Crypto wrap: Bitcoin dips to $115k, Ethena leads altcoins as ETH, XRP hold gains

Bitcoin topped crypto headlines on Friday as a major whale dump sent prices plummeting to below $115,000, while upbeat sentiment helped Ethena lead altcoins with a 20% surge.

Meanwhile, major altcoins like Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and Binance Coin (BNB) maintained hold of key levels.

This saw the cryptocurrency ecosystem remain a nearly $4 trillion market, with the global market capitalization at $3.8 trillion at the time of writing. Meanwhile, increased activity saw daily volume jump 3% to over $228 billion. 

In the news, SharpLink Gaming tapped former BlackRock executive Joseph Chalom as new co-CEO and a US judge said Logan Paul cannot shift blame to co-founders in the CryptoZoo lawsuit.

Bitcoin dumps amid whale sell-off

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, fell 2.9% to $115,150, slipping below key support levels at $116,000.

The decline was driven by significant whale activity, with Galaxy Digital offloading 30k BTC to trigger massive liquidations across the market.

This came despite improved macro sentiment from the U.S.-Japan and US-EU trade talks, Bitcoin faced resistance near $120,000.

Stocks rose, but BTC saw a liquidity buildup between $113k and $115k, which offered traders a short-term support.

Bears grazed the upper boundary. After teetering to intraday lows, Bitcoin price is back above $116k.

Ethena bounces 20% to lead top altcoin gainers

While many altcoins struggled, Ethena emerged as a standout performer among leading coins by market cap.

ENA rallied more than 20% to highs of $0.58. Gains saw ENA lead Sky, Bitcoin Cash and Conflux among other top performers.

Ethena Labs, issuer of USDe and USDtb announced on Thursday that it was teaming up with Anchorage Digital to bring USDtb to the United States as a GENIUS-compliant stablecoin.

Is the four-year crypto cycle dead?

According to Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan, the industry’s take of the four-year market cycle is gone.

A weaker impact from Bitcoin’s halving, robust demand and growth for ETFs amid institutional adoption, and regulatory shifts are a few pointers to the cycle being dead.

ETH, XRP, and BNB hold key levels

Leading altcoins Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), and BNB (BNB) demonstrated resilience, holding steady above key support levels.

Ethereum traded at $3,603, buoyed by bulls defending the $3,500 support zone.

Meanwhile, Ripple’s XRP defended the $3.00 level and Binance Coin maintained its bullish trend near $775. Solana traded around $181 and Dogecoin at $0.22.

Top altcoin losers today

While some altcoins thrived, others faced significant declines. 

Pump.fun’s PUMP tanked more than 17% and Raydium, Fartcoin and SPX6900 all pared gains after recent outperformance.

Ondo, Pepe and Floki were also top losers in the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap.