Crypto Roundup: September 13th, 2021

After a flash crash, last Tuesday as El Salvador officially made Bitcoin legal tender, the leading cryptoasset has steadied around $45K. What was expected to be a historic day of celebration became one of the most volatile days of the year. The party was cut short by technical problems, and Bitcoin dropped by $10K in a matter of hours. It then clawed back losses over the next few days as Panama revealed its own Bitcoin legislation and Ukraine moved ahead with legalization. Only a few altcoins had the strength to swim against the bearish tide: Tezos pushed 30% higher on the launch of an NFT collection from American rapper Doja Cat, and Algorand added an astonishing 60% on the back of a new DeFi fund. This Week’s Highlights Algorand adds 60% in defiance of market downturn Cardano falls on smart contract debut Algorand adds 60% in defiance of market downturn As the crypto market turned red, Algorand came up green. The token topped $2.50 on Sunday, marking year-to-date gains of more than 630%. The rally was driven by a flurry of positive news, including the announcement of a DeFi fund that aims to put $300 million towards helping Algorand contend with Ethereum and other smart contract platforms. Only two weeks ago, Algorand was hitting headlines for another big announcement, as it was selected by El Salvador for the development of its government blockchain infrastructure. Cardano falls on smart contract debut Weeks of consecutive ...