Altcoins NEAR, IMMUTABLE, AVAX rise amid market downturn

• NEAR saw slight gains after the release of Nightshade 2.0 on the mainnet.
• IMX is up 10% in the past 24 hours, extending its weekly gains to 17%.
• AVAX rose 5% on fund launches from Franklin Templeton and Grayscale.

Avalanche (AVAX), ImmutableX (IMX), and Near Protocol (NEAR) tokens rose on Thursday as all three networks appeared to have experienced positive investor sentiment. AVAX and IMX are currently up 4.2% and 10%, while NEAR is down slightly after a 4% gain.

Altcoins key updates lead to rallies despite global pressure

Near Protocol (NEAR) saw slight gains today, rising over 4% before experiencing a correction. The increase can be attributed to the recent announcement of the Nightshade protocol, an update to its sharding design. The upgrade aims to provide better network scalability by introducing stateless validation.

Stateless validation is a key component of the Near Nightshade 2.0 protocol, allowing validators to verify transactions without storing all data on the blockchain locally.

Meanwhile, ImmutableX’s IMX has been on the rise over the past 24 hours, shooting over 10%. The token’s growth has been steady over the past week, extending weekly gains to 17% and bringing its price back above $1.32.

Trillion-dollar asset manager Franklin Templeton OnChain US Government Monetary Fund (FOBXX) also launched on the Avalanche network on Thursday.

“Bringing the Benji platform to the Avalanche network further expands access to our first-of-its-kind tokenized money market fund,” said Roger Bayston, Head of Digital Assets at Franklin Templeton.

Simultaneously, Grayscale Investments also announced the launch of an Avalanche trust fund that provides clients with price exposure to the AVAX token.

“The launch of the Grayscale® Avalanche Trust highlights Grayscale’s continued commitment to providing investors with innovative opportunities to access exciting developments in the crypto ecosystem,” said Grayscale’s Head of Product and Research, Rayhaneh Sharif-Askary.

AVAX’s price reacted quickly to the announcements, rising more than 5% in the last 24 hours. The increase comes off the back of a heavy token unlock event that brought $196 million worth of AVAX into circulation this week.