Bitcoin Shines, Dogecoin Sparkles, Dogwifhat Skyrockets: The Week In Retrospect

Bitcoin BTC/USD led the way in a big week for cryptocurrencies, which saw the highest-ever monthly gain for the king of crypto.

What Happened: The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies stands at $2.33 trillion, over 17% up from last Sunday's $1.98 trillion per CoinMarketCap data.

Bitcoin's weekly gain tallied to 19.5% while Ethereum ETH/USD rose by 12.4%. 

Memecoins were the strongest vertical, with an astonishing 94% increase in market capitalization per CoinGecko data.

As covered in the Benzinga memecoin mashup, Dogwifhat WIF/USD was the standout performer, with a 400% weekly surge. Established memecoins like Dogecoin DOGE/USD and Shiba Inu SHIB/USD also gained significantly, up 57% and 122%, respectively. 

Fundamental developments were dominated by the record inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF IBIT dominated flows, recording its two biggest trading volume days thus far, which brought its bitcoin holdings to over $7 billion.

Price predictions for Bitcoin continue to target significant six-figure valuations. Edward Snowden predicted that a national government will disclose having purchased Bitcoin by the end of the year. Republican senators introduced a bill that is to ban the introduction of CBDCs.

Elsewhere, Dogecoin recorded its first-ever use as a means of transaction for a property sale.

Top Gainers (24 Hours)

Bitcoin dominance stands at 49.9%, down from last week's 51.2%. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index is firmly in the "Extreme Greed" zone at 86.

Read Also: RFK Jr. Blames Big Banks For Turning Congressmembers Against Bitcoin: 'We Need To Make Sure That People ... Have Transactional Freedom'

What Happened In Traditional Finance: The Nasdaq 100 gained 2.04% on the week to trade at $18.302. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 0.11%, closing at 39,087.39. The S&P 500 is up 0.95% at $5,137.07. 

In further news, Apple Inc AAPL sank on news that Goldman Sachs removed Apple from its Conviction List of top stocks. 

Ross Gerber, the president and CEO of Gerber Kawasaki Wealth and Investment Management and a Tesla Inc bull and investor, is optimistic about the future of electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian Automotive Inc RIVN. 

Meanwhile, Bill Ackman, the founder of Pershing Square Capital Management, is optimistic about Alphabet Inc. GOOG, the parent company of Google.

What's Next: Crypto traders and analysts continue to be bullish on Bitcoin, predicting a cycle top only towards the latter end of 2025:

CryptoSlate Lead Analyst James van Straten sees Bitcoin at "a third of the FOMO" it recorded in 2021. He concluded there is no reason why Bitcoin cannot go to $100,000 if ETF inflows remain strong and there is "a similar retail FOMO."

With memecoins recording exponential gains, it remains to be seen if this marks a local top or if the remarkable crypto surge leads Dogecoin and others higher.

Read Next: Pepe Coin Will Outperform Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Floki, Expert Says: They Will 'Bleed Against Pepe'

Image created with artificial intelligence using Midjourney.