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Amid all the excitement surrounding The Merge last year, the fortunes of Ethereum (ETH 1.34%) and Polygon (MATIC 0.93%) appeared to be inextricably linked. After all, Polygon was the most popular Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum, so any future growth in the Ethereum ecosystem implied future growth in the Polygon ecosystem. But fast forward to 2023, and it looks like the paths of these two cryptocurrencies are starting to diverge.

While both cryptos are up about 50% for the year, it's their performance over the past 30 days that's the most troubling. During that time, Ethereum was up about 10%, while Polygon was down 17%. Is this a short-term mispricing in the marketplace or a sign for investors that Polygon's future growth prospects are coming under pressure?

On the surface, the growth story for Polygon remains in place. It's arguably still the most popular Layer 2 in the Ethereum ecosystem and has some of the best technology out there for making Ethereum run faster, better, and more efficiently.

Moreover, there are still plenty of top brands and companies utilizing Polygon for new Web3 initiatives.As a result, Polygon has a market capitalization of $9.8 billion, making it one of the top 10 cryptos in the world.

Image source: Getty Images.

However, look beneath the surface, and the picture gets a bit murkier because there's been a steep falloff in growth at Polygon since December.

For example, consider the number of new Polygon addresses being created on a daily basis. These are down 32% from mid-February levels, a warning sign that developers and users could be looking elsewhere when deciding to build on top of Ethereum. Even more troubling, Polygon recently said it was cutting of 20% of its team.

What's going on here? The problems at Polygon could be linked to the emergence of new competition.

Polygon isn't the only Layer 2 option that developers have, and it's starting to become very evident now. For example, Optimism (OP 2.57%) seemingly exploded out of nowhere this year to become a super-popular Layer 2 scaling solution. For the year, it's up more than 170%.

Optimism recently made headlines as the result of a high-profile partnership with crypto exchange operator Coinbase Global. If you look at key blockchain metrics such as total value locked (TVL), Optimism appears to be narrowing the gap with Polygon.

Moreover, there are other Layer 2 names out there that are generating buzz. Another top Layer 2 solution is Immutable X (IMX 3.91%), which is up more than 200% this year. It now has a market cap of over $1 billion, making it the No. 53 crypto in the world.

But the name that everyone is talking about now is Arbitrum, which is about to get its own crypto token soon.According to some traders, the price of Polygon could sink as much as 15% as soon as the new Arbitrum token starts trading.

Meanwhile, Ethereum has shown little-to-no impact from the recent spate of bank failures and bank runs and is now being mentioned as a potential safe haven for investors thinking about moving their money into crypto. According to Cathie Wood of Ark Invest, Ethereum has not "skipped a beat" during the recent market upheaval, and that should be very reassuring to investors.

Ultimately, the choice of whether to invest in Ethereum or Polygon comes down to a single question: Do you feel more comfortable investing in a Layer 1 or a Layer 2 blockchain? While there's a lot of exciting activity happening at the Layer 2 level, the field is getting so crowded now that investing in a Layer 1 looks a lot more appealing.

Finally, keep in mind track records. Ethereum has a proven track record dating back to 2015 and managed to pull off The Merge in 2022 amid one of the worst crypto meltdowns ever. If you're looking for a crypto to ride out the gathering financial storm, the clear choice now is Ethereum.

Dominic Basulto has positions in Ethereum and Polygon. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Coinbase Global, Ethereum, Immutable X, and Polygon. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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Better Buy: Ethereum or Polygon? - The Motley Fool

Arbitrum, a layer-2 rollup on Ethereum, has hit an all-time high in daily transactions and unique wallets interacting with the network ahead of its airdrop.

Dune analytics show that close to 240,000 unique wallets interacted with Arbitrum on March 21, nearly twice its previous peak in February 2023.

On March 21 and March 22, the network hosted roughly 1.66 million and 1.56 million transactions, respectively.

Over those same two days, there were also more transactions on Arbitrum than on the Ethereum mainnet. Etherscan reports that Ethereum hosted just over 1 million transactions each day.

Its likely these metrics will continue to surge after users can begin claiming their airdropped tokens. There are more than 625,000 eligible addresses.

Number of daily active wallets interacting with the Arbitrum Network. Source: Dune

Arbitrum first announced the launch of its along with an airdrop of ARB governance tokens to early users and developers on March 16.

The airdrop is slated for 9 am EST today, with a live countdown appearing on Arbitrums site.

Following the airdrop announcement last week, the network also saw a massive spike in its DeFi liquidity. The total deposits on DeFi platforms on Arbitrum reached a new peak of nearly $2 billion, per DeFi Llama.

The layer-2 network is ranked fourth in DeFi liquidity after Ethereum, Binance Chain, and Tron.

The total value locked in DeFi applications on Arbitrum. Source: DefiLlama

The futures contract for the ARB token started trading on BitMEX on March 20. The contract last traded for $1.38, aligning with the popular ARB token market estimations.

The peak exchange price of ARB futures on BitMEX was $1.5.

Top crypto exchanges in Binance, Bybit, BitMEX, Kucoin, and many others will enable trading on the platforms right at launch time to benefit from the trading volumes that the token will bring.

Analysts expect the ARB token to rake in over $1 billion in trading volume on launch day.

Read this article:

Arbitrum Transaction Activity Outpaces Ethereum Ahead of ARB Airdrop - Decrypt

Bitcoin started the week trading around the $28,000 mark, as markets reacted to the news that Silicon Valley Bank was to be acquired. First Citizen Bank agreed to buy approximately $72 billion in SVB assets, at a discounted rate of $16.5 billion. Ethereum continued to trade under $1,800 on Monday.

Bitcoin (BTC) started the week trading marginally higher, with prices hovering near the $28,000 level.

