This Metaverse crypto is up 70% in a week

The Sandbox weekly price surge

Late last week, The Sandbox (SAND) cryptocurrency associated with a ‘Metaverse’ project of the same name saw an unexpected and sudden upsurge that took it approximately 63.64% higher, from $0.044 to $0.072.

The rally continued one day later after a brief correction, bringing the token to $0.081 by October 3 and, even after the subsequent downturn to $0.073, SAND remains up 68.82% on the weekly chart.

Notably, the move is entirely attributable to three cryptocurrency exchanges – Upbit, Bithumb, and Coinone – lifting a trading caution designation from The Sandbox that they placed in August.

According to an October 2 Bithumb announcement, the decision was reached after the platform determined that the reasons for the warning had been resolved and announced a resumption of deposits and withdrawals later on that same day.

Context behind the August trading caution

Meanwhile, the August caution was implemented after an attacker exploited a bridge flaw on Coinbase’s (NASDAQ: COIN) Base platform and Binance’s BNB Smart Chain to mint an estimated $49 billion worth of SAND unbacked by Ethereum (ETH) deposits.

The Sandbox subsequently severed the bridges, cautioned its users against interacting with the two affected platforms, effectively leaving the majority of the attacker’s cryptocurrency stranded, and set a 1:1 compensation plan for the affected users.

According to the August 22 announcement, SAND on Ethereum and Polygon was not affected.

Market outlook and long term trend

Lastly, The Sandbox cryptocurrency rally appears entirely disconnected from the wider moves across the market that started with the August upsurge.

Indeed, barring the sudden upswing following the removal of the caution designations, SAND has spent the last five years on an almost-continuous downtrend.

At its press time price of $0.073, The Sandbox is 98.98% below the all-time highs (ATH) above $7 that were briefly reached in 2021 and is 78.84% in the red on the yearly chart.

Furthermore, the latest surge was not accompanied by a meaningful uptick in user activity in the relevant ‘Metaverse’, meaning the move is all but guaranteed to remain ephemeral.