Moo Deng (MOODENG), a Solana-based meme coin, has surged by more nearly 100% over the past 24 hours. 

The token is, of course, inspired by female pygmy hippo Moo Deng, which recently became an internet sensation. 

The pygmy hippo Khao Kheow Open Zoo, a massive zoo in Si Racha, Thailand, managed to attain global popularity because of 31-year-old zookeeper Atthapon Nundee. 

For years, he would post adorable animals from his zoo on social media. His moment finally arrived earlie this year because of Moo Deng.

The pudgy two-month old hippo has become so famous that cars have started lining up in front of the zoo. 

card

Meme coins aficionados have naturally decided to capitalize on the new meme sensation with the token. A trader, who some believe is an insider, managed to turn just $800 into millions of dollars by buying the meme coin. 

It remains to be seen whether the upstart meme coin inspired the baby hippo will be able to challenge some of the market leaders. Its market cap has already approached the $250 million mark following the recent price spike. 

Some pundits expect the meme coin to be just a flash in the pan just like some of the rival celebrity meme coins that managed to reach impressive market cars in early summer only to lose the vast majority of their value. 

The future of the meme coin will, of course, depend on whether or not Moo Deng will manage to sustain its popularity after recently surpassing Ethereum on Google Trends 

For comparison Fiona, a common river hippopotamus fromt he Cincinnati Zoo, also became a viral in viral sensation in 2017.  According to The New York Times, it continues to attract visitors. 

In the headlines today, $WOOFIE is gaining traction and on its way to becoming a viral memecoin after raising $5 million from some of the biggest players in the crypto space. The funds are aimed at building the largest DeFi betting casino on the Solana blockchain. With the backing of this major investment, $WOOFIE is quickly gaining traction among community members and big investors.

💥BREAKING: $WOOFIE memecoin raised $5,000,000 from the biggest players in crypto space to build the biggest DEFI BETTING CASINO on SOLANA.

I am buying hard I think it’s the new play of this season

📈: https://t.co/tTgo3a8CNl https://t.co/VzswF6eTDJ

— Crypto Rover (@rovercrc) September 12, 2024

A New Era of DeFi Betting

The DeFi space has been expanding rapidly and $WOOFIE along with Solana is going to launch a casino to capitalize the expanding DeFi market. Solana, known for its high speed transactions and low fees, provides an ideal platform for this project. The memecoin’s team believes that this project will revolutionize online betting by offering transparency to the users.

Market Reactions and Future Developments

At press time, the price of $WOOFIE stands at $0.0007546 following a surge of 46.39% on the 24-hour chart. Reports of the funding garnered the attention of investors and pushed the token to a market cap of $751.65K and a 24-hour traded volume hit the $3 million point. As the market responds to the announcement, investors are increasingly interested in the significant returns, making this memecoin the next big thing in DeFi and crypto gambling. 

$WOOFIE team is going to use the raised funds to develop and launch the DeFi betting platform. With this move and strong backing from key players in the industry, the memecoin will attract more potential investments as all eyes will be on it to see how the project is executed. 

Also Read: Trading $X Empire Tokens Before Launch: A Guide to X Empire’s Pre-Market

• Binance has launched perpetual contracts for the Solana-based meme coin POPCAT.
• KuCoin also listed a POPCAT/USDT trading pair on its spot market.
• POPCAT jumped more than 20% following the listings on both exchanges.
• The meme coin could see a correction, with technical indicators suggesting its price is entering the overbought region.

Binance exchange announced it had listed perpetual contracts for Solana meme coin POPCAT on Thursday with up to 75x leverage. The listing means Binance’s wide user base can now gain leveraged exposure to the price of POPCAT. Such listings often translate to significant price growth for a cryptocurrency.

Shortly after Binance’s announcement, KuCoin exchange listed a POPCAT/USDT trading pair on its platform, allowing users to deposit and trade their tokens on its spot market.

Following these announcements, a whale withdrew $5.73 million worth of SOL from Binance to purchase POPCAT, according to Lookonchain’s data.

