Crypto remains hopeful as market moves sideways: Report

After a turbulent month for the crypto industry in March, Bitcoin’s (BTC) price went sideways in April despite some volatility. The meteoric rise of memecoins, such as PEPE, made headlines, and First Republic, another mid-sized United States bank, went under. However, on the basis of current market sentiment is a standoff between markets and policymakers: While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jerome Powell publicly states that interest rates are unlikely to come down this year, the markets for risk-on assets like crypto have firmly priced in a pivot in the coming months.

In times like these, it is wise to drill deeper into the fundamentals that will shape future market movements. With an uncertain macro environment and a looming regulatory crackdown in the U.S., there are other notable developments that are easily drowned out by these dominant news items.

The report is available for free on the Cointelegraph Research Terminal.

For those keen to gain a deeper understanding of the crypto space’s various sectors, Cointelegraph Research publishes a monthly Investors Insights Report that dives into venture capital, derivatives, decentralized finance (DeFi), regulation and much more. Compiled by leading experts on these various topics, the monthly reports are an invaluable tool to quickly get a sense of the current state of the blockchain industry.

NFT hype fades as memecoins take over

Nonfungible token (NFT) collectibles are one of the few sectors that took a major hit this month. Memecoins, such as PEPE, may be partially responsible for this, as they absorbed the attention, printing eye-watering gains. BRC-20 tokens, a new abstraction created on the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol, may also compete for cash inflow from traditional NFT collectibles traders. Sellers have started to persistently outnumber buyers on NFT marketplaces recently, and this trend is likely to continue.

There are concerns about the NFT market going into free fall, as all important metrics, such as volume and active wallets, have been on a steep decline. NonFungible reported only 49,200 active wallets and a sales volume of $80,500 this month. The NFT marketplace wars, combined with diminishing excitement around NFTs, are other driving factors behind this long-term development.

Despite the overall NFT market slump, a niche NFT sector that is picking up steam is the NFT lending market. Since the start of 2022, this sector has witnessed double-digit growth every month, and…