PancakeSwap's CAKE token has surged by 37% within the last 24 hours, reaching $2.49, marking a 57% increase over the past week. This notable rise is tied to pivotal developments affecting the decentralized exchange, primarily the impending delisting of Tether (USDT) by Binance.
Set for March 31, 2025, the delisting stems from Binance's non-compliance with the European Union’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulations. Consequently, many users who previously held USDT are shifting their assets to PancakeSwap, which has processed over $346 million of USDT volume within just 24 hours. This volume accounts for approximately 54% of the total trading activity on the exchange.
Over the past day, PancakeSwap has boasted $647 million in overall trading volume, securing 61% of the decentralized exchange market share and effectively surpassing competitors like the well-known Ethereum-based Uniswap.
Coinciding with these developments is the resurgence of meme coins, with the market on Binance Smart Chain growing by 48% over the last week, now valued at $2.71 billion. One standout performer, Mubarak (MUBARAK), inspired by the Islamic term celebrating the end of Ramadan, saw its market cap spike by 56% within just one day, momentarily hitting $150 million. Today, it contributes over 12% of PancakeSwap’s daily trading volume.
But the growth is not limited to PancakeSwap alone. The broader BNB Chain ecosystem has processed $9.26 billion over the past week, driven by lower transaction costs and increased meme coin activity. This positive momentum is expected to be reinforced by the anticipated Pascal Hardfork upgrade, which is set to occur on March 20, 2025. The upgrade aims to reduce gas fees, likely encouraging greater activity on the platform.
Meanwhile, Bitcoin is experiencing volatility of its own. On March 18, 2025, Bitcoin encountered challenges breaking above the $85,000 mark, reaching only as high as $84,644 before descending to $82,361 during intraday trading. Currently, Bitcoin is trading around $83,250, with a 24-hour trading volume estimated at $24.92 billion.
Notably, other cryptocurrencies like SOL and XRP are lags compared to Bitcoin's movements. Both have seen drops of nearly 3% and 4% over the last 24 hours, respectively.
The crypto market remains wide open, with many investors eyeing Bitcoin's potential to break through the $85,500 threshold. Not only did Bitcoin fail to push the market, but SOL struggled with dropped prices from highs of $130 to lows of $123.69, indicating nearly 3% decrease over the day. Similarly, XRP fell from its daily high of $2.3758 to close at $2.2478, recording a 4% decline.
Encouragingly, CAKE's continued performance demonstrates underlying strength as it jumped 8%. Moving forward, digital assets like OKB, TRX, ATOM, and TON have also shown promise, each increasing nearly 5% today.
On the bearish side, Pi Coin (PI) currently leads the decline with a sharp 16% drop, followed closely by CRO and BERA, both of which declined more than 7% within the same 24-hour frame.
Consolidated data as reported by CoinMarketCap indicates the overall cryptocurrency market cap today is approximately $2.7 trillion, with 24-hour trading having totalled around $74.24 billion.
Aside from high volatility and market shifts in general, Cardano is witnessing its own market activity. Reported $728 million of open interest surfaced within the duration of the past 24 hours, correlatively reflecting a 2.69% drop which lined up with the asset experiencing its own 5% decline during the same timeframe.
At the moment, ADA's price stands down by 4.24% at approximately $0.694. Speculation around the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy meeting on March 18-19 may play a pivotal role, as traders monitor the decision on possible interest rates impacting overall crypto trading behavior.
Having briefly rebounded as high as $0.73, Cardano has dropped to lows of $0.681 as of the morning of March 18, pushing below the key daily SMA of 200, which stands at $0.70 as of the same date.
Analysts suggest buyers must push ADA's price past various moving averages to witness any sustained recovery. Should the price ebb closer to $0.50, it intensifies the likelihood of bearish movement for ADA. Conversely, should ADA take off, analysts eye $1.02 as the next significant resistance point.
Adding positivity to Cardano's outlook, Hasdex has filed with the SEC to approve adjustments allowing Cardano along with other major altcoins to be included within its Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index US ETF, relative to all updates transpiring during the latter part of the weekend. Coinbase has also disclosed plans to introduce Cardano futures contracts, pending approval from CFTC, which could bolster ADA's market presence.
Overall, the shifting landscapes of PancakeSwap's CAKE, Bitcoin's volatility, and Cardano's rising attention paint the current crypto market as both vibrant and uncertain, fueled by macroeconomic factors and pending regulatory developments—leaving investors and industry insiders holding their breath for tomorrow's market movements.
