First Mover Americas: Bitcoin Starts Week in the Red

This article originally appeared in , CoinDesk’s daily newsletter putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context..

Bitcoin is down to start the week, dropping to around $29,300, a decrease of 1.92% in the last 24 hours. The (CMI), which measures the performance of the broader digital asset market, is also in the red, down 2.38% at 1,266.87. BTC’s trading range is still relatively narrow, reflecting the cautious stance of investors. “Although market dynamics in summer months can tend toward volatility with lower trading flows, the recent period has been remarkably calm for top crypto assets in the market,” Simon Peters, a market analyst at eToro said. “The softening of the price we’re watching currently suggests investors are looking for positivity to cling to, but with little forthcoming for now it is very much wait and see.”

Elon Musk is rebranding Twitter to X, as traders jumped on the potential opportunity to eke out some small profits. One token, related to a project that shut in May, jumped as much as 1,200% while the new “AI-X” token opportunistically issued over the weekend following Musk’s announcement jumped 10-fold. “Meme coins are huge parts of the crypto trading landscape, whether we like it or not,” James Wo, founder at crypto fund DFG, told CoinDesk at the heights of one such meme obsession. “While the biggest currencies like bitcoin and ether have very low volatility, it's only natural that traders will look for opportunities elsewhere.”

Worldcoin, the crypto project of ChatGPT founder Sam Altman, has gone live with its token WLD surging 62% to $2.60, . Crypto exchanges , with spot trading of WLD/USDT, WLD/USDC and WLD/BTC available. The aim of the project, which , is to establish a decentralized digital identity system in order to preserve personal privacy. More than 2 million people were onboarded while the project was still in beta. WLD is not currently available in the U.S. owing to regulatory uncertainty.

- Omkar Godbole

Edited by Sheldon Reback.