Crypto week at glance: How the market moved

At the start of this week, most cryptocurrencies were experiencing losses due to a correction phase that had occurred the previous week. This dip could be attributed to a combination of factors, including unusually large sell orders on Binance and higher-than-expected inflation data from the U.K. As a result, investors and traders were moving away from riskier assets, causing the market to react as expected.

During this period, Bitcoin’s value dropped below the $28,000 level. However, on Wednesday, the cryptocurrency saw an increase above this level, which may be because of concerns over banking stability following the announcement of a $100 billion deposit loss by First Republic Bank during its Q1 earnings presentation. Additionally, investors responded positively to the upbeat Q1 earnings reports of Alphabet and Microsoft.

As of Friday, BTC was seen changing hands at the $29,400 level, with support at the $29,250 level and resistance at the $29,800 level. Investors and traders may also be anticipating the upcoming FOMC meeting on interest rate decisions, which is scheduled for next week.

Meanwhile, Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency, is currently trading at the $1,900 level. ETH is consolidating and facing resistance near the $1,925 level, and a close above this level may initiate a fresh rally.

In an interesting turn of events, the European Parliament has finally passed MiCA (Markets in Crypto Assets) legislation after being in the works for over two-and-a-half years. It is one of its kind milestones in the development of the crypto industry. The new legal framework created by MiCA would also increase investor confidence in the crypto industry by promoting transparency, reducing fraud, and preventing money laundering. It would also lead to greater adoption of cryptocurrencies by businesses and individuals.

Since March, First Republic Bank has encountered difficulties after being bailed out by JP Morgan, BOA, and other institutions with $30B due to SVB's collapse. In its latest earnings report on Monday, the bank revealed that it would have to lay off over 20% of its workforce. To avoid bankruptcy, the bank is anticipated to enter government receivership. This resulted in a sharp decline of its stock price, which plummeted by almost 50% on Tuesday and another 30% on Wednesday.

Solana Labs is taking an intriguing step into the realm of artificial intelligence by introducing a ChatGPT plugin. Through the upcoming plugin, users will be able to explore the Solana blockchain using OpenAI's conversational chatbot technology. Solana Labs envisions that this innovation will simplify users' interaction with the Solana blockchain.

Coming to the price action, among the top 100 cryptos by market cap, here are the best and worst-performing cryptos over the past week. (The prices are updated as per the pricing of Friday)

Top 5 crypto gainers during the week:
1. Render Token is up by 36%
2. Cronos is up by 18%
3. Injective is up by 14%
4. MultiversX is up by 13%
5. WOO Network is up by 9%

Top 5 crypto losers this week:
1. PancakeSwap is down by 21%
2. Zilliqa is down by 10%
3. Optimism is down by 10%
4. OKB is down by 10%
5. Synthetix is down by 8%

(Patel is Co-founder of Mudrex, a global crypto investing platform)