The BTC relief rally in the past few days was halted yesterday as the asset was stopped at $100,000 and pushed south hard.

As expected, the altcoins have suffered even more, with substantial price declines from the likes of LINK, AVAX, ADA, SUI, and many others.

Bitcoin Stopped at $100K

Bitcoin went through a massive correction last week following the latest FOMC meeting. It dumped all the way from $108,000 to $92,000 in a matter of days. It bounced off on Friday and Saturday as the bulls drove it to almost $99,500.

However, it failed there and retraced hard once again at the start of the business week toward $92,000 once more. The bulls stepped up again at this point and initiated a notable price increase that pushed bitcoin up to $99,200 on Christmas Eve and almost $100,000 yesterday evening.

Once again, though, the cryptocurrency was stopped at this point. The subsequent rejection has driven it south hard, as the asset now struggles below $96,000.

Its market capitalization has declined to under $1.9 trillion on CG, while its dominance over the alts has increased to 54.6%.

Alts Bleed Out

The alternative coins registered some gains in the past few days as well, but red dominates all charts now. Ethereum was stopped at $3,500 and is below $3,400 after a 3.5% daily drop. Similar declines are evident from XRP, DOGE, SOL, BNB, TRX, and TON.

Even more painful corrections come from the likes of ADA, AVAX, LINK, SHIB, HBAR, XLM, and DOT, with losses of up to 9%. AAVE has plummeted by 10%, and so have ONDO and HYPE.

The cumulative market capitalization of all crypto assets has seen more than $100 billion gone and is down to $3.460 trillion on CoinGecko.

The newly launched Pudgy Penguins cryptocurrency Pengu (PENGU) has flipped Bonk (BONK) to claim the crown as the largest meme coin in the Solana ecosystem, with a market cap of $2.65 billion.

The shift is the culmination of a rally that kicked off on Christmas Eve when the token gained over 30% in 24 hours.

PENGU Rises

Data from the crypto price tracking website CoinGecko shows that the broader Solana meme coin market has experienced explosive growth, with its total valuation rising to $18.2 billion, a 10.3% increase over the last day.

Anchoring this performance was PENGU, which posted an 11.2% jump in the past 24 hours and a remarkable 22.3% rise in the last seven days.

The meme coin, airdropped to members of the globally successful Pudgy Penguins NFT community on December 17, has not been without controversy. Soon after the token’s launch, the floor prices of the NFT collection plunged by more than 50%, wiping out any gains made since early November.

According to analysts, this was largely because the value of the collection was partly pegged on exclusive access to the brand, with the introduction of PENGU making investment in the NFTs more accessible, therefore diluting their worth.

On its rollout, the coin shot to a record high of $0.0684 before dropping to a record low of $0.0114. It then see-sawed for the next few days, moving between $0.038 on December 18 to $0.0231 on December 20. However, since December 23, it has been making steady gains, going as high as $0.0417 on Boxing Day, a price that pushed its market cap to $2.62 billion.

BONK Falls

Conversely, the previous king of the Solana meme coins, BONK, showed more modest improvements in its price over the last seven days, going up 6.9% in that period. Further, across two weeks, it lost 17% of its value, with CoinGecko data showing another 23% plunge over 30 days, putting its market cap at just over $2.5 billion and allowing PENGU to surpass it.

The competition doesn’t end there. Other meme tokens like dogwifhat (WIF) and Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) are vying for investor attention. On Christmas Eve, the former reached an all-time high of $1.02, pushing its overall worth beyond the $1 billion mark.

However, despite Fartcoin being among the top gainers across seven days with a price increase of 13.1%, it has plummeted 15% since December 25. With a unit currently changing hands at about $$0.986, its $1.072 billion market cap is still some ways behind WIF’s $1.9 billion.

TL;DR

• Shibarium Trustwatch warns SHIB holders of fake giveaways, phishing emails, and scam social accounts during the holidays.
• Users are cautioned to avoid sending emails about SHIFU tokens and urged to verify information through official channels.

‘Protect Yourself This Christmas’

Despite the festive season, scammers don’t have days off and are always on the lookout for new victims. One particular group in the cryptocurrency sector, which bad actors attack quite regularly, is the Shiba Inu (SHIB) community.

A few days ago, Shibarium Trustwatch (an X account that aims to provide security) alerted users to be extra cautious with several common crypto scams. The first is giveaways, which offer “free” tokens, merchandise, or NFTs. “Remember, free stuff is never truly free – providing personal information puts you at risk,” the team warned. 

Second, the community should stay vigilant for phishing emails. Fraudsters often send emails to victims, claiming to be from official SHIB-related projects, thus trying to steal their login credentials. 

Next on the list are social media accounts. The team cautioned that scammers create fake profiles on social media platforms pretending to be influencers, developers, or official accounts that offer tempting deals. “Verify handles and avoid DMs offering quick profits,” Shibarium Trustwatch warned. 

Ponzi schemes, fake charity appeals, fake customer support, and malicious links are the other things the SHIB community should be careful about. 

“Providing personal information or falling for these scams doesn’t just put you at risk – it may lead to your data being sold on the dark web, where hackers can use it for identity theft or other malicious activities. Scammers exploit trust, kindness, and generosity, especially during the holiday season, so we must stay vigilant.

Let’s keep the Shibarmy strong and safe this holiday season. Be cautious, protect your crypto, and share love responsibly. Nothing in life is free. Even the things that seem free often come with hidden costs or risks,” the team concluded.

The SHIFU Warning

Earlier this month, Shibarium Trustwatch issued an alert concerning the meme coin SHIFU. The team claimed that bad actors request victims to send them an email containing information about the token:

“Fraudsters are asking people to send them an email asking how to buy and claim SHIFU or if SHIFU has not appeared in their wallet.”

Shibarium Trustwatch advised users to stay away from that scheme and not send emails to anyone. Verifying information through official channels and avoiding sharing personal data is also necessary. 

SHIFU is a dog-themed meme coin within the Shiba Inu ecosystem, which was introduced by Shytoshi Kusama at the beginning of the month. While it can be found on certain decentralized exchanges, leading crypto platforms like Binance have not yet embraced it. 

A few weeks ago, the meme coin project launched a special airdrop. The team announced that 30% of the total SHIFU supply (30 billion tokens) will be allocated to the community. Of this, 22 billion SHIFU will go to holders with at least 100,000 SHIB and 100 BUBBLE. An additional 2 billion tokens are set aside for eligible LEASH holders, while BONE owners will receive 1 billion tokens.

The remaining 70% of the supply will be reserved for other purposes, including “liquidity and public pre-sale,” treasury funds, and marketing efforts.