Even ‘Sam Coins’ Have Soared in Crypto’s Swift $250 Billion Jump

The crypto bounce has gained so much speculative strength that even the chips torpedoed last year by their dependence on the discredited Sam Bankman-Fried tycoon have rallied, some of which have more than doubled over the past month.

Ftt, solana, serum, cards and oxygen types jumped in spite of doubts about their viability after the arrest of bankman-fried on fraud charges including. Ftt, the token of its exchange ftx until it imploses, is up 160% in January after having lost almost its full value in 2022, data coingecko shows.

These so-called "sam pieces" have surged into a larger crypto market of $250 billion compared to last year's fiasco. The rise extends from Bitcoin to brands related to AI projects, virtual real estate and gambling.

Rallies symbolize a resumption of risky transactions on world markets on bets as abrupt rises in interest rates come to a close. The great question is whether the strong beginning of the year is yet another sign coming or a false traitor dawn.

“Crypto will never be free of speculation,” said Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto Is Macro Now newsletter, adding volatility is likely being exacerbated by thinner liquidity as many investors exited digital assets in 2022’s selloff.

, once worth $80, slid below $1 by the end of last year and has now topped $2.10. The controversial token received an elevator last week on the speculation that restarting ftx is an option for trustees dealing with its bankruptcy.

Solana is a blockchain ecosystem that has received a high profile of bankman-fried patronage and was once considered an ethereum rival. Questions about Solana’s future continue to swirl yet its related token has leaped past $24 from $10 at the end of December.

, a coin linked to a decentralized crypto exchange that was supported by Bankman-Fried’s collapsed group of firms, has tripled to 43 US cents in three weeks. It hit an all-time high of over $12 in 2021, when cryptography was in a giant bubble.

Maps is linked to a navigation service is tied to a decentralized finance protocol. They increased by more than 50 per cent in January, but still represent a small fraction of their 2021 peak. Bankman-Fried has been a proponent of both projects.

No ‘Value’

“These tokens are likely not to have any fundamental value,” said Jacob Joseph, a research analyst at CryptoCompare.

Crypto watchers Messari said the coins may have burst higher because the upward momentum has led some players in the market to the rapid closing of down bets.

“Traders tend to short low-value tokens to hedge exposure to the broader crypto market, leading others to try to perform a short squeeze and causing these quick pumps,” said Kunal Goel, an analyst at Messari.

Beyond sam coins, the buzz around virus ai chatgpt bot has also overturned more crypto. Fetch.ai, the token of a project trying to marry digital ledgers and AI, has jumped to about 28 US cents this month from less than 10 cents.

Metaverse

The metaverse is getting in on the act too: the coin of the Decentraland virtual world has added 140% in January. In gaming, the Axie Infinity token has more than doubled even though the game’s popularity crashed last year. 

A long list of risks remains on the horizon to question the optimistic sentiment of investors that shines through in the weaving of smaller crypto tokens.

A threat is the possibility of sticky inflation forcing interest rates to be higher longer than expected, which undermines risk appetite. Another hazard is the ongoing contagion of ftx's wipeout, most recently the worldwide genesis crypto lender holdco llc bankruptcy.

Digital asset markets seem to be taking a break to determine the next step. A caliber of the largest 100 coins was changed little on Monday from 6:50 a.m. in London, while the largest bitcoin token was stable at approximately $22,785. 

Bitcoin's 37% increase in January to this day is the best for the first month of the year since 2013, help capture the aggregate value of crypto tokens in excess of $1 trillion, Coingecko says.

For crypto market prices: CRYP; for top crypto news: TOP CRYPTO.