Bitcoin has been on a rollercoaster ride lately. It finally broke through the $100K mark in early December and peaked at $108K on December 17th. But it's been a bit of a down hill for the $BTC price since then, starting this week at about $98K.
And now, a recent announcement by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) has seen Bitcoin take a steep fall, down to $93K.
The green light was given to the DOJ to sell 69,370 $BTC (about $6.5M) seized from a darknet marketplace.
Reportedly, concerns about the volatility of Bitcoin have been cited by the DOJ as the main reason for pushing for the quick sale, which was approved by a federal judge on December 30.
The Bitcoin was seized from The Silk Roada marketplace for illegal goods and services, including drug trafficking, computer hacking, and money laundering. Its founder, Ross William Ulbricht, was arrested in 2013 and is currently serving a life sentence.
At least, President-elect Donald Trump – as one of his campaign promises – said he would travel sentence Ulbricht if selected.
Trump's inauguration on January 20 was widely expected to strengthen the $BTC price due to his pro-crypto stance, including the establishment of a strategic reserve for digital assets.
The DOJ news, however, has had a sharp impact on the market on the price of $BTC.
Economist Peter Schiff much to say about this recent trend. He sees the DOJ's decision as confirmation of his warnings that Trump would not buy Bitcoin despite promising not to sell it.
With Bitcoin Under The Cosh, Is Altcoin Season A-go?
With volatility being the name of the Bitcoin game, it remains to be seen how it will perform in the coming months, making altcoins more attractive. Here are our top picks for the 5 best cryptos to buy At the moment.
1. Wall Street Pepe ($ WEPE) – Record setting presale
This meme coin is in the pre-sale phase, but Pepe Wall Street seeing incredible interest from investors. In a month since its presale, it has raised a whopping $44.6M. $ WEPE is easily one of the cryptos with the biggest growth.
Retail investors are jumping to join the $WEPE frog army, where they can get trading advice and insight from Wall Street Pepe himself.
Why is he doing that?
This Wolf of Wall Street in the form of Pepe the frog aims to bring down whales who manipulate the market while hiding in insider trading groups. So he trains his army of frogs to trade as pros and become whales in their own right.
The $ WEPE presale was originally scheduled to close at the end of February. But at the point where signs are being plucked, it could be faster.
2. Solaxy ($SOLX) – Series 2 for Solana in the Making
Lights bothering him. This is the world's first Layer-2 ecosystem for Solana, and it promises big things. Also in presale, the Lights the stage will build on Solana's good points. But as many investors know, Solana has serious problems with traffic congestion and failed transactions.
That's where Solaxy is going to be a game changer – eliminating these issues through you unmatched speed, scalability, and reliability. There is a The total supply of a 138B-strong console, and 30% is allocated to the development of the Layer-2 ecosystem.
With $9.4M already raised, all eyes are on Solaxy. And we look forward to seeing the great improvements it will bring to the party once it is ready.
3. Pudgy Penguins ($PENGU) – An Old Faithful that taps into market trends
After initially launching on the Ethereum blockchain in 2021, Pudgy Penguins launched on Solana last December.
He did that to expand the $PENGU community and reach new users. And so far, it has been a recipe for success.
The Pudgy Penguins NFT collection (the name alone says it all) consists of 8,888 cartoon characters. And although the penguins themselves – representing love, happiness, compassion, sympathy, and other emotions are all very cute, this altcoin means big business.
$PENGU's market cap is currently at (ahem) $2,058B, ranking it at #67 on CoinGecko. And looking at its performance over the past month, the $PENGU price has remained relatively stable – 1 $PENGU costs $0.03282 – despite a market that has been anything else.
4. Best Wallet Token – Interesting benefits for owners
You may have heard about it The best Wallet app. You may even be using it already. This mobile-first, 100% maintenance-free app has a lot going for it. And now Best Wallet plans to introduce additional benefits, powered by originality The best wallet token ($BEST).
These benefits for $BEST holders include early access to new and pre-sale projects, lower transaction fees, higher pledge rewards, and the power of community management. And with nearly $6.8M already raised in the pre-sale, there are no signs of slowing down.
You can read $BEST Letterhead for more information about the ecosystem, token, and future plans.
5. Pepe Unchained ($PEPU) – a solid start for this Layer-2 Meme Ecosystem
Pepe Unchained, like Wall Street Pepe, is another member of the Pepe the Frog clan, and his incredible pre-sales.
By the time $PEPU hit the $30M mark, the community was hailing Pepe Unchained as the 'best pre-sale brand ever.'
By the end of the sale, Pepe Unchained had raised $74 million, and went on to list on DEXs and CEXs in December.
Pepe Unchained is a Layer-2 blockchain for meme coins that is now fully operational, and the launch of its Pump Pad is imminent.
To be fair, the past week hasn't been too kind to $PEPU. It has seen a steady decline in line with the general market (thanks in part to the Bitcoin bombshell of the DOJ). But its previous performance was quite good, and we expect it to rally in the not-too-distant future.
In Conclusion
For investors who are staying away from Bitcoin after the DOJ's upcoming sale of $69,370 BTC, take heart. It's not all doom and gloom.
Who knows – maybe the Trumpster will help rally Bitcoin once he's settled into the Oval Office.
In the meantime, there are other options, including the five best crypto to buy that we covered in this article, and it's worth considering.
Don't just take our word for it, though. After all, we are not financial advisors. Make sure you DYOR before making any investment decision.
