Token effort
Crypto is back in the spotlight — and this time it’s regulation, not hype, driving the rally. But in Australia, the action is a little less hot.
Something is happening in crypto, and you don’t need to be a committed trader to sense it.
Take a glance at the charts, and you'll see there has been a recent boom — and it’s not just Bitcoin’s new all-time high last week. Among the tokens surging in the past 30 days are Ether (+61%), Uniswap (+59%), Chainlink (+58%) and Stellar (+90%).
The common thread among these and many similar tokens is that they’re decentralised finance (DeFi) cryptocurrencies, each aiming in its own way to reshape finance. You may reasonably scoff at those ambitions, but they’re categorically different from the “number go up” meme tokens — such as the one issued by the US president in January.
It’s meaningful that these coins are moving. Bitcoin has been rallying, with brief pauses, since late 2023 when it became clear the US securities watchdog would approve Bitcoin ETFs. Interest in the broader crypto market had remained subdued, with the exception of the months following Donald Trump’s re-election and inauguration.
