Bitcoin Rallies During Market Turmoil
Bitcoin advanced to the highest level since early March, fueling optimism that the biggest digital token is finally breaking free of a longstanding tendency to move in tandem with US tech stocks. Bloomberg's Mike Regan has more. (Source: Bloomberg)
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Yahoo
6 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Defi Tokens Are Soaring, Leaving Behind OG Coins Like LTC, BCH and XMR
Bitcoin's surge to an all time high on Thursday evoked mixed reactions from altcoins, with some outperforming the largest cryptocurrency by market cap and others lagging behind. And that's split along industry lines. Tokens associated with decentralized finance (DeFi) and those from layer-2 blockchains are outperforming as investors transition to a risk-on approach. Others, such as tron (TRX), bitcoin cash (BCH), litecoin (LTC) and monero (XMR) are, in comparison, barely moving. Even solana (SOL), the darling of the previous drive to record highs, seems to be taking a back seat, rising just 3.9% while the likes of sei (SEI), ethena (ENA) and optimism (OP) are celebrating gains of as much as 28%. "Altcoins are leading the pack in this latest rally," Thomas Perfumo, Kraken's global economist, said in an email. A drop in bitcoin dominance is "reinforcing a broad-based rally with altcoins leading the charge." During the 2017 and 2021 runs to record highs, bitcoin dominance — a measure of BTC's share of the total crypto market —rose rapidly. On Thursday's rally, it fell to 63.5% from 64%, indicating a shift in emphasis toward the altcoin market Crypto markets are cyclical by nature. They run without interruption 24 hours a day against a backdrop of high volatility and low liquidity which can create an emotional trading environment. In previous cycles, altcoins often moved in unison, rising as bitcoin consolidated and dropping en masse when it rose or fell. This time, however, seems different, possibly due to the increased participation of institutions in the the industry. The rise in DeFi tokens can be attributed to increasing institutional interest in ether (ETH), which could pave the way for a search for yield with firms battling to secure the highest returns. The same can be said for layer-2 networks. As institutions run into the Ethereum blockchain's issues with latency and efficiency, they may consider networks like Arbitrum that allow liquidity to flow from decentralized exchanges to staking protocols at a fast rate. That network's ARB token is up 15% in the past 24 hours. Still, Petr Kozyakov, CEO at payments firm Mercuryo, said the rise in altcoins will be short-lived. "While altcoins are also in the green with Ethereum spiking past the $3,000 mark, the underlying 'orange pill' narrative remains steadfastly in place," he said. "Bitcoin's growing status as a store of value is one that more and more big players and institutions are simply unable to ignore." That's not a narrative that finds much support from Arthur Hayes, the BitMEX founder turned fund manager. 'Get ready for a monster alt season,' he told his followers on X after predicting that ETH would reach $10,000 this cycle. If Hayes' prediction holds true, bitcoin could face short-term difficulty as liquidity will inevitably flow into the altcoin market as traders attempt to capture speculative gains. This could also be a hammer blow to the old-school crypto coins, which all lack major catalysts for a boost. Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
30 minutes ago
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Dollar Has Lose-Lose Setup Out of US CPI: 3-Minute MLIV
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Yahoo
37 minutes ago
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Bitcoin Market Top Is 'Nowhere Near,' Say Analysts as Price Pauses at $120K
Bitcoin BTC cooled off during U.S. trading hours Monday after nearly topping $123,000 earlier in the session, but market top calls are premature, analysts said. BTC slipped below $120,000 late in the U.S. day, shedding most of its overnight advance, but holding on to a modest 0.6% gain over the past 24 hours. Ethereum's ether ETH slid back below $3,000, while dogecoin DOGE, Cardano's ADA ADA and Stellar's XLM XLM declined around 2%-3% on the day. Among majors, XRP XRP, SUI SUI and Uniswap's UNI UNI outperformed with 2.5%, 10% and 6% gains, respectively. Crypto-linked stocks also retraced some of their morning gains, with Strategy (MSTR) and Galaxy (GLXY) still higher 3%-4%, while Coinbase (COIN) gained 1.5% After BTC surged over 10% in less than a week and some altcoins advancing much more, prices may consolidate as some traders digest the move and realize profits. Still, this leg of the crypto rally is more likely in the early phases than towards the end, said Jeff Dorman, CIO of digital asset investment firm Arca. In a Monday investor note, he cited crypto analyst Will Clemente's observation about previous major tops like March 2024's spot bitcoin ETF-related peak and the Dec 2024/Jan 2025 frenzy surrounding the Trump election/inauguration, when open interest in altcoin derivatives flipped that of BTC "The current rally is nowhere near that," Dorman said. Volumes on both centralized and decentralized exchanges rose 23% week-over-week, but still aren't near to the levels during other broad-market rallies in the past, Dorman added. Looking at the big picture, bitcoin is being propelled higher by excessive sovereign debt and investors seeking refuge from monetary inflation, said Eric Demuth, CEO of Europe-based crypto exchange Bitpanda. He said BTC rising to €200,000 ($233,000), is "certainly a possibility," but the underlying adoption of the asset carries more importance than price targets. "What happens when Bitcoin becomes permanently embedded in the portfolios of major investors, in the reserves of sovereign states, and in the infrastructure of global banks?," he said. "Because that's exactly what's happening right now." In the next years, Dermuth expect bitcoin's market capitalization to gradually converge to gold's, currently sitting at over $22 trillion, nine times larger than BTC.
