• Bitcoin remains stable despite the SEC crackdown on the cryptocurrency market.
• Bitcoin’s market share has reached close to 50%, its highest since April 2021, while altcoins experience a decline in prices.
• The SEC’s actions against major exchanges and allegations of unregistered securities create uncertainty for altcoins, leading to challenges and potential delistings

Despite a renewed crackdown by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, has maintained relative stability. It continues to hold support above R466K and remains positioned above the critical 200-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) on the daily timeframe chart. This stability has led to Bitcoin’s market share approaching 50%, reaching a new high since April 2021, amidst plummeting altcoin prices.

Bitcoin’s Stability and Market Share

Historical data reveals that during bear markets in 2018 and 2022, Bitcoin’s market share rose above 50% and even reached 69% for an extended period. Currently, the market share of Bitcoin is close to 50%, mainly due to the recent decline in altcoins and Bitcoin’s relative stability. This is seen as a positive sign for Bitcoin’s resilience in the market.

Challenges for Bitcoin’s Stability

While Bitcoin’s stability is commendable in the volatile cryptocurrency market, there are potential risks if the current support at R466K ($25K) weakens. Sustaining the support bolstered by the 200-day EMA is crucial for avoiding a potential dip to R448K ($24K), which may trigger a search for new liquidity. Bulls face an uphill battle to maintain Bitcoin’s stability and prevent a significant price drop.

SEC Crackdown and Altcoin Uncertainty

The SEC has intensified its regulatory actions, targeting major cryptocurrency exchanges like Binance and Coinbase through separate lawsuits. These legal actions, believed by crypto experts to be politically motivated, are expected to take years to resolve. The SEC’s claims, including allegations of unregistered securities and commingling customer funds, have created uncertainty in the market.

Notably, the SEC alleges that tokens such as Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC), and Algorand (ALGO) are unregistered securities. This has led to struggles for these tokens and others listed by the SEC, including Cardano (ADA) and Filecoin (FIL), while Bitcoin maintains stability.

Impact on Altcoins

The situation worsened for altcoins when popular trading app Robinhood announced that investors could no longer buy or sell ADA, MATIC, and SOL on their platform. Consequently, ADA has experienced a 27% decrease in the past seven days, MATIC is down 29%, and SOL has seen a decline of 3.7%, according to CoinGecko’s price data.

The altcoin community has expressed mixed opinions on the SEC’s actions, with some suggesting the idea of forking Solana to address SEC-related issues. However, the actual implementation of a fork remains uncertain and subject to community support.

Conclusion

As Bitcoin maintains stability amid the SEC crackdown, altcoins face uncertainty and price volatility. The outcome of the regulatory actions against major exchanges and the classification of tokens as unregistered securities will significantly impact the altcoin market. In South Africa and globally, investors and traders are closely monitoring these developments to navigate the evolving cryptocurrency landscape.