Key takeaways:
- Decentralize exchange tokens have been among the biggest gainers following Beijing’s crackdown on crypto businesses
- UNI and DYDX are up the most, other DEX tokens are also showing strong market performance
- Ethereum manages to rise above the $3,000 level, thanks to a 9-hour long 15% rally
The cryptocurrency market has been thoroughly shaken up by Friday’s news of China banning crypto services like trading and new token issuance. In the 48 hours following the regulatory crackdown, the total market cap had dropped by $150 billion, pushing the value of Bitcoin to $41,000 and Ethereum to $2,750. Since then, bullish momentum has allowed most tokens to recover some of their lost value. Over the course of the last 24 hours, 81 out of the top 100 digital currencies have managed to post positive results.
A 15% upswing lifts the second-largest crypto above $3,100
Ethereum was hit hard by the news of the Chinese central bank (PBoC) issuing a blanket ban on cryptocurrency businesses. The price of the second-largest crypto dropped from $3,120 to $2,770 in the span of three hours, representing an 11% drop. Over the course of the next 2 days, ETH momentarily plunged even lower, to $2,750. Since then, however, ETH rallied by 15% and reached the price point it held just before the China news went viral.
DEX tokens DYDX and UNI have rallied after the China ban
In anticipation of Chinese users flocking to decentralized exchanges now that China has made cryptocurrency trading via an intermediary illegal, the market values of DEXes have increased tremendously. During the trading action that has taken place over the weekend, and continued today, Uniswap, dYdX, and other decentralized exchanges have been among the biggest beneficiaries.
UNI, for instance, experienced a massive 41% upswing, which has lifted the price from $18 to $25.5, before dropping to $24.5 at press time. The bullish surge has helped UNI overtake LUNA as the 12th biggest crypto by market cap.
Another decentralized exchange token that has had enormous success over the weekend and going into today is DYDX. Although DYDX started trading just a little over two weeks ago, the token has already managed to break into the list of the top 100 largest coins by market cap.
Since its launch and a massive $1 billion airdrop on September 8, DYDX has been experiencing a mostly sideways trading action – until China decided to ban crypto businesses, that is. While DYDX was trading at $11.3 in the early hours of September 24, the token has since then managed to gain over 100% and reached an all-time high of $22.7. As of now, DYDX is trading at $20.9, showing a relatively small retracement from its ATH, at the time of this writing.
Conversely, centralized exchange tokens have been hurting. Houbi Global, for instance, has announced the retirement of China-based accounts by the end of the year, while its native Huobi token lost more than 30% since the news of the crypto ban went live. Binance is reportedly also distancing itself from the Chinese market. Talking with CNBC, Binance’s spokesperson said that the new account registrations are now blocked when using Chinese mobile numbers.
