Major cryptocurrencies including Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) underperformed on Monday, despite a rebound in the equity market. This divergence was observed against the backdrop of rising oil prices and other macroeconomic influences that initially caused a dip in the market. Over a 24-hour period ending at 3 p.m. ET, these digital currencies saw respective declines of 3.3%, 3.6%, and 5.1%. Ethereum’s deeper plunge was influenced not only by macroeconomic factors but also by the Ethereum Foundation’s swap of $2.7 million worth of Ethereum for the stablecoin USDC.
The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) reported an 11% decline in Q3, with Bitcoin (BTC) falling slightly less at 10.9% and Ether (ETH) dropping more at 12.5%. Despite this downturn, BTC and ETH demonstrated resilience with year-to-date gains of 64% and 41%, respectively. These gains were driven by institutional demand for Bitcoin ETFs, regulatory pressure on altcoins, and a preference for larger capitalization tokens.
The Computing, DeFi and Digitization sectors outperformed others such as the Smart Contract Platform and Culture & Entertainment sectors in the same quarter. These market trends were significantly influenced by SEC actions, enforcement against Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and Binance, filings for spot ETFs by top asset managers, a partial win in the Ripple court case, and a surge in Chainlink (LINK) by 24%, with AI investor enthusiasm also contributing to these shifts.
