The global cryptocurrency market cap rose early Thursday as upside momentum during the Asian trading hours pushed Bitcoin (BTC) to a one week high above $58,400.

Several altcoins followed suit, with outperformers being Sui (SUI) and Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET). Amid broader market gains, Nano (XNO) and NEM (XEM) also rose.

Here’s what happened in the crypto market in the Asian hours on September 12.

Crypto wrap: Top stories

Ethereum co-founder reiterates need for L2 decentralisation

In a September 12 post on X, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin said he will not recognise zero-knowledge rollup projects that aren’t at least at ‘stage 1’ of decentralisation.

While many teams indicate their respective L2 projects are on track to achieve this milestone, several aren’t. Buterin warned that “the era of rollups being glorified multisigs is coming to an end.”

Polymarket bets swing in favour of Harris

Donald Trump led Kamala Harris in the lead up to their debate this week.

However, with polls after the televised event showing the Democratic candidate edged her Republican counterpart, traders on Polymarket are reflecting this outcome by increasing their bets on Harris winning in November.

Per details on Polymarket as of 6am ET on September 12, odds of US Vice President Kamala Harris beating former president Donald Trump has increased to 50%.

Meanwhile, Trump’s odds have declined from 52% earlier in the week to about 49%.

Bitcoin touches 1-week high above $58k

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) surged past $58,000 on Thursday morning, with buyside pressure during the Asian trading hours helping bulls to break above $58,400.

An uptick in US tech stocks, including Nvidia, aided BTC’s price increase. US inflation data also proved a key factor. Bitcoin’s gains sees the flagship digital asset hit its highest price level in seven days.

This surge to a 1-week high followed the CPI print coming in lower as reported on Wednesday. UK’s tabling of a new bill recognising Bitcoin and digital assets as personal property counted as a major regulatory development that buoyed markets.

SUI, FET, PENDLE, NANO and NEM gain

SUI price

Sui (SUI) and Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) were two of the top performing altcoins early Thursday.

SUI spiked more than 20% to hit prices above $1 as the market reacted to Grayscale’s announcement that Sui Trust was now open to eligible accredited investors. SUI was up 16% at the time of writing, changing hands near $1.03.

Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) price

FET extended gains seen on Wednesday into Thursday after the ASI team announced a proposed merger with AI compute platform CUDOS.

After CUDOS skyrocketed more than 15% after the news, FET token’s price soared over 10% on September 12 to hit highs of $1.44.

PENDLE price

Also showing huge gains was Pendle (PENDLE). The decentralised finance platform saw its native token’s price explode 14% in 24 hours amid its launch of BTC-linked pools offering yield of up to 45%.

PENDLE changed hands around $3.59 at the time of writing, but could eye a retest of $6 if bulls break above key resistance near $4.

NEM (XEM) price

NEM is one of the largely underperforming L1 coins. The native token XEM remains in a downtrend, although slight gains in the past 24 hours could encourage buyers.

According to CoinMarketCap data, NEM price is up 3.7% in the past 24 hours and 2.5% this past week. However, price needs to break above $0.02 for potential upside momentum.

NEM price chart on CoinMarketCap

Nano (XNO) price

Nano price reached a two-week high on September 12, with the altcoin piercing resistance around $0.92 as the broader market gained. A breakout above $1.25 could see XNO target year-to-date highs of $1.85 reached in March.

Nano (XNO) chart on CoinMarketCap

XNO had a daily trading volume of over $1.8 million, which was up 32% in 24 hours. As well as the market activity, positive action comes amid Nano’s update with node V27.1 Denarius that improves the network’s scalability and user experience.

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