Waves leads crypto market higher with 40% pump; Bitcoin holding above $47k

Waves keeps making waves, with the cryptocurrency platform hitting a new record high after announcing a spate of hires for its new US-based senior leadership team.

Waves tokens hit an all-time peak of US$47 earlier this morning, and by 11am AEDT they were still changing hands at US$45 — up 40 per cent in the past 24 hours, and 361 per cent in the past 60 days. Two years ago, the tokens were changing hands at less than $1.

The good news: I bought $WAVES at $0.71

The tough news: I only bought $500 worth ‍♀️

— Money Lisa (@real_moneylisa) March 28, 2022

Waves is now the No. 40 crypto by market capitalisation, and just the sixth in the top 100 to record a new all-time high since the January 21 crash.

Formerly headquartered in Moscow, Waves was founded in 2016 by Ukrainian software developer Sasha Ivanov, who is taking on a strategic advisor role to the newly formed Miami-based Wave Labs, which is envisioned to be the new growth engine for the Waves ecosystem.

The four new hires are head of ecosystem growth Coleman Maher, the former head of business development at Origin Protocol; head of US operations Aleks Rubin; marketing lead Jack Booth, previously of Oasis Protocol; and vice president of finance and operations Tiffany Phan, formerly of User Testing.

Very excited and humbled to be joining @waves__labs as Marketing Lead. @WavesProtocol is already top 50 by market cap, super product-focused, w/ $3.5b TVL, and now a US-led growth team and an ecosystem fund coming… Get ready for $WAVES this year! https://t.co/qJ9RZvGsO8

— JB (1 ➝ 2) (@OpinionPlease_) March 28, 2022

I have joined @Waves__Labs as the Head of Ecosystem Growth. @WavesProtocol has grown a lot in the last couple of years but I am excited to help the extremely talented Waves team accomplish even more. Big things are coming for $WAVES!

— Coleman Maher (1 ➝ 2) (@colemansmaher) March 28, 2022

“I am excited to lead this dynamic team as we expand visibility and enhance the utilization of Waves protocol in the North American market,” said Rubin, a former banker.

Ivanov said Waves is still relatively unknown in the US crypto space, and had plans to grow exponentially this year.

“With the founding of Waves Labs, the ecosystem fund, and the extremely talented team in place, I do not doubt that Waves will reach mass adoption in 2022 and beyond,” he said.

Crypto market up 1.9%

Overall the crypto market stood at US2.23 trillion around noon Sydney time, with Bitcoin up 1.2 per cent to US$47,350 and Ethereum up 2.4 per cent to US$3,360.

No. 8 crypto Terra was up 5.4 per cent to $98.53.

Theta Network was the second-biggest gainer in the top 100, behind Waves, rising 8.6 per cent.

Holo was the biggest loser, dipping 9 per cent, although that still leaves it up 48 per cent for the week.