Sui meme coins, not typically seen at the forefront of the sector, are surging in volume recently. Their market cap is far smaller than Solana meme coins, but it’s also growing fast.
LOFI, a meme coin deployed on the blockchain, surged by over 186% in a week. If fresh DEX trading volumes start flowing into these assets, Sui could be the next emerging ecosystem for meme coins.
Its design focuses on scalability, using parallel transaction processing and an object-centric transaction model to achieve this aim. Sui’s ecosystem is much less mature than Solana’s, but this could present opportunities for meme coins.
Sui’s developers are constantly working on upgrades to encourage new projects, some of which are explicitly geared towards meme coins. Solana’s 6.3 billion meme coin market cap grew by 2.4% in the previous 24 hours, while Sui’s increased by 4.6%.
LOFI grew 184.5% in the last week, highlighting its dedicated community.
Don’t call it a $LOFI comeback. I never lost conviction. The first run was just shy of $300M.
The $SUI ecosystem is growing like crazy. Remember, the Phantom integration will be huge for SUI projects.
LOFI’s impressive rise stands out, but several other projects on the layer-1 network have also attracted speculative interest. Meme coins thrive on community hype, and the blockchain’s DEX volumes are soaring.
If this high performance and committed enthusiasm connect with fresh investors, it could present an explosive opportunity.
For now, Sui’s meme coin ecosystem has a ways to go, with a total market cap of $123 million. However, this sector moves fast, and the Sui ecosystem could be poised to make some major growth soon, if meme coin enthusiasts continue to trade.
STX is today’s top performer, soaring nearly 20% in the past 24 hours. Alongside the price surge, the token’s trading volume has also spiked, signaling strong interest from investors.
However, despite the rally, on-chain data reveals a high demand for short positions among traders, suggesting doubts around the longevity of STX’s current uptrend.
Stacks (STX) Jumps 20%, But Bearish Traders Dominate
According to Coinglass, STX’s long/short ratio is currently at 0.97, signaling a preference for short positions among its futures market participants.
The long/short ratio measures the proportion of bullish (long) positions to bearish (short) positions in the market. When the ratio is above one, there are more long positions than short ones. This suggests bullish sentiment, with most traders expecting the asset’s value to rise.
Converesly, as with STX, a ratio below one indicates that more traders are betting on a price decline than on an increase. This suggests that many token holders are unimpressed by STX’s double-digit gains over the past day and anticipate a bearish reversal soon.
Moreover, STX’s overbought Relative Strength Index (RSI) supports this bearish outlook. At press time, this momentum indicator is at 74.35 and on an upward trend.
The RSI indicator measures an asset’s overbought and oversold market conditions. It ranges between 0 and 100, with values above 70 suggesting that the asset is overbought and due for a price decline. Converesly, values under 30 indicate that the asset is oversold and may witness a rebound.
Therefore, STX’s RSI reading confirms that altcoin might be overbought and could witness a price decline in the near term.
Can STX Defy Overbought Signals?
Once buyer exhaustion sets in, STX could shed some of its recent gains. In this scenario, the altcoin’s value could plunge to its year-to-date low of $0.47.
However, an RSI reading above 70 does not always signal an immediate reversal. Strong bullish momentum can sometimes sustain the rally, pushing prices even higher despite overbought conditions.
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A recent Cambridge report confirms that the United States now leads global Bitcoin mining, prompting questions about how China will respond. Though the country has long held an anti-crypto stance, Chinese mining pools have historically controlled a substantial portion of the global Bitcoin hashrate.
The US’s current competitive edge and renewed hostility over trade policy might motivate China to recapitulate. BeInCrypto spoke with representatives from The Coin Bureau and Wanchain to understand what might encourage China to change its stance toward digital assets.
US Overtakes China as Top Bitcoin Mining Hub
The US has firmly established itself as the world’s largest Bitcoin mining hub. A recent Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) report revealed that the US accounts for 75.4% of the reported hashrate.
Global distribution of Bitcoin mining activity. Source: CCAF.
This newest development confirms a notable reversal of power over Bitcoin mining dominance. China emerged as the world’s leading Bitcoin mining nation as early as 2017, leveraging its extensive mining infrastructure and low electricity costs to contribute upwards of 75% of the global hash rate at one point.
Yet, the country would later crack down on the industry.
China’s Crypto Crackdown
In 2019, the National Development and Reform Commission of China (NDRC) signaled its intention to prohibit cryptocurrency mining by releasing a draft law categorizing it as an “undesirable industry.”
Two years later, at least four Chinese provinces began shutting down mining operations. These crackdowns intensified amid concerns over excessive energy consumption.
