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All Things Alt: Shibe Social, Blackcoin Boom and the Twin Easter Egg
Dogecon, new GPUs and the potential future of payments – these and more in this week's All Things Alt.
By Stan Higgins
Updated Sep 11, 2021, 10:40 a.m. Published Apr 18, 2014, 6:05 p.m.
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Things in the alternative digital currency ecosystem got a little more interesting this week. Let's take a look at some of the noteworthy news items from the last seven days in the altcoin world.
Dogecoin enters the limelight
Follow the Coin announced that it is partnering with dogecoin founder Jackson Palmer on Dogecon SF in San Francisco on 25th April.
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This convention brings an interesting array of speakers and attendees, including litecoin creator Charlie Lee and Dogetipbot co-founder David Dvorak. The event aims to highlight the charitable aspects of the community, and there will be food, fun, costume contests and, of course, shibes as far as the eye can see.
In other dogecoin-related news, US-based digital currency exchange CoinMKT launched a DOGE/USD trading pair.
Blackcoin breaks out
Blackcoin had a banner weekend, experiencing a dramatic price increase and subsequent fall that still represents a significant increase in the altcoin's value compared to a week ago.
After spending several days in the 0.00009 BTC range, the price of a single blackcoin began to rise quickly on 12th April.
The price peaked on 14th April, reaching 0.00094505 BTC on the MintPal digital currency exchange. Within hours, prices declined to roughly 0.00019000 BTC. MintPal's 24-hour volume approached 10,000 BTC, causing the need for emergency server upgrades at the time.
At press time, the price of a single blackcoin was fluctuating between 0.00035 and 0.00039 BTC.
Limecoin community lends a hand
IPO-structured scams have become increasingly prevalent in the past few months on the Bitcoin Talk forum and other public forums for digital currencies. A recent scandal involving edgecoin – which involved an IPO for early investors prior to launch – resulted in some unexpected charity from another alt-community.
On 17th April, the limecoin development team announced on Bitcoin Talk that it would donate 500 LIM to anyone who could verify themselves as an investor in edgecoin:
"We understand this is a small amount of currency compared to what many of you invested in edgecoin, and we apologize that we do not have the funds to do more. We are trying to help in any way we can. We encourage other coins to please do the same."
Strange alt of the week
This week's "Strange Alt of the Week" is actually shared between two candidates which are set for a twin launch on Easter Sunday.
GirlCoin (sign: GIRL) and BoyCoin (sign: BOY) are being pitched as two coins of the same side. Each scrypt variant sports a 10 billion coin maximum supply limit and will have their own independent wallets.
The community response seems to be one of mostly amusement, although it will be interesting to see how mining hashrates divide between the two coins.
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KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Here’s why bitcoin’s is failing its role as a 'safe haven' versus gold
Bitcoin behaves more like an "ATM" during uncertain times, with investors quickly selling it to raise cash.
What to know:
- During recent geopolitical tensions, Bitcoin lost 6.6% of its value, while gold rose 8.6%, demonstrating bitcoin's vulnerability in times of market stress.
- Bitcoin behaves more like an "ATM" during uncertain times, with investors quickly selling it to raise cash, contrary to its reputation as a stable digital asset.
- Gold remains the preferred hedge for short-term risks, while bitcoin is better suited for long-term monetary and geopolitical uncertainties that unfold over years.
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