Following a bottom at $27,678.15 on Sunday, BTC/USD moved to a high of $28,178.14 earlier in todays session.

The move saw bitcoin edge towards a recent resistance point at the $28,300 mark, which was last hit on Friday.

Overall, BTC has mostly consolidated on Monday, which comes as the 14-day relative strength index (RSI) collided with a ceiling at the 65.00 zone.

As of writing, the index is tracking at the 64.51 level, with the next visible point of support at the 62.00 mark.

Should bulls take price strength below this point, there is a strong possibility that BTC could move below $27,000.

Ethereum (ETH) largely consolidated on Monday, as prices moved away from a key price floor in todays session.

ETH/USD jumped to a peak of $1,797.88 earlier in the day, which comes less than 24 hours after falling to a low of $1,748.44.

Since hitting a seven-month high of $1,861 last Thursday, the worlds second largest cryptocurrency has mostly traded below $1,800.

Overall, ethereum is down 1.19% from the same point last week, with prices mostly moving between a floor of $1,730, and a ceiling at $1,820.

The 10-day (red) moving average has now begun to shift direction, with upwards momentum now fading.

Prices may continue to trend sideways heading into April, unless some unexpected news moves markets.

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Do you expect ethereum to finish the month below $1,800? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Eliman was previously a director of a London-based brokerage, whilst also an online trading educator. Currently, he commentates on various asset classes, including Crypto, Stocks and FX, whilst also a startup founder.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, Below the Sky / Shutterstock.com

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Bitcoin, Ethereum Technical Analysis: BTC Consolidates Near ... - Bitcoin News

Ripples XRP XRP/USD surged 18.75% in seven days, making it one of the best-performing of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, including Bitcoin BTC/USD and Ethereum ETH/USD.

What Happened: According to LunarCrush, a data aggregator platform, when market performance and social performance are combined, XRP emerges as the top-ranking digital asset.

Data from LunarCrush reveals that in the last 24 hours, XRP had a social volume of 5,967 and 14.9 million social engagements.

Ryan Selkis, founder of Messari, believes the SECs case against XRP is an overreach. He highlighted on March 21 that the XRP has seen a significant surge in user accounts

See Also: Top Indian Apps That Give Bitcoin, NFT Rewards

Nexo NEXO/USD was second on the list which saw a 15.53% weekly surge, thanks to the addition of exclusive market intelligence features to Nexo Pro.

The third on the list is Flare token FLR/USD, which rose 15.16% after it launched FlareDrop on March 14. XDC networkXDC/USD was fourth on the list, up 13.79% in weekly gains and Litecoin LTC/USD was last, recording 13.41% gains.

Price Action: BTC was trading at $27,893, up 2.08% and ETH was trading at $1,765 up 0.73% in the last seven days, according to Benzinga Pro data.

Read Next: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin Mixed As Banking Worries Deepen: Analyst Says 'Trading Isn't Black And White', Predicts Apex Crypto To Reach $40K

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Layer-1 Token Jumps 18% In Weekly Gains, Outperforming Bitcoin ... - Benzinga

A top crypto analyst is mapping the path forward for four crypto assets that have witnessed bullish price action in the last seven days.

In a new strategy session, pseudonymous analyst Cred tells his 49,200 YouTube subscribers that XRP could witness bullish continuation as long as it is above the previous resistance at $0.414.

If this breakout sticks and XRP does its sort of trend wiping candles where it just moons and sort of retraces weeks and weeks and weeks of selling in a much smaller number of weeks, if that is the case, I think the bigger magnet if you will, or the clearer level for price is about $0.50 to $0.60.

XRP, which is up by nearly 10% in the past week, is trading at $0.425 at time of writing.

Next up is smart contract protocol Cardano (ADA). Cred says the seventh largest crypto asset by market cap is respecting technicals and could revisit its 2023 high of $0.42, which it hit in February.

I think as long as youre not getting daily acceptance below sort of $0.35 and this more recent flip level [of around $0.35] I think if this reclaims sticks, the next high timeframe trouble area is this big support resistance flip range high thing at around $0.41.That makes sense to me.

And then if that breaks, we can just carve out a range of this thing with $0.40, $0.60-ish and $0.50 is the mid. But I think in the short term, we have pretty clear trading levels between $0.35 and $0.42-ish

Cardano is trading at $0.361 at time of writing.

Turning to Solana (SOL), the pseudonymous analyst says that the 12th-largest crypto by market cap is forming a double bottom pattern after managing to hold support at $20 According to Cred, Solana is still range bound with support at $20, range midpoint at $23 and resistance at $26.

We essentially have a double bottom forming just above a high timeframe level of support [at $20]

Sort of range low reclaim as long as you dont get daily closes back below $20 $21. That looks like its trading back within the range.

When markets do that, we like to look at the mid and the other side of the range, which I think for this [Solana daily timeframe] chart would be something akin to $22 is the range midpoint, $24-ish is the range high.

You could be a bit more charitable and use something closer to the extremities, the sort of same range local at around $20 and then the $26 range high, giving you a $23, $24 mid.

Solana is worth $20.89 at time of writing.

The last coin on the traders radar is Ethereum (ETH) rival Fantom (FTM). According to Cred, FTM looks bullish provided it stays above its previous resistance at $0.43.

As long as thats the case, then youd expect the high [around $0.65] to be traded and then the next big trouble area, if we get a really meaty rotation, is the former range high at like $0.70 to $0.90.

Fantom is trading at $0.46 at time of writing. A move toward the upper bounds of the analysts target suggests a rally of over 90% for the Ethereum competitor.

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Analyst Predicts Ethereum Rival Will Explode by Over 90%, Updates Outlook on XRP, Cardano and Solana - The Daily Hodl