While the bulls emerged victorious in March following a bearish start to the year, this triumph was short-lived, and most crypto assets fell in April’s broad correction.

How did the various crypto sectors and the leading coins fare in April? Kraken Intelligence’s latest report, Slow and Steady, explores the events that influenced the crypto space in April.

Sinking volatility

Following green candles in March, BTC slumped in April, down -18% for the month. However, BTC’s annualized volatility declined from 63% to 48%, indicating that prices have settled around a more stable market rate. Meanwhile, hash rates hit an all-time high over the same period, signaling an increase in mining resources allocated to the network.

ETH fell -21% in April, largely trading in-line with BTC. The highly anticipated Ethereum 2.0 update, “The Merge” (dubbed the final chapter of Proof-of-Work on Ethereum), is now expected in Q3 2022 instead of Q2 2022.

A spike for NFTs

NFT volume on OpenSea saw a big boost in April, with daily volume and average volume per transaction both up +40% month-over-month. Big names also made headlines in April, as Louis Vuitton unveiled a collection of NFTs in their mobile app game, and Bored Apes Yacht Club’s project, Otherside, raised $420M in its metaverse land sale.

Want to learn more about what went down and what’s ahead? Download the Kraken Intelligence report Slow and Steady to understand what’s moving the crypto market.