The cryptocurrency market's bullish run has largely spotlighted major players, leaving many older public blockchains from the last cycle in the shadows. However, as Bitcoin hit new all-time highs, native tokens of projects like NEAR and Fantom have shown notable price activity. FTM saw significant inflows from so-called "smart money" over multiple days, while NEAR reached a new yearly high, partly driven by the ongoing AI narrative.
NEAR Protocol Rides the AI Wave
NEAR Protocol's co-founder, Illia Polosukhin, is scheduled to speak at the GTC24 conference on March 20th at a session titled "Transforming AI," which will also feature NVIDIA's founder, Jensen Huang. This announcement contributed to a sharp price increase for NEAR, pushing it past the $5 mark and later beyond $8.
Back in February 2023, NEAR published a vision paper positioning its network as foundational infrastructure for next-generation AI applications. It aims to create a value layer for data pricing and rule-setting, enabling different applications and protocols to utilize data in an open and transparent manner. Additionally, NEAR has partnered with consumer data analytics platform Cosmose AI to develop a stablecoin payment system that allows users to shop with cryptocurrencies while incurring low transaction fees.
The revived excitement also spread to the ecosystem's meme coin, BLACKDRAGON, which surged 700% from its bottom. At the time of writing, it was trading at $0.00000078 with a 24-hour gain of 15%.
Avalanche Benefits from Gaming and Meme Coin Momentum
On March 11th, South Korean game publisher Nexon Group announced that its iconic 2D MMORPG, MapleStory, would partner with Ava Labs to launch a Web3 version called MapleStory Universe on the Avalanche network. Since its debut in 2003, MapleStory pioneered the free-to-play model and has attracted over 180 million users across two decades.
The first game in this new initiative, MapleStory N, will enable players to create their own in-game worlds and earn Web3 rewards. Although specific incentives weren’t detailed, the project’s website highlighted that NFTs would be central to its economy. The PC version is anticipated to launch by the end of 2024.
This news arrived shortly after the Avalanche development team introduced the Durango upgrade and "Teleporter," improving interoperability within its subnet ecosystem. These developments contributed to broad-based gains across Avalanche ecosystem tokens. AVAX was trading at $54.55, up 15.88% in 24 hours. Other tokens like Gamer Arena (GAU) and Joe (JOE) also posted significant gains.
Similar to NEAR, meme coins on Avalanche also rebounded strongly. COQ, for example, rose over 300% from its bottom, reaching a price of $0.00000558 with a 3% daily increase at the time of writing.
TON Rides on Telegram’s Announcements and Exchange Expectations
The Open Network (TON) is another layer-1 blockchain that posted substantial gains, largely influenced by announcements from its associated platform, Telegram.
On February 28th, Telegram announced the expansion of its advertising platform to nearly 100 new countries. Channel owners in these regions will receive 50% of the revenue generated from ads displayed in their channels. To facilitate fast and secure payments, Telegram will exclusively use the TON blockchain. This move is expected to create a virtuous cycle where content creators can cash out their Toncoin or reinvest it into promoting and upgrading their channels.
Following the news, TON’s price surged over 27%. By March 1st, Binance had listed TON for up to 50x USDT-margined perpetual contracts, fueling speculation about an eventual spot listing and further boosting prices.
Smart Money Flows into Fantom (FTM)
Fantom’s native token, FTM, attracted considerable attention from smart money in early March. Data from Nansen showed FTM among the top tokens by smart money inflow, with $1.53 million entering on March 3rd. The following day, FTM broke past $0.70, registering a 24-hour gain of over 30%.
According to Spot On Chain, a whale that had purchased 4.71 million FTM (worth approximately $2.69 million) via Gemini and Airswap two days prior was already sitting on an unrealized profit of $600,000. By March 5th, FTM was again a top destination for smart money, with inflows of around $1.79 million. At the time of writing, FTM was trading at $0.83, up 2.5% in 24 hours.
Frequently Asked Questions
What caused NEAR’s recent price increase?
NEAR’s price rise was fueled by its co-founder’s upcoming speaking engagement at a major AI conference alongside NVIDIA’s CEO, generating positive sentiment around its AI-related developments and partnerships.
Why is Avalanche gaining attention?
Avalanche attracted interest due to a partnership with Nexon to bring the popular game MapleStory into the Web3 space on its network, alongside technical upgrades improving its subnet interoperability.
What is driving TON’s price momentum?
TON is benefiting from Telegram’s decision to use the blockchain for its new ad revenue-sharing model and speculation around a potential Binance spot listing following the introduction of perpetual contracts.
How is “smart money” influencing FTM?
Data from blockchain analytics platforms shows significant capital inflow from informed investors into FTM, suggesting growing confidence in Fantom’s ecosystem and future potential.
Are meme coins still relevant in this market?
Yes, meme coins like COQ on Avalanche and BLACKDRAGON on NEAR saw substantial gains, indicating that speculative assets continue to play a role during market upswings.
Where can I learn more about blockchain interoperability?
For those interested in understanding how different blockchains communicate and share value, 👉 explore more strategies on cross-chain technology.