POPCAT rallies, but risks going into a correction

The positive updates caused a spike in POPCAT’s price, which soared more than 22% in the past 24 hours. The move indicates increased POPCAT buying pressure across exchanges.

The social volume of the meme coin also surged, increasing from a mere 7% to over 53% on Thursday. While the spike in social volume amid rising prices indicates positive investors’ sentiment, a correction sometimes ensues when the crowd is overly bullish.

On the 4-hour chart, POPCAT could face resistance around the $0.7132 key resistance. The 100-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) could prevent a further price rise for the meme coin.

POPCAT/USDT 4-hour chart

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 69.7, moving into the overbought region. Such a move indicates prices may see a correction soon. The Stochastic Oscillator (Stoch) also paints a similar picture, with the %K and %D lines now above 80 in the overbought region.

A price correction could see POPCAT decline by over 30% to find support around $0.3615.

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GM. Last week, two firms filed for Solana ETFs, which could be the reason why SOL had some price increases through the weekend.

Also, we covered the Maya Crypto App issues that have been a problematic experience for their crypto customers who cannot access their funds for an entire week. We won’t be discussing that here in length, but feel free to check out this article for updates (which includes our notes on how this could affect the local crypto industry).

That, and more news in today’s news recap!

Market Updates ????

Here are the crypto highlights of the week:

• Bitcoin is up 4.2% vs the previous seven days, now at $63,389.
• The weekly top gainer in the top 100 coins is DOGWIFHAT ($2.26), up 38%.
• The weekly top loser in the top 100 is Sui ($0.83), down 5.8%
• Noteworthy: Solana, because of the ETF filing news, is up 6.2%, now at $148.33.

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Feature Story: Multiple Firms File for Solana ETF

Solana’s (SOL) price surged nearly 9% following VanEck’s filing for the first spot Solana ETF in the U.S.

What’s the significance: The ETF filing can potentially increase Solana’s investment appeal and liquidity.

The number: Solana rose 6.6% in an hour and almost 9% within a day, reaching just below $150 on the day of the news.

Other filings: 21Shares also filed an application with the U.S. SEC for a spot Solana ETF.

How it will work: Once they are approved, the ETFs will be listed on the Cboe BZX Exchange and will track Solana’s price by holding SOL tokens.

But when will it be approved? Bloomberg thinks the Solana ETFs could take a while and might be approved only by 2025 if the U.S. will have a new administration (aka a new President), and a new SEC Chairman.

Price Analysis: According to Decrypt, despite the spike, Solana is still in a broader bearish correction, and the price needs to break past key resistance levels to confirm a sustained uptrend.

• If Solana maintains its momentum, it could reach $160. A failure to do so might see it drop back to around $135, Decrypt concluded.

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Weekly Recap: Local Crypto News ????????

• ReQuest won 2nd place at Solana APAC Summit in Malaysia.
• BreederDAO wins at CCP Games’ web3 gaming hackathon.
• Recycling project Waste2Earn wins ICP’s iThink hackathon.

• Maya’s crypto product went under maintenance mode since atleast last Sunday, various reports compiled by BitPinas suggested.
  • Update as of this Sunday: The product is back online but the transfer in and out functions are still not available.

• Paytaca unveils a new merchant partner in Cebu City that now allows payments through Bitcoin Cash.
  • Paytaca CEO Dr. Joemar Taganna spoke during the DOST 2024 Eastern Visayas Regional Science and Technology Week (RSTW).

• Yield Guild Games (YGG) Esports team takes the championship victory in the Guild Wars SEA LAN.
  • Yield Guild Games (YGG) partners with Sapien AI Corp. to integrate data labeling gig work into the onchain gaming ecosystem.
• Superteam PH announces the launch of the new edition of its Superspace: The Founders Camp.
• Coins.ph has a giveaway of 20 limited edition Zen Card packs through its collaboration with Zen Card and Coins 98.
• Florin Hilbay released Basta Bitcoin Podcast Episode 6: Inflation, Government Spending, & Bitcoin.
• ETH63 to host Cebu Ethereum Meetup this July 6.

