Weekly Recap: Bitcoin Dips to $60,000 and ForkLog’s AllTimeHalf Forum

The leading cryptocurrency fell to $60,000, Bitcoin mining difficulty hit a new high, ForkLog hosted the AllTimeHalf 2024 online forum, Ripple’s CEO predicted the crypto market’s growth beyond $5 trillion, and other events of the past week.

Bitcoin Drops to $60,000 but Recovers to $64,000

The leading cryptocurrency began the week above $69,000, but by Monday, April 8, it had surpassed $72,000. On Wednesday, April 10, digital gold fell below $68,000 amid accelerating inflation in the US.

In the following days, Bitcoin recovered above $70,000, but on Friday, April 12, prices dropped to $65,000. The next morning, the leading cryptocurrency returned to levels above $67,000, but by evening it had plunged below $61,000 amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

On Sunday, April 14, Bitcoin recovered to $64,000 and at the time of writing is trading above this level.

Most digital assets in the top 10 by market capitalization ended the week in the “red zone.” Solana (-23.9%), Dogecoin (-23.2%), and XRP (-19%) were the biggest losers. Toncoin was the exception, gaining 20.1% over the week.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization stands at $2.4 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance index is 56%.

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Hits New High Ahead of Halving

Following the latest recalculation, the difficulty of mining the leading cryptocurrency increased by 3.92%. The figure reached a new high of 86.39 T.

The average hash rate since the previous adjustment was 705.39 EH/s. The interval between blocks shortened to less than nine minutes, compared to the protocol’s intended 10.

This difficulty recalculation is the last before the Bitcoin halving, which is expected to occur on April 20.

ForkLog Hosts AllTimeHalf 2024 Online Forum

On April 12-13, ForkLog hosted the two-day AllTimeHalf 2024 online forum, featuring over 20 experts in the field of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Participants included developers, entrepreneurs, visionaries, and enthusiasts.

Hosts and speakers discussed current industry issues across four platforms:

• [HALVING|MENSCH];
• [WEB3NET];
• [CIVITAS.DAO];
• [CRYPTOCENOSIS].

Recordings of both days of AllTimeHalf 2024 can be viewed on the ForkLog YouTube channel.

Topics to Discuss with Friends

• The Saga project token surged nearly 19,000% post-launch.
• The founder of Notcoin shared the project’s plans.
• STEPN will conduct a “major” GMT airdrop worth $30 million.
• DEX Zeta Markets on Solana will distribute 100 million tokens.

Solana Team to Implement Fixes for Network Overload

Solana developers are seeking solutions to address network overload, but it will take time, said Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko.

In February, a team of experts led by journalist Colin Wu concluded that the periodic network outages were due to its inability to handle the growing volume of transactions. On February 6, the protocol failed to process blocks for nearly five hours, marking yet another incident in recent years.

“Dealing with overload errors is much worse than a complete outage. In the latter case, it’s a one-time fix, error identified and corrected, and the chain continues. In the former, you have to go through the entire release and testing pipeline. It’s not quick,” wrote Yakovenko.

In recent weeks, the blockchain has faced a large number of failed transactions, acknowledged Solana Foundation’s Head of Technology and Product Matt Sorg. He attributed this to the meme token boom and significant growth in DEX trading volumes within the ecosystem.

Sorg compared Solana’s architecture to the internet—individual validators in the blockchain function similarly to endpoints like websites and servers, which must withstand extreme loads.

In Solana’s mechanism, the network sends transactions directly to block leaders, bypassing an intermediary model like a mempool, noted the expert. The influx of spam transactions could have overloaded the system, causing delays, he suggested.

“In this process, Solana encountered an issue where users lack a reliable way to include transactions in blocks. The existing fee and transaction systems, based on staking shares, are not established,” stated Sorg.

According to him, “known solutions” exist. Their implementation will begin in the coming days, but any technical aspects require time, added the expert.

Solana Foundation strategist Austin Federa confirmed Sorg’s information about the planned updates. He noted that the network is “once again being tested under a massive influx of traffic.”

“But there is no ‘silver bullet’ or ‘final’ solution. We expect demand to continue growing. This will require additional efforts to scale systems to meet it,” warned the expert.

The Anza team, behind the Solana client Agave, has already tested a patch aimed at alleviating the network overload issue. Developers announced new improvements and updates in the coming months.

Ripple CEO Predicts Crypto Market Growth Beyond $5 Trillion by Year-End

The cryptocurrency market capitalization in 2024 will double and exceed $5 trillion, according to Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse.

He noted that he is “very optimistic” about macroeconomic trends such as the introduction of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US, which “bring real institutional money for the first time.”

Garlinghouse also pointed to the upcoming halving, which will halve the reward for mined blocks.

“You see this driving demand, while supply decreases. You don’t need an economics degree to explain what’s happening,” he stated.

Another factor that will push the crypto market to new highs, according to Garlinghouse, is potential positive changes in US regulatory policy following the arrival of a new administration.

“I actually want to say one thing about the macroeconomic tailwinds for the industry: I believe we’ll get more clarity in the United States. It’s still the largest economy in the world, and unfortunately, one of the most hostile to cryptocurrencies. And I think that’s going to start changing too,” said the Ripple head.

Also on ForkLog:

• A user turned $9,000 into $6.27 million on the APU meme token.
• 1inch and Mastercard announced a Web3 debit card.
• Crypto Bot announced the launch and airdrop of the SEND token.
• Notcoin announced a balance denomination.

Robert Kiyosaki Predicts Bitcoin Surge to $2.3 Million

Author of the bestseller “Rich Dad Poor Dad” and entrepreneur Robert Kiyosaki predicted that the leading cryptocurrency’s price could reach $2.3 million.

“[CEO ARK Invest] Cathie Wood guarantees Bitcoin will reach $2.3 million. Do I believe her? Yes. Cathie Wood is very smart. I trust her opinion. Could she be wrong? Yes. So what? The more important question is: ‘What do you believe?’ What if Cathie is right? What if Cathie is wrong? And most importantly: ‘How much Bitcoin do you have?’ If Cathie is right, I’d want to buy more. If she’s wrong, I’d be happy with zero,” he wrote.

According to Kiyosaki, most people do not own digital gold regardless of Cathie Wood’s correctness.

“School is the only place on earth where ‘smart’ people are those who never make mistakes. In the real world, the richest and happiest people make mistakes and learn from them,” he added.

The investor stated that he “also believes” in Bitcoin reaching $2.3 million. This forecast was made in February by ARK Invest analysts in their annual report. According to their estimates, the leading cryptocurrency could rise to $2.3 million by 2030. Cathie Wood herself predicted in January that digital gold could reach $1.5 million.

Kiyosaki also refrained from purchasing spot Bitcoin ETFs, as he “prefers to stay as far away from Wall Street financial products as possible.” He emphasized that he owns gold and silver coins, not exchange-traded funds based on them.

What Else to Read?

This week, ForkLog explored whether DeSoc can replace X, Facebook, and YouTube, and how Bitcoin halving has influenced industry dynamics.

In the traditional digest, we compiled the week’s main events in cybersecurity.

The most important news from crypto industry participants was gathered in a separate digest.