According to Bloomberg, the crypto market is experiencing a resurgence of excesses and fear of missing out as expectations of an imminent approval of a spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) push the oldest and biggest cryptocurrency ever higher. This latest rise of digital junk follows a nearly two-year long crypto winter that saw the value of thousands of dubious projects slide, some to nearly zero. Aggressive actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission marked some crypto coins as illegal and chased some promoters away from crypto. However, it appears that the cleansing was only temporary.
As prices rise, investors on the sidelines think they need to get in, leading to a surge in meme coins and other speculative investments. Social media is once again full of posts hyping meme coins, such as Memecoin, which was created earlier this year and has shot up in value this month. Static images of rocks tied to the Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchains are also selling for eye-popping prices again. Sara Gherghelas, an analyst at researcher DappRadar, notes that the current climate might be described as a mini bull market, infusing the NFT space with a fresh wave of enthusiasm and speculative investment.
Amid the frenetic rush into the latest hot token, some buyers end up being rug-pulled, or duped by scams in which the coin's creators disappear along with liquidity. In the third quarter, rug pulls accounted for a significant portion of losses in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. Despite these risks, optimists are seeing thaws in the crypto winter and even green shoots, signaling a potential comeback for the market.