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Educational Corner ????

This week, we continued to see trends on Telegram games, and also wrote a short essay about it.

Guide Articles:

BitPinas Bitcoin Series:

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Regulation Watch ????

Stay informed about the latest regulatory updates from here and around the world and what they mean for you:

• The Nigerian government denies claims of poor treatment of imprisoned Binance executive Tigran Gambaryan.
• Korea Institute of Finance cautioned against approving spot crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs), citing potential risks to financial stability due to crypto market volatility and uncertain asset valuation.
• Hong Kong’s Legislative Council has established a subcommittee to address crypto and web3 issues.
• The European Union’s latest sanctions against Russia mandate crypto firms to scrutinize 2,200 Russian entities.
• Brazil‘s current account deficit is expected to shrink significantly starting next month as crypto asset purchases will no longer impact the trade balance. 
• Coinbase faces potential regulatory scrutiny for its handling of accounting metrics under new FASB rules.
• The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) transferred $24 million in bitcoin to crypto exchanges Kraken and Coinbase suggesting potential intentions to sell assets seized from the operators of film piracy website Movie2k.to.
• VanEck filed Form 8-A with the SEC following recent approvals of Ethereum ETF filings.
• Rep. Matt Gaetz introduced a bill aiming to allow U.S. taxpayers to pay federal income taxes using bitcoin.

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Community Spotlight ????

Meet Nix Eniego: He is also known as Nixtape. Eniego is leading Growth at Sky Mavis, the developer of Axie Infinity and Ronin blockchain. 

• He is the former AVP for Marketing at PDAX. 

Eniego previously shared his crypto journey and insights in interviews and webcasts with BitPinas.

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At the Scene ????

On the ground activations and more. BitPinas representatives were in attendance so expect news items about each of them soon:

• Decked Out: Art Reimagined with Crypto Art PH. (Astbury, Makati)

• Arweave Event at PDAX Office (Pasig).

• NFTXStreet and Coins.ph Coinmunity Meetup. (Quezon City)

• DEVCON Mindanao Summit in Davao.

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More Web3 and AI News ????

Discover the latest in web3 and AI innovation.

• Aave DAO has unanimously signaled support for deploying Aave on the Ethereum Layer 2 network ZKsync, advancing the proposal to a formal vote.
• Japan’s Metaplanet, which already holds $9 million worth of Bitcoin, plans to purchase an additional $6.2 million worth of BTC using proceeds from an upcoming bond issuance.
• European digital asset investment firm CoinShares sold its claim from bankrupt crypto exchange FTX at a net recovery rate of 116%.
• Apple is in talks with Meta to integrate the Facebook parent company’s generative AI into its products, aiming to enhance its artificial intelligence capabilities amid competition from Microsoft and Google.
• Taurus expanded its digital asset custody and issuance services to the Stellar network, enabling financial institutions to tokenize and manage assets efficiently.
• Kraken’s institutional derivatives arm, Kraken MTF, partnered with Copper’s ClearLoop settlement network to provide institutions with off-exchange connectivity and single wallet access to major crypto exchanges.
• Allora Labs raised $3 million to support the mainnet launch of its decentralized AI network, bringing its total funding to date to $35 million.
• Matter Labs has unveiled ZKsync 3.0, featuring an “Elastic Chain” designed to interconnect multiple chains within its network akin to Polygon’s AggLayer.
• Strike, the Bitcoin payments app, launched in the U.K., expanding its global footprint.
• Zodia Custody partnered with 21Shares to offer custody services for physically backed crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) across Europe.
• Colosseum, a Solana-focused startup accelerator, raised $60 million to invest in early-stage projects from Solana hackathons, deploying $2.75 million across eleven companies.
• Covalent, a blockchain data infrastructure firm, raised $5 million in strategic funding, aiming to expand operations in Asia and enhance long-term data availability infrastructure for blockchain users worldwide.
• Worldcoin partnered with Alchemy to enhance infrastructure for its upcoming World Chain blockchain launch.
• Oraraised $20 million to advance its goal of integrating AI into decentralized applications (dapps) using its “on-chain AI oracle” technology.

