The price of Tezos (XTZ) has risen by 17% in the past 24 hours, according to data from metrics site Nomics. One XTZ token is now worth $4.07 and the blockchain’s market cap is $3.4 billion.
Tezos started to rise at about 6:40 pm (EST) last night, when it began its climb from about $3.3. It has risen ever since, peaking at highs of $4.12.
In the same time period, daily trading volume has more than tripled, according to data from CoinGecko, from $108 million to $322 million. Tezos token’s most recent upswing is its first since early May, when XTZ hit highs of about $8.27.
Tezos launched in 2018 as one of the first proof-of-stake coins. Proof-of-stake coins are mined (“baked” and “staked” are also popular equivalents) by people who pledge lots of coins. This contrasts with proof-of-work, which has miners run energy-intensive software to process transactions.
Proof-of-work fell out of favor last month after Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and one-time BTC bull, slammed BTC for using this mining mechanism.
Musk, one of the richest men in the world, vowed to support energy-efficient projects. Though he has not mentioned Tezos, the blockchain carries none of the baggage that its proof-of-work rivals do.
Since Tezos does not rely on computationally intensive mining, it is also unaffected by crackdowns on mining anticipated to come out of China. The government crashed the price of BTC when a state committee added BTC mining and trading to a laundry list of dirty industries it intends to monitor.
This past month, NFTs have also thrived on Tezos, boasting cheaper transaction fees and faster validation times than ETH. In May, Tezos-based NFT project Hic Et Nunc surpassed volume on OpenSea, a popular marketplace for ETH NFTs, reported Art News.
