Crypto market wrap: Low-profile altcoin prices steal the show
Updated
Low-profile altcoin prices stole the show Wednesday, but it was still a good day for the beleaguered cryptocurrency market as a whole.
The vast majority of top 100 digital assets were back in the green a day after the sector continued its tendency to look like a bad reality TV program.
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NEXO to USD
Unheralded coin climbs
NEXO, the unheralded coin backed by the Nexo crypto exchange and its operator of the same name, jumped a day after the company announced that it plans to acquire troubled crypto trading and lending firm Vauld.
London-based Nexo signed an indicative term sheet with Vauld that grants Nexo an exclusive 60-day exploratory period to acquire up to 100% of the company. The coin was up about 5% in late afternoon trading in North America.
Vauld froze its customers’ deposits, withdrawals and trades on Monday.
STORJ to USD
Lesser light may get more love
NEXO, clearly a lesser light when it comes to public discussion, may get more love from investors if, as expected, the parent network continues to show appetite for acquisitions in the current difficult market climate.
But nexo was not the biggest gainer among altcoins on Tuesday. That distinction belonged to STORJ, which was up about 12%. Meanwhile, the sandbox (SAND), thor chain (RUNE), the maker (MKR) and avalance (AVAX) saw gains ranging from approximately 6% to 9%.
SAND to USD
CEL sinks
However, the embattled Celsius Network’s coin (CEL) took a hard hit, dropping more than 8%. CEL investors known as Celsians, had achieved increases recently.
Celsians have sought to keep the price up and prevent large investors, known as whales from scooping up CEL on the cheap.
BTC and ETH gain
The effort, known as a short squeeze was also designed to prevent retail investors from losing collateral that they had used for loans to buy CEL.
Market leaders bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), the coin backed by the Ethereum blockchain network, also had a good day Tuesday as they stayed above $20,000 and $1,100, respectively. Ether was up more than 5% at the time of writing.
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