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Web3 Gaming Section ????

The future of web3 is gaming, and here are the latest news.

• Aptos Labs partnered with NBCUniversal to enhance web3 fan experiences, loyalty programs, and gaming.
• Lumiterra MMORPG migrates from Arbitrum to Ronin Blockchain of Sky Mavis.
• W3Expo 2024 is set to return to Istanbul on August 13-14 at the Hilton Istanbul Bomonti as part of Istanbul Blockchain Week; it will highlight web3 gaming.
• Telegram web3 game Monorix launched its MRX token on BingX, enabling players to engage in Monopoly-style gameplay integrated with blockchain technology.
• CropBytes, a web3 gaming studio, launched CropBytes Conquest, a PvP battle strategy game set in Nova Island.
• GR1D by 1KIN Labs, a Layer-2 blockchain platform, aims to unify decentralized web3 gaming ecosystems.
• Immutable partnered with MarbleX, Netmarble’s blockchain gaming platform, to migrate several major titles to Immutable’s zkEVM chain.
• Helika‘s report, in collaboration with Pantera Capital, highlights that Web3 gaming raised over $160 million from February 2023 to February 2024, with insights into AI-driven game development, on-chain royalties, and interoperability across platforms.
• Animoca Brands, an investor in web3 and crypto gaming, is exploring a potential public listing in 2025 in either Hong Kong or the Middle East.
• Sky Mavis Co-founder Jeff Zirlin said in an interview that web3 gaming is not dead, but thriving.
• Oasys partnered with South Korean gaming platform Vortex Gaming to expand its presence in the Korean market.
• Yaku Corp partnered with Xai, a Layer 3 blockchain, to enhance the immersive cyberpunk gameplay experience of its web3 MMO game, Yaku.

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Last Week on the BitPinas Webcast ????

We talked with Certified Technical Analyst Joseph Lejarde and Dell Omasas from Coinex Charity, to discuss the recent Bitcoin price drop and its market implications.

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Upcoming Event ????

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Noteworthy ????

Key updates and announcements from around the crypto and blockchain world:

• Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse criticized SEC Chair Gary Gensler, alleging that Gensler’s regulatory stance on cryptocurrencies could lead to President Biden losing the election.
• Wallets believed to be linked to the U.S. government transferred 3,940 bitcoins, valued at $241 million, to Coinbase. 
• Abra, a crypto company, agreed to settle with 25 state financial regulators after being accused of operating without proper licensing.
• OtherWorld, a Singapore-based web3 developer, launched “Solo Leveling: Unlimited,” an NFT platform based on the popular South Korean web novel and webtoon, Solo Leveling.
• Bybit has surged to become the second-largest crypto exchange by volume, surpassing Coinbase, with its market share doubling from 8% to 16% since October 2023.
• Bitget crypto exchange launched a $20 million TON Ecosystem Fund in partnership with Foresight Ventures to support early-stage projects within the Telegram Open Network (TON).
• JPMorgan reported that investor interest in the bitcoin mining sector is growing.
• Former President Donald Trump is in discussions to speak at Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville, according to Axios.
• Alex Lab, a Bitcoin DeFi protocol, reported a $4.3 million exploit in May 2024, attributing the attack to the Lazarus Group, a cyber-hacking entity linked to North Korea.
• Binance has frozen over $5 million in stolen funds following a $54 million hack of Turkish cryptocurrency exchange BtcTurk, which affected ten of its hot wallets.
• Cathie Wood, CEO of Ark Invest, stated she plans to vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming U.S. presidential election, citing economic reasons.
• A majority of Japanese institutional investorsintend to invest in cryptocurrencies over the next three years, according to a Nomura survey.

