Cryptocurrency prices were a bit sluggish on Oct. 20, while a newcomer had a tough debut.
Bitcoin at last check was barely moved the needle to $19,044.37, according to data firm CoinGecko. Ether, the native currency of the ethereum blockchain, was flat at $1,284.83, while dogecoin was up nearly 1% to $0.059928.
‘Sitting on the Sidelines’
“Bitcoin’s price continues to remain near flat, as investors are clearly waiting to see whether the current wedge will result in a breakout or further leg down,” said James Edwards, crypto editor with Finder.
“Until then most traders are likely to sit on the sidelines with cash waiting for the market to show a clear sign of where it will go next.”
He added, however that “bitcoin’s stability against the ever strengthening U.S. dollar should be seen as an achievement, and perhaps in some ways a gain.”
“While many major foreign currencies have fallen against the greenback over the past few weeks, bitcoin’s resilience is an interesting sign of sustained market confidence by holder,” he said. “It’s important to remember that bitcoin is also a buy and hold asset, so volatility – or lack of it – isn’t always the most interesting factor at play.”
Meanwhile, Edwards said, Aptos, the new layer-1 blockchain made by a team of former Meta developers who worked on the Facebook Diem project, had a rocky launch, “despite substantial hype.”
Aptos had opened at around $12. It recently was up 2.2% at $7.22.
“The main reason for the rocky launch revolved around two things: The team had not publicly disclosed the tokenomics model, and the network was considerably slower than promised,” Edwards said,
Dispelling FUD
Aptos developer Mo Shaikh had to take to Twitter to release the tokenomics schedule and try and dispel FUD — fear, uncertainty and doubt.
“Given the importance of tokenomics to investors and the time there was to prepare for the launch, this is extremely poor on behalf of Aptos, and Crypto Twitter did not let them off lightly,” Edwards…
