- Merlin chain’s TVL added 20% this week, and crossed $800 million on Thursday.
- Bitcoin Layer 2 assets noted double-digit losses in the past week.
- Stacks, Elastos, SatoshiVM, BVM are hit by a correction as Bitcoin hovers around $61,000.
Merlin Chain, a Bitcoin Layer 2 solution, has amassed $814 million in total value of assets locked (TVL) in under two months, according to DeFiLlama data. The increase came despite Bitcoin’s decline to the $61,000 level, which dragged down the prices of other BTC Layer 2 solutions such as Stacks (STX), Elastos (ELA), SatoshiVM (SVM) and BVM (BVM).
New Bitcoin Layer 2 chain announces airdrop, amasses over $800 million TVL
Bitcoin Layer 2 chain Merlin experienced a 20% increase in its TVL this week despite the broad correction in BTC and its ecosystem tokens. BTC price has declined by around 13% in the weekly timeframe, dragging down its Layer 2 tokens with it.
STX, ELA, SVM and BVM prices declined between 25% and 30% in the past week, according to CoinGecko data. Despite these developments in Bitcoin, Layer 2 solution Merlin chain has amassed $814 million in TVL, with a steady increase throughout this week.
Merlin TVL
The increase in Merlin Chain could be attributed to the fact that its governance token MERL is expected to go live on several crypto exchanges, including OKX, on Friday. Alongside its exchange listing, Merlin announced an airdrop for eligible users on the OKX exchange, announced in an official tweet on X.
$MERL airdrop for @OKX users now live!
— Merlin Chain (@MerlinLayer2) April 18, 2024
40,000 of $MERL will be airdropped to 20,000 eligible OKX users on a First Come, First Serve basis.
https://t.co/nlORMfTN8T
Complete all tasks, including having a @zkPass attestation of a KYC-ed OKX account registered after Jan 1st,… pic.twitter.com/g85lDeUKQw
Traders need to exercise caution when participating in airdrops and when clicking on links associated with airdrop announcements. There have been several scams where participants lose their investment when attempting to claim airdrops, due to phishing scams and fake accounts on X.
$MERL Listings
— Crypto Koryo (@CryptoKoryo) April 18, 2024
Merlin Chain’s governance token $MERL will be listed on OKX, Gate, KuCoin among other CEXs tomorrow 19th.
This post is done in collaboration with Merlin Chain. NFA. Always DYOR. pic.twitter.com/Tg2K6gbNWU
The upcoming Bitcoin mining difficulty adjustment, known as the halving event, is likely the driver of the market correction. BTC holders and traders are likely offloading their risk assets prior to the scheduled halving on April 20.
In the last two weeks of March and the first ten days of April, Bitcoin rallied in response to net positive inflow to the Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) and institutional interest in the asset. The halving and macroeconomic events have likely catalyzed the recent decline in the asset’s price, with Layer 2 assets and ecosystem tokens feeling the ripple effect.
Information on these pages contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Markets and instruments profiled on this page are for informational purposes only and should not in any way come across as a recommendation to buy or sell in these assets. You should do your own thorough research before making any investment decisions. FXStreet does not in any way guarantee that this information is free from mistakes, errors, or material misstatements. It also does not guarantee that this information is of a timely nature. Investing in Open Markets involves a great deal of risk, including the loss of all or a portion of your investment, as well as emotional distress. All risks, losses and costs associated with investing, including total loss of principal, are your responsibility. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of FXStreet nor its advertisers. The author will not be held responsible for information that is found at the end of links posted on this page.
If not otherwise explicitly mentioned in the body of the article, at the time of writing, the author has no position in any stock mentioned in this article and no business relationship with any company mentioned. The author has not received compensation for writing this article, other than from FXStreet.
FXStreet and the author do not provide personalized recommendations. The author makes no representations as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of this information. FXStreet and the author will not be liable for any errors, omissions or any losses, injuries or damages arising from this information and its display or use. Errors and omissions excepted.
The author and FXStreet are not registered investment advisors and nothing in this article is intended to be investment advice.
Recommended Content
Editors’ Picks
Ethereum has lost its “ultra” sound money status, faces key rectangle resistance hurdle
Ethereum is up 0.5% on Thursday following a recent analysis showing that the top altcoin lost its "ultra" sound money narrative. Meanwhile, ETH ETFs recorded net inflows for the first time after nine days of consecutive outflows.
Solana bears dominate market as SunPump has potentially led to less demand for SOL
Solana is down 2.5% on Thursday following bearish signals across its funding rate and total fees captured. SOL's weak performance could also be linked to the declining traction seen in its meme coin generation platform Pump.fun.
AI tokens see narrow gains as Wall Street banks raise price targets on NVDA
AI tokens NEAR, ICP, RENDER and TAO briefly traded in the green on Thursday following Wall Street banks' positivity toward Nvidia's earnings report. While a correction followed, these tokens could rally if NVDA meets expectations.
XRP back above $0.57 even as Ripple traders take $8 million in profits
Ripple (XRP) traders have consistently taken profits on their holdings in the last two weeks, per Santiment data. Once again, traders have grabbed $8.36 million in profit so far on Thursday. Typically, profit-taking negatively influences the asset as it increases the selling pressure.
Bitcoin: Will BTC continue its ongoing decline?
Bitcoin (BTC) trades above $59,000 on Friday, but it has lost 7.5% this week so far after being rejected around the daily resistance of $65,000. The decline is supported by lower demand from the US spot Bitcoin ETFs, which registered a net outflow of $103.8 million, falling Bitcoin's Coinbase Premium Index, and a spike in Network Realized Profit/Loss. However, some investors seem to be taking the chance to buy BTC amid this price dip, as shown by the Exchange Netflow data.
Moneta Markets review 2024: All you need to know
VERIFIED In this review, the FXStreet team provides an independent and thorough analysis based on direct testing and real experiences with Moneta Markets – an excellent broker for novice to intermediate forex traders who want to broaden their knowledge base.