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Stay Connected:

We’d love to hear from you! Reply with your thoughts or questions.

This article is published on BitPinas: Solana Briefly Surges on ETF Filing News | CryptoPH Events Coverage | Weekly Recap

Solana (SOL) is currently riding a wave of its own, rallying significantly in the last 24 hours to a 22-month high. Interestingly, there is reason to believe that FTX’s former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), might have contributed to this bullish momentum. 

Solana Rises To As High As $136

Data from CoinMarketCap shows that SOL rose to as high as $136 and almost hit $137 in its latest move to the upside. This rally from the crypto token comes following a New York Times report that Bankman-Fried was offering investment advice to the prison guards and explicitly asked them to invest in SOL. 

SBF is known to have a long history with the crypto token, so it isn’t surprising that the FTX founder is shilling SOL to them. The convicted crypto founder has been vocal about SOL even when it was trading under $3 back in 2021. Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research also happened to be one of the principal backers of Solana. 

The defunct crypto exchange FTX also has SOL as one of its largest crypto holdings. Therefore, Bankman-Fried contributing to Solana’s price surge from prison doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Moreover, some will argue that it’s the least the former executive could do, considering that his company’s collapse significantly contributed to SOL dropping below $10 back in 2022. 

Solana’s Comeback Story 

Solana’s comeback story has been nothing short of impressive. The SOL ecosystem had to rebuild somewhat following Alameda Research and FTX’s collapse. Back then, SOL tumbled to below $10 following revelations regarding both companies and their eventual filing for bankruptcy in 2022.

SOL made a comeback last year, seeing over a 1000% gain in 2023. However, these gains didn’t come easy, as the ecosystem had to detach itself from links with Bankman-Fried and his companies. For context, SOL only saw over 100% year-to-date from January 2023 until October 2023. 

It wasn’t until after the Bankman-Fried trial that SOL made its real intentions known, rising above the $100 mark in the process. Interestingly, there is reason to believe that this run from the crypto token is just the tip of the iceberg, as there are more exponential gains ahead. Crypto analyst Hansolar recently predicted that the crypto token could rise to as high as $600 in this bull market cycle. 

Crypto YouTuber gave a more bullish price prediction, stating that SOL would rise to as high as $750 by 2025. Whatever the case may be, SOL is all but set to hit and surpass its all-time high (ATH) of $260. 

At the time of writing, SOL is trading at around $134, up almost 8% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. 

SOL price at $135 | Souce: SOLUSD on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Medium, chart from Tradingview.com

Popular memecoin BONK (BONK) saw its price surge over 8% in the last 24 hours according to the latest data from CoinMarketCap. The dog-themed cryptocurrency, which runs on the Solana blockchain, was trading hands at $0.000016 at press time with $523 million worth of BONK changing hands over the previous day.

The price pump comes as crypto analyst Ygcrypto points out that BONK appears to be testing a key resistance level. “A test of the resistance zone is on the horizon, so be ready to take profits if needed,” the analyst stated on X, identifying support at $0.0000133-$0.0000136 and resistance at $0.0000165-$0.0000177. However, they added that a further pump may be incoming for the memecoin.

Market Capitalization Milestone

The surge comes after SolanaFloor announced on X that BONK had reclaimed its $1 billion market capitalization. The achievement highlights the memecoin’s resilience even amidst the ongoing crypto winter that has battered cryptocurrency prices.

Significantly, BONK brands itself as the first dog-themed coin native to Solana. Moreover, 50% of the total supply was airdropped to Solana community members, which has likely contributed to its grassroots-style growth.

Additionally, the coin’s community-focused approach could make it more impervious to external market forces. Hence, the recent recovery may indicate substantial support amongst BONK enthusiasts who remain bullish on the project’s long-term prospects. Consequently, the meme coin’s setup positions it well to potentially challenge the next resistance zone identified by Ygcrypto should positive momentum continue.

You may also be interested in:

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