up by more than 22% in the past 24 hours, according to data from Messari. Its price logged a record high on Saturday at around $1.87.
Year to date, MATIC has also chalked a 100-fold rise with its market capitalization soaring to more than $8.96 billion.
Meanwhile, the prices of tokens for smart contract platforms such as and were also rising. At the time of writing, ADA was up 18.30% in the past 24 hours to $2.25, and ATOM was up 5.39% to about $26.47.
The network congestion on Ethereum blockchain has increased demand for Ethereum alternatives as well as for layer 2 scaling projects like Polygon, which has sent their tokens' prices skyrocketing.
Meer voor jou
Wat u moet weten:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
Meer voor jou
Zcash Floats Dynamic Fee Plan to Ensure Users Won’t Be Priced Out
ZEC zoomed 12% amid the fee discussion, beating gains across all major tokens.
Wat u moet weten:
- A new proposal by Shielded Labs suggests a dynamic fee market for Zcash to address rising transaction costs and network congestion.
- The proposed system uses a median fee per action observed over the prior 50 blocks, with a priority lane for high-demand periods.
- The changes aim to maintain Zcash's privacy features while avoiding complex protocol redesigns.
Top Stories
