Cryptocurrency markets remained under pressure last week, with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple (XRP) falling by double digits. This decline occurred as total open interest retreated and the fear and greed index declined.
In this article, we highlight some of the top cryptocurrencies to watch this week, including Avalanche (AVAX), Cronos (CRO), and LayerZero (ZRO).
Avalanche attracts attention ahead of Granite upgrade
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Avalanche prices have been in a strong downward trend over the past few months. The AVAX token has fallen from a September high of $36.43 to a low of $15.25.
Avalanche pricing will be in the spotlight this week as developers launch the Granite upgrade. This is a significant upgrade that introduces three key features: enhanced cross-chain messaging, biometric authentication, and dynamic block time.
The Granite upgrade comes as the Avalanche network continues to perform well. According to data compiled by Nansen, the number of transactions has increased by 96% to 63.3 million in the past 30 days, making it the fastest growing chain.
Avalanche has become one of the top players in the Real World Assets (RWA) industry, with the total amount locked up soaring over 65% in the past 30 days. Avalanche’s user count continues to grow, increasing 8.8% to 730,000 in the past 30 days.
Additionally, Avalanche has continued to write tokens over the past few months, reducing the number of tokens in circulation.
Cronos (CRO) price drops ahead of major token unlocking
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Another notable cryptocurrency to watch this week is Cronos, a token associated with Crypto.com. Despite the Trump media ties, CRO prices have fallen more than 70% from year-to-date highs.
Growth in the Khronos ecosystem has been nearly stagnant, with total value locked (TVL) in the network decreasing by 22% over the past 30 days to $650 million. The market capitalization of stablecoins has also been declining significantly over the past few months.
Cronos will be in the spotlight this week as the network unlocks 1.17 billion tokens worth more than $135 million. Token unlocking often puts more pressure on cryptocurrencies as more coins are introduced to the market.
Pay attention to LayerZero price before major unlock
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LayerZero is one of the largest companies in the crypto industry, providing cross-chain communication solutions that enable secure data transfer between different blockchains.
According to data compiled by DeFi Llama, total bridge transactions soared to a record high of $15.9 billion in October, up from $13.9 billion a month later. This month’s bridge amount will reach $6.35 billion.
LayerZero will be in the spotlight this week as approximately 32.61 million, or $48 million worth of tokens are scheduled to be unlocked on November 20th. The network has unlocked approximately 38% of all tokens.
Other top cryptocurrencies unlocked this week will be Merlin Chain, Plume, OG, Lombard, and Aster.
