Polygon, ripple, avalanche lead major cryptos in risk-on day, bitcoin climbs over $21K

After sharp declines across the board last week, polygon (MATIC-USD) +18%, ripple (XRP-USD) +13.4% and avalanche (AVAX-USD) +11.1% are perking up the most among major cryptocurrencies as investors widen their risk appetite. Bitcoin (BTC-USD) +3.6%, the world's largest digital token by market cap, is rising to over $21.2K as of shortly before 9:00 a.m. ET. BTC is up nearly 20% from its steep drop to $17.8K on June 18, but it's still off around 65% from its November peak of $67.9K amid a broad liquidity crunch in the crypto industry. Similarly, ethereum (ETH-USD) +9.3% is extending its recovery to $1.21K, though down ~75% from its peak of $4.81K in November. Ether fans are waiting for its upcoming transition from Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism to Proof-of-Stake in a move that's expected to improve transaction costs and the ability to scale. Recall that some big players in the crypto lending business, namely Celsius, have recently suspended customer withdrawals in the wake of turbulent market conditions. On top