Avalanche‘s native asset AVAX has surpassed cryptocurrencies such as Tron (TRX) and Chainlink (LINK) in market value, rising into the top 10 list of cryptocurrencies with a surprising 15% gain in the last 24 hours. AVAX’s momentum is expected to continue, potentially exceeding $30.
Altcoin’s Price Rally
As of the time this article was prepared, AVAX is trading at $26.17 with a market cap of $9.56 billion, marking a 15.01% increase. The altcoin has seen its 24-hour trading volume surge by 55.72% to $1.18 billion. The Avalanche network is experiencing significant increases in network activity, potentially impacting AVAX’s price, seemingly triggered by the adoption of Ordinals.
The adoption of Ordinals played a crucial role, contributing significantly to the increase in transaction volume. Recent data shows that Ordinals minting constituted approximately 96% of total transactions last week. This rise in network activity has led to higher transaction fees and increased demand for AVAX, weakening the dynamic relationship between network usage and the altcoin’s price.
Throughout November, several Layer-1 (L1) platforms saw notable increases in transaction volume. Avalanche, in particular, marked a significant 167% increase from the previous month, reaching $2.73 billion, indicating the highest transaction volume for Avalanche since July of the previous year.
Platypus Finance’s Downfall
Platypus Finance, operating on the Avalanche Blockchain, suffered a significant blow in February following a flash loan attack on an automated DeFi market maker, leading to a security vulnerability and a loss of 8.3 million Euros. This vulnerability caused Platypus’s US dollar-pegged stablecoin to drop from $1 to $0.48.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance took action by alerting the authorities, leading to the arrest of two brothers, Mohammed M. and Benamar M., by French officials. Mohammed was accused of unauthorized fund transfer using vulnerabilities in Platypus’s smart contracts, while his brother was charged with knowingly receiving a portion of the illicit funds.
During the trial at the end of October, Mohammed claimed an “ethical hack” intending to return most of the stolen cryptocurrency to Platypus Finance. He expected to keep approximately 10% of the stolen assets as a reward. Despite his unusual claim of well-intentioned but legally dubious actions, the French court recently acquitted both brothers.
