Crypto

Top Cryptocurrency Gainers and Losers of the Week

Published

2 years ago

May 5, 2024

Top Cryptocurrency Gainers and Losers of the Week

Insights into recent surges and dips, and the importance of caution in investment

Cryptocurrency Gainers and Losers of the Week: Cryptocurrency markets are famously volatile, with prices soaring and dipping on a regular basis. In this week’s recap, we delve into the top cryptocurrency gainers and losers of the week, examining the factors behind their impressive surges or significant dips.

Top Gainers:

Helium

Price: US$5.39

Surge in 7days: 41.33%

Market Cap: US$30,168,995

During the week, the decentralized wireless network Helium has demonstrated an outstanding growth. Such a rapid growth might be associated with the increased demand for the services of the network, including IOT applications. Since Helium is rather unique in its way of arranging a global, decentralized wireless network, it has attracted the attention of the investors looking for the most innovative products in the cryptocurrency market.

Optimism

Price: US$2.83

Surge in 7days: 16.12

Market Cap: US$470,387,039

Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, Optimism has recorded an exceptional gain in its price within the last week. This significant growth emerges at a time of increasing interest in layer 2 solutions to tackle the present scalability problem Ethereum experiences. The technology developed by Optimism makes the process on Ethereum better while lowering transaction fees and increasing the network’s throughput .

Axelar

Price: US$1.24

Surge in 7days:11.29%

Market Cap: US$43,249,928

Recently, the price of Axelar, a decentralized network aiming to connect various blockchain ecosystems, has skyrocketed. This phenomenon is caused by the growing need for interoperability solutions in the cryptocurrency industry. With abundant blockchain networks the issue of efficient communication or asset transfer over separate systems arise, and therefore the interest in such projects as Axelar increases.

Wormhole

Price: US$0.7299

Surge in 7days: 10.45%

Market Cap: US$339,987,856

Wormhole, a cross-chain communication protocol, has risen in trading price over the past week. This growth clearly indicates that the market recognizes the importance of interoperability solutions in the cryptocurrency industry. Investors are beginning to flock to projects that offer ways to quickly exchange assets and data among a variety of blockchains and tackle this critical issue.

Starknet

Price: US$1.29

Surge in 7days: 7.86%

Market Cap: US$167,854,564

Starknet, the layer 2 scaling solution for StarkWare, has recently experienced a rapid increase in its price. More specifically, the layer 2 solutions have recently drawn more attention to solve Ethereum scalability issues. Starknet facilitates security and privacy of decentralized applications on the Ethereum network and thus been considered an attractive investment option.

Top Losers:

Pendle

Price: US$4.44

Dip in 7days: 26.04%

Market Cap: US$78,101,979

Pendle — a protocol that tokenizes future yield — has experienced a dip in its price over the past week. Possible reasons for the dip include profit-taking by investors following a period of rapid price appreciation and concerns about the project’s long-term fundamentals. As with all cryptocurrency projects, investors should conduct their own research and assess the risks involved before putting their money in a token like Pendle.

Stacks

Price: US$2.07

Dip in 7days: 23.79%

Market Cap: US$170,055,324

Recently, the price of Stacks, a blockchain that makes smart contracts possible on Bitcoin, has dropped sharply. This decline in value may be driven by market sentiment, profit booking, or ethical concerns about the advancement of the initiative. Projects that concentrate in this sector face significant hurdles and concerns, and investors should be wary of them.

ORDI

Price: US$35.43

Dip in 7days: 18.59%

Market Cap: US$179,099,369

Over the past week, the decentralized identity protocol ORDI has witnessed a notable dip. Various factors may be contributing to this dip, such as market dynamics, regulatory uncertainty, or other particularities linked to the development of this project. Ultimately, the cryptocurrency market is a rapidly changing environment; as a result, projects such as ORDI have ample opportunities and challenges to ensure the broad and general adoption of the given technology in the future.

Theta Network

Price: US$2.03

Dip in 7days: 17.81%

Market Cap: US$56,591,821

Theta Network — a decentralized video delivery network — has seen its price drop substantially recently. This drop could be the response of market dynamics, concerns about the level of competition in the sector, or specific improvements in the ecosystem building on Theta. As people continue to look for decentralized video delivery solutions, Theta Network will have a chance to capture a share of the market.

Hedera

Price: US$0.09864

Dip in 7days: 16.86%

Market Cap: US$225,149,589

Hedera — a decentralized public network — has seen a significant drop in its price over the past week. The decline could be an indicator of market trends, profit-taking by investors, or doubts about the project’s prospects. As with all cryptocurrencies, investors should research the risks before putting their funds in this token.

To conclude, the cryptocurrency market is currently volatile, and its prices have been updating serially. The top cryptocurrency gainers and losers of the week speaks of some specific projects that have massively gained over the past few days while others have equally lost a lot. Therefore, for investors that desire to conduct business within such a dynamic market, it is necessary to make in-depth research, methodize specific risks and remain up-to-date with the current trends in the cryptocurrency world.

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Crypto

Crypto Crime Wave Fueled by Chinese-Language Money Laundering | PYMNTS.com

Published

4 hours ago

January 27, 2026

Press Room

Crypto Crime Wave Fueled by Chinese-Language Money Laundering | PYMNTS.com

Cryptocurrency laundering was an $82 billion problem last year, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday (Jan. 27), citing data from blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis.

