Ethereum Challenger Mirrors PEPEs’ Historic High, Altcoin Forecast Updated

• Despite the ongoing pump in Bitcoin dominance, the altcoin industry is expected to register short-term relief after a two-month correction.
• The notable institutional demand in digital assets tokenization has helped layer one (L1) projects gain notable bullish traction.

The total cryptocurrency market cap pumped nearly 6 percent in the past 24-hours to about $2.51 trillion on Thursday, May 16, 2024. The notable uptrend spike in Bitcoin (BTC), some altcoins, and meme coins has rejuvenated bullish sentiments. 

Moreover, Bitcoin price has been leading the altcoin industry in following the footsteps of major stock indexes, such as the S&P 500 index that pumped to a new all-time high (ATH). Thed anticipated interest rate cuts in the United States later this year have triggered heightened demand for digital assets. 

As Crypto News Flash previously pointed out, the chances of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approving the spot Ether ETFs has dramatically reduced in the recent past. Furthermore, the US SEC has been arguing that most of the altcoins led by Ethereum, and XRP are unregistered securities.

Ethereum Rival, NEAR Protocol Aims for ATH

According to a popular crypto analyst alias CrediBULL Crypto on X platform, NEAR Protocol (NEAR), a fast-growing layer one blockchain competing for the same market as Ethereum, is on the cusp of major bullish uproar similar to frog-themed Pepe (PEPE). Notably, PEPE price recently pumped to a new all-time high (ATH) fueled by the re-awakening of meme stocks led by GameStop (GME).

Yes, actually. Was in the process of tweeting exactly this about $NEAR but got distracted with some comments 😂

Looks identical to $PEPE and with my expectation of some relief across the board here I think dips are for buying, targeting the highs.

I’m long as of last night. https://t.co/Mbap1bNWpd pic.twitter.com/LSVn47A1hS

— CrediBULL Crypto (@CredibleCrypto) May 13, 2024

Remarkably, the mid-cap altcoin, with a fully diluted valuation of about $9.6 billion and a daily average traded volume of nearly $1 billion, rallied more than 15 percent in the past 24 hours to trade around $8.16 on Thursday.

The altcoin is aiming for a new all-time high in the coming weeks after finalizing its short-term correction. Furthermore, NEAR price on the weekly time frame has its Relative Strength Index (RSI) above the 70 level, a popular indicator of a rising market.

Nonetheless, the altcoin market will continue to closely follow in the footsteps of Bitcoin and Ethereum in the coming months amid the mainstream adoption of digital assets by institutional investors.

Why Bet on NEAR 

The NEAR Protocol has established itself as a top web3 ecosystem backed by reputable investors such as Coinbase Ventures, Pantera Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), among others. The Near ecosystem has grown to more than $358 million in Total Value Locked (TVL) and nearly half a billion in the stablecoins market cap. 

Some of the top performing DeFi platforms on the NEAR ecosystem include LiNEAR liquid staking protocol, Meta Pool Near, Ref Finance DEX, and Octopus network, among many others. As a multi-chain enabled platform, the NEAR Protocol has attracted significant web3 developers from other chains seeking to scale securely.

The crypto asset industry has registered notable gains amid the ongoing tokenization of real-world assets (RWA) on various blockchains. More institutional investors and retail traders are tapping on NEAR Protocol due to its reliability, and affordability.