However, China possesses a proven capacity to adjust to geopolitical shifts that could jeopardize its economic dominance, and the current environment may present such a challenge.
Has Bitcoin Mining in China Truly Stopped?
Even with China’s official stance toward crypto, mining activity has not stopped within the region. In July 2024, Bitcoin environmental impact analyst Daniel Batten reported that the hashrate within China currently accounts for approximately 15% of the global total.
7/8
Bottom lines: 1. 15%+ hashrate still comes from China
2. If you have 200-500 miners and want to do renewable-energy mining, you’re welcome
3. This is particularly in Inner Mongolia, the Texas of China, which has a lot of wasted renewable power they want to monetize pic.twitter.com/r6QUgmLmjT
“Despite the official ban, the infrastructure is already in place: from offshore mining to cross-border trading hubs. With more global momentum behind crypto adoption and the US taking the lead, China may find itself incentivized to lean in more strategically, even if unofficially,” Nic Puckrin, Co-founder of the Coin Bureau, told BeInCrypto.
China also has a geographical advantage over the United States, especially regarding technological advancements.
Crypto mining, especially for proof-of-work cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, depends on Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) equipment to handle the necessary complex calculations for validation and mining.
China’s position as a top exporter of crypto mining hardware, particularly to the US, gives it a potential advantage should it decide to revive its mining sector.
Puckrin believes that the combination of trade friction and the US’s invigorated push for crypto dominance might be sufficient to make China reconsider its position.
“It’s unlikely China will make a public U-turn on its crypto mining and trading ban anytime soon. However, with US-based miners accounting for higher and higher proportions of Bitcoin’s hashrate, China is bound to be paying attention and may well be quietly reassessing its stance,” Puckrin told BeInCrypto.
However, China has strategies beyond restarting its Bitcoin mining industry to undermine the United States’ dominance.
China’s Nuanced Approach Beyond US Influence
Even though China opposes the widespread use of cryptocurrencies domestically, it may still see value in digital assets to counterbalance the US dollar’s global currency dominance.
Several countries worldwide have either adopted or are considering central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to strengthen their domestic currencies. China is at the forefront of these developments.
“Despite the ban on Bitcoin mining, China has actively participated in the digital asset space, through initiatives like CDBC research and the digital yuan, or e-CNY,” Wanchain CEO Temujin Louie told BeInCrypto.
In fact, China’s efforts to create a digital yuan are partly driven by its desire to de-dollarize its economy and lessen its dependence on the US dollar.
Louie also suggested that whatever move China makes, it won’t solely base its decision on what the US does or does not do.
That said, China’s decisions about digital currency will, in turn, affect how its position on crypto continues to develop.
“Weakening USD dominance, whether exacerbated or caused by President Trump’s approach to tariffs, may embolden China to be more aggressive in [its] efforts to internationalise the yuan, including the digital yuan, or e-CNY. Any change to China’s broader strategy will be reflected in [its] stance towards crypto,” he concluded.
China’s activity in other areas of international trade already proves how nuanced its policy changes tend to be.
Could China’s Conflicting Crypto Policies Signal a Change?
Aside from its appreciation of digital currencies like the e-CNY, China’s stance on crypto has already proven somewhat contradictory. These discrepancies may fuel the belief that the country might just be willing to revert—or at least soften—its total ban on mining.
A month ago, investment firm VanEck confirmed that China and Russia –two countries particularly burdened by US sanctions– are reportedly settling some of their energy trades using Bitcoin.
Russia and China are settling oil trades in BTC. I’ve heard first hand accounts of similar transactions with Venezuela. Full tankers are settled in BTC on the “grey” market. The U.S. Government crossed the Rubicon in 2022 by seizing Russian assets at the Federal Reserve and… pic.twitter.com/Y8OwJROw9W
“With the US dollar increasingly being used as a political lever –particularly in tariffed economies– other nations are actively exploring alternatives. Indeed, many countries around the world, including China and Russia, are already using Bitcoin as an alternative for trading in commodities and energy, for example. This trend is only going to accelerate as digital assets become a more prominent part of the global economy,” Puckrin told BeInCrypto.
According to Puckrin’s analysis of these indicators, China’s “shadow crypto economy” is projected to expand this year, which could result in a reassertion of its power. This resurgence would be primarily in response to de-dollarization efforts, rather than a reaction to US dominance in mining.
“We’ll likely see this activity ramping up in the near future, especially as more countries use crypto to bypass dollar-dominated systems,” he concluded.
It will remain crucial to interpret China’s intentions, especially regarding cryptocurrency, by observing its actions rather than relying solely on its official statements.