5 Major Altcoins That Outperformed Bitcoin This Week

Bitcoin BTC/USD has staged a nice recovery in recent sessions, as risk appetite returned to the market. The recovery has been in fits-and-starts, and the apex currency has not built up enough momentum to stage a sustained recovery.

How Bitcoin Fared In The Past Week: Bitcoin had a mini run-up this week before pulling back. After ending last Saturday at $44,500.83, the apex crypto quickly moved up to its year-to-date peak of $48,086.84 on Monday. Subsequently, the crypto went about a consolidation move in the range of $44,403.14-$48,022.29.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $46,361.85, a gain of 4.2% for the week.

Some of the major altcoins, meanwhile, fared relatively better. Here are a few top cryptos that outperformed Bitcoin in the recent week:

Ether ETH/USD, the token of the Ethereum blockchain and the second most valued crypto, added 11% for the week. The strong upside was due to investors building positions ahead of the imminent Ethereum merge, which refers to the merging of Ethereum's Mainnet and the beacon chain proof-of-stake system. This will mark a shift from proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake mechanism.

Solana SOL/USD has soared 35.6% for the week. Earlier on Saturday, the crypto crossed the $140 threshold for the first time since late January. SOL is the native token of the Solana blockchain platform, supporting builders creating crypto apps. Non-fungible marketplace OpenSea suggested in a short teaser video this week that it could begin including Solana NFTs.

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Luna LUNA/USD, deployed by Terra, a public blockchain protocol, has gained close to 25% for the week. On Wednesday, the crypto rallied to an all-time high of $111.01. The rally was attributed to the Luna Foundation Guard's decision to rev up its Bitcoin reserves to mitigate the negativity engendered by geopolitical and macroeconomic risks.

Avalanche AVAX/USD has gained about 16% for the past week. AVAX is the native token of Avalanche, a decentralized, open-source proof-of-stake blockchain with smart contract functionality. The recent buoyancy can be traced back to the Avalanche Foundation's incentive program announced in early March to accelerate adoption of subnets, according to Cointelegraph. The foundation plans to allocated four million AVAX, valued at about $340 million, to fund decentralized applications focused on gaming, NFTs and financial applications.

Near Protocol: Near Protocol NEAR/USD has gained about 20% in the past week. It is the native coin of Near Protocol, a scalable blockchain designed to provide the performance and user experience necessary to bridge the gap to mainstream adoption of decentralized applications.

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