Zero to 6,000% in seven days, dormant altcoins are coming back to life

Previously dormant altcoins are suddenly erupting, and it’s not very clear why.

A rising tide lifts all boats — even those previously thought to be shipwrecked. At least that’s how it looked on March 17 when some previously dormant altcoins erupted back into life, experiencing spikes ranging between 3,000% and 6,500% for the week.

Foremost among them was Karma (KARMA), a social media project that originally launched on the EOS blockchain in 2018. Over the past seven days the dollar value of Karma increased 6,530%, as the token climbed from a sub-cent price of $0.000464, up to $0.030767.

Trade volume spiked 35,400% over the same period, but don’t assume that means liquidity is readily available. From a weekly low of $2, trade volume had risen to the heady heights of $710 by Wednesday.

The token had lost more than 99% of its value between 2018 and 2020, and that’s the same year that any activity was last witnessed from the project’s Twitter account. Karma’s Telegram channel predictably saw numerous new additions in the past week, but no news from the team has been forthcoming.

Karma migrated from the EOS blockchain to WAX in 2019, and the last announcement on social media relates to the token’s integration with a WAX cloud wallet. WAX (WAXP) itself gained 348% during the past month alone, as it successfully rode the wave of NFT mania.

This week’s other re-awakened altcoin, Nestree (EGG), recorded a 3,018% surge over the past seven days, climbing from $0.005511 up to $0.171872. Over half of that spike occurred in a five-minute window early on Wednesday morning, suggesting a less than natural price movement. Over 96% of the token’s $7 million trade volume came from the South Korean exchange, Bithumb, where trades against the Korean won were dominant.

Nestree launched in 2019, and is described as a rewards-based blockchain messenger. The project’s Twitter account became less active over time, with four posts in 2020 being followed with just one so far in 2021. The latest announcement was a very brief “roadmap” which gave vague details on the development of an e-commerce website.

Over 10,000 installs of the Nestree app have been recorded on the Google Play store, but reviews mention that certain personal data, including a mobile phone number, is required to sign up. One reviewer noted, “This goes against the spirit of blockchain based chat apps.”

As suggested by the above figures, the cryptocurrency market does not always discriminate. All pricing data taken from CoinMarketCap.