Chinese-language money laundering networks made up $16.1 billion of that total as they play an increasing role in crypto crime, the report said.

“These are groups that are growing exponentially,” Andrew Fierman, head of national security intelligence at Chainalysis, told Bloomberg, per the report. “We’re talking about growth of over 7,300 times faster than other illicit flows.”

Although China has outlawed crypto transactions, illegal activity continues as the government chiefly focuses on behavior that threatens capital controls or financial stability, according to the report.

The networks “have really embraced cryptocurrencies,” said Kathryn Westmore, a senior associate fellow at the Centre for Finance and Security at RUSI, per the report, adding that crypto provides “a way to launder the proceeds of cash-generating criminal activities, like drugs or fraud.”

The news followed a warning from the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) in August, which said Chinese money laundering networks are now among the most significant threats to the American financial system, helping fuel the operations of Mexico’s most powerful drug cartels.

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“The networks have become effective partners because they can move cash quickly, absorb losses and leverage demand from Chinese nationals seeking to bypass Beijing’s strict currency controls,” PYMNTS reported Aug. 29. “By pairing cartel dollars with Chinese demand for U.S. currency, these networks have created what FinCEN called a ‘mutualistic relationship’ that strengthens both sides.”

Meanwhile, Eric Jardine, head of research at Chainalysis, discussed last year’s record-setting levels of crypto crime with PYMNTS in an interview published Monday (Jan. 26). Around $154 billion flowed to illicit addresses, the most ever recorded, and there was a 160% increase in illicit volumes.

“But treating that number as evidence of runaway criminal adoption may miss the more consequential story,” PYMNTS wrote. “What changed in 2025 was not merely volume, but the identity of the actors, the scale at which they operated, and the implications this has for banks, regulators, and the future architecture of financial blockchain compliance.”

The true inflection came from “a shift in who’s doing what,” Jardine said, adding that in 2025, nation states, most notably Russia, began taking part “in earnest in the crypto ecosystem,” chiefly through sanctions evasion.

Unlike earlier state-linked activity, like North Korea’s hacking campaigns, this was not marginal behavior at the edges of the system, but “industrial-scale financial activity conducted in plain sight,” PYMNTS wrote.

Crypto

Fixing BTC’s Quantum Issue Tops All Bitcoin Development Priorities, Says Willy Woo

Published

16 hours ago

January 27, 2026

Press Room

Fixing BTC’s Quantum Issue Tops All Bitcoin Development Priorities, Says Willy Woo

Quantum risk is emerging as a decisive hurdle for bitcoin’s institutional future as sovereign investors weigh long-term resilience, pushing gold and BTC into sharper focus amid debt cycles, macro uncertainty, and geopolitical realignment, according to on-chain analyst Willy Woo.

Crypto

Strategy buys even more Bitcoin—$264 million of it—even as Bitcoin slumps to $87,000. | Fortune

Published

1 day ago

January 26, 2026

Press Room

Strategy buys even more Bitcoin—4 million of it—even as Bitcoin slumps to ,000. | Fortune

Despite the current downturn for crypto, Strategy added even more Bitcoin to its collection. The company bought more than 2,900 Bitcoin last week, bringing its total to over 712,000, according to an X post by cofounder Michael Saylor. The move follows a more than $2 billion purchase earlier this month.

Strategy is the first and biggest digital asset treasury, or a type of company that acquires and holds on to large amounts of crypto. Saylor’s company began investing in Bitcoin in 2020 and now holds more than 3% of the total supply. This business model has confronted major challenges in the past few months, as the largest cryptocurrency has plummeted since its all-time high in October. Bitcoin is worth about $87,000, down about 31% since then, according to Binance.

One analyst views Saylor’s purchase as expected, considering the company’s business strategy, which is to continually amass Bitcoin on the theory it will appreciate in the long term, and to time purchases to coincide with market dips.

“It’s not surprising for me to see that they’re really aggressively continuing to purchase [Bitcoin]”, said Nathan Schmidt, an analyst at CFRA Research. “It is certainly the playbook for them these days.”

Bitcoin’s fall from its all-time high of about $126,000 in October was caused in part by a flash crash in the fall, where crypto traders lost more than $19 billion in their positions. Misfortunes for digital assets have only continued this calendar year. The sector dipped as tensions mounted between the U.S. and Europe over Greenland. In addition, major regulatory legislation, referred to as the Clarity Act, has stalled as major figures in the crypto industry spar over its details.

The major cryptocurrency isn’t the only one to suffer losses, as altcoins are down as well. Ethereum is down 30% in the last three months to its current price of $2,899, and Solana is down more than 38% to its price of about $124, according to Binance.

Crypto’s dip has led to disastrous returns for digital asset treasuries like Strategy. Saylor’s company stock is down about 64% since July to its current price of about $160.

Schmidt, the analyst from CFRA Research, argues that the biggest risk to Strategy is long-term declines in the value of Bitcoin. He says that the company could survive such a dip in the next few years because of its liquidity, but that over time the company would be in trouble.

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