Amid a widespread price correction affecting the majority of the top 100 cryptocurrencies, one digital asset has defied the trend, surging to impressive heights. Nervos Network, along with its native token CKB, has not only recorded significant gains but has also climbed to the 79th rank in the market, raising questions about the factors behind its surge.

Nervos Network Decoded

Nervos Network is a proof-of-work (PoW) Layer 1 (L1) blockchain designed to optimize application-specific Layer 2 chains. The network aims to establish its native asset, CKB, as a more sustainable store of value (SoV) compared to Bitcoin (BTC) while providing a more secure smart contract platform than Ethereum (ETH).

Bitcoin’s capped supply and decreasing block rewards raise concerns about long-term economic incentives for miners. 

Notably, the Nervos Network tackles this issue by introducing a fixed annual secondary issuance of CKBs and the base supply, providing long-term incentives for miners.

Nervos Network also addresses the potential security risk associated with Ethereum. In Ethereum, the value of its native asset, ETH, is not directly linked to the value of Layer 2 apps built on top of it. 

Nervos Network aims to mitigate this risk by ensuring that CKB is used for transaction fees and storage, creating a stronger economic relationship between the native asset and the overall network.

How Secondary Issuance And State Rent Drive Sustainability

Nervos utilizes a perpetual secondary issuance model to increase CKB’s SoV properties. This model incentivizes users to continuously lock up CKB in proportion to the size of their applications. 

Furthermore, locked CKBs are subject to “state rent” through inflation, which automates state rent payments and ensures a sustainable economic model.

Nervos Network introduces a secondary market for chain space, enabling apps to unlock and sell CKBs without requiring relevant storage. 

Investors can offset inflation by purchasing CKBs and depositing them into NervosDAO, a mechanism that receives a portion of the secondary issuance to counterbalance inflation. Interestingly, this resembles “treasury bonds” and offers potential investment opportunities.

Approaching ATH Amidst Bitcoin Integration Announcement

Having delved into the fundamentals, CKB has recently experienced a significant surge in value, breaking out of a long consolidation phase that lasted almost two years. 

After trading in a range of $0.0024 to $0.0035, the cryptocurrency has broken through this price level since January 30th and has seen significant gains over the past few months.

Currently trading at $0.032, CKB is close to its all-time high (ATH) of $0.043, which was reached in March 2021. The token has seen notable price increases of 47%, 69%, 75%, and 14% over the past fourteen days, seven days, and 24 hours, respectively.

According to CoinGecko data, CKB has also seen a significant increase in trading volume, reaching $207 million in the last 24 hours, 9.7% from the previous day’s trading. 

In addition, CKB’s market capitalization has increased significantly, nearly doubling from $740 million on April 2 to approximately $1.35 billion in just over a week.

The price spike can be attributed to the announcement that Nervos Network’s CKB token will join the Bitcoin network. The token’s introduction of smart contract functionality, along with its interoperability and modularity features scheduled for 2024, has created excitement among investors.

As Bitcoin approaches the Halving that has historically increased its value, Nervos Network is well-positioned to benefit from its strong ties to the largest cryptocurrency in the market. 

With its continued bullish momentum and the predicted increase in BTC’s price, CKB may be poised to reach new all-time highs soon.

Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com