Mid-cap cryptocurrencies like Pocket Network (POKT), Livepeer (LPT), and Moonwell (WELL) defied gravity on Friday, recording some of their biggest gains even as Bitcoin and other altcoins plunged. This article examines why these three tokens surged and whether they have further upside potential ahead.

Pocket Network Price Surges Ahead of Upgrade

POKT price formed a God candle and surged by almost 500% on Friday. This rally brought Pocket Network’s market cap to over $144 million.

Pocket rallied as investors awaited the upcoming Shannon upgrade, scheduled for June 3. This upgrade aims to expand and optimize the capabilities of Pocket Network to become fully permissionless and support a wider range of data types.

It is common for cryptocurrencies to rally ahead of a major upgrade. Most recently, tokens like IOTA and EOS jumped ahead of their upgrades. The risk, however, is that these tokens often plummet after the upgrade occurs and the hype dissipates.

READ MORE: LINK Price Crashes as Chainlink Whales Dump, Exchange Reserves Dip

Livepeer Price Surges After Upbit Listing

Livepeer is one of the top crypto projects in the video industry. The network has created a platform that enables developers, creators, and broadcasters to integrate live and on-demand video into their platforms easily. Its tools make it easy to encode video through a decentralized infrastructure.

Livepeer price surged by 123% on Friday after dYdX and Upbit listed it. Tokens always surge whenever they are listed on Upbit, as it is the largest crypto exchange in the South Korean market. It is also well-known that South Koreans are some of the top crypto traders in the industry.

However, in most cases, cryptocurrencies often plunge after the initial hype following an exchange listing.

WELL Price Surged as the DeFi TVL soared

Moonwell is a top player in the decentralized finance (DeFi) industry. It is an AAVE rival that enables users to earn yields and borrowers to borrow money. Moonwell existed in the Polkadot network for years without getting traction.

This changed when it expanded to the Base network. Today, it has emerged as one of the biggest players in the ecosystem. It has accumulated millions of dollars in TVL, a figure that has continued rising this year. 

The WELL price also jumped due to its high staking yields. It earns an annual APY of 16.3% on Base, 2.9% on Moonbeam, and 8.1% on MoonRiver.

Moonwell price also rose ahead of its entry into the Optimism Superchain, which will make it easy for users to send tokens across various chains.