Bitcoin price persists above $28,000 after a productive March. Investors hope that the altcoin market will take center stage after BTC. In this article, we have included important technical and fundamental developments and selected altcoins that should be included in the watch list.

Altcoin projects you should watch in the week of April 3

Stellar (XLM) price rose nearly 16% over the week, most likely because the Brazilian Central Bank announced it would pilot a central bank digital currency (CBDC) on Blockchain. The agency is testing a digital version of its currency, the Brazilian real.

Another possible reason for this price increase is that Pendulum, a traditional financial infrastructure blockchain, says it will create a bridge connecting the Polkadot infrastructure to Stellar's network. This bridge, a term for the infrastructure that connects two Blockchain ecosystems, will allow Polkadot to benefit from Stellar's solutions. XLM is currently trading slightly lower at $0.1058.

ivy (HBAR)

Hedera (HBAR) gained nearly 18%, likely due to the migration of a Mastercard-backed blockchain application to the network. The application was developed by Fresh Supply Co., the largest user of Mastercard Provenance, a blockchain-based traceability solution.

Fresh Supply Co.'s tokenization of assets and events will increase transparency and deep, verifiable data for financiers, Hedera said. The company operates in the agricultural sector and provides solutions to other lenders.

Hedera was also recognized by the Biden administration for its role in recognizing human rights in the crypto market. At the last Democracy Summit, Hedera committed to holding a democracy roundtable on how blockchain technologies can support human rights, transparency and sustainability. HBAR is currently trading at $0.06806, down over 5% over the last 24 hours.

Frax Share (FXS)

The price of Frax Share (FXS) is up nearly 20%, perhaps as a result of Frax Finance's vote to fully collateralize its $1 billion market cap stablecoin called FRAX. DeFi protocol Frax Finance is the community that helps guide the future of the project's stablecoin and protocol by voting on various decisions. This vote means that the collateral rate of the Frax protocol is now 100%.

Ethereum's upcoming Shanghai upgrade may also have played a role in boosting the price of FXS. The upgrade has led to increased activity and prices for liquid staking solutions, with Frax Finance's frxETH outperforming others, according to a crypto research firm.

The Shanghai upgrade will allow users to withdraw ETH on the network, which is a significant development. Providing various benefits for joining these pools, liquid staking solutions offer a way for users to participate in ETH staking without meeting the hefty minimum requirement of 32 ETH while also allowing them to withdraw their stakes at any time.

At this point, the advantage of Frax's liquid staking option is that it leverages the overall ecosystem to maximize returns and earn interest. FXS is currently trading in the $9.36 area, where it is up 3% over the last 24 hours.

ZIL (ZIL)

The price of Zilliqa (ZIL) is up around 15%, likely due to the anticipation of the Zilliqa Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). EVM is a software platform used to build applications on Ethereum and other protocols with EVM compatibility. The upcoming release of EVM compatibility on Zilliqa mainnet in late April will allow smart contracts written in the Solidity programming language to be deployed natively on Zilliqa.

Smart contracts are programs that run on Blockchain networks, resulting in a more diverse range of applications. ZIL is currently maintaining its momentum throughout the past week in the $0.02986 region in sideways movements.

Cardano (ADA)

Cardano experienced a price increase of approximately 12%, most likely due to improved development activity on the network. Data from Santiment showed an increase in this metric last week. The Cardano team also released an updated roadmap for Hydra, its Layer-2 scalability solution that is a tool for developers to increase transaction speed and reduce transaction costs on the network.

Another possible reason could be evidence of the benefits of the emerging Valentine upgrade hard fork. This upgrade, introduced in February, improved security and interoperability on the network, which bodes well for the overall health of the ecosystem. Meanwhile, ADA price is trading in the $0.3984 area, where it gained 12% from last week.

MATIC, ETH, SOL, BNB and ATOM give green signals from a technical perspective

The 5 altcoins selected in the list prepared by analyst Ikemefula Aruogu managed to stay above critical supports in the recent market recovery.

For example, MATIC was one of the top performers in the first crypto rally of the first quarter of 2023, after gaining more than 108% of its annual opening price to reach $1.5678. It has been falling since then and has regained momentum since last week, reaching the $1.12 region again. It has maintained its bullish sentiment, bolstered by updates scheduled for later this month.

Ethereum (ETH)

Following the transition from the Proof-of-Work (PoW) mechanism to the more scalable Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm, Ethereum will launch a new upgrade called the Shanghai upgrade to allow stakers to withdraw their stakes without restrictions. It is scheduled to happen this month, and crypto users are already purchasing ETH to prepare for the new exemption.

According to Coinshares' weekly fund flow report, the Shanghai upgrade causes some uncertainty among institutional investors as a large amount of ETH will be unlocked.

Solana (SUN)

Solana took the DeFi industry by storm with a phenomenal transaction speed that spurred mass adoption of Blockchain at the peak of the last bull run. After returning with the 2021/2022 bear crypto market, SOL joined the market bandwagon at the beginning of 2023. SOL's price reached a yearly high of $27.12, reflecting a gain of over 174%. The price has consolidated to trade at $21.12 at the time of writing, with a bullish sentiment that could push SOL higher as the new quarter begins.

Binance Coin (BNB)

BNB is the native cryptocurrency of Binance Smart Chain, a growing ecosystem synchronized with the main Binance exchange. According to CoinMarketCap data, BNB is positioned as the fourth largest cryptocurrency. The 2023 price recovery saw BNB gain over 42%, reaching a yearly high of $347. The price has fallen to $312 as it continues a bullish sentiment that could lead to a significant rally as the new quarter begins.

Cosmos (ATOM)

ATOM represents the native currency of Cosmos, the first public PoS Blockchain protocol built on Tendermint. ATOM is currently the 22nd largest cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap with a market cap of $3.19 billion. It gained over 66% in the first price rally of 2023 and reached a yearly high of $15,444. After consolidation, its price at the time of writing is $11.41, ahead of the new quarter that promises to start with a significant price rally.

Finally, 17 altcoins, including 1inch (1INCH), Moonbeam (GLMR) and DyDx (DYDX), will unlock tokens in April. We have included the date and details in this article.