Economy
Bitcoin Rips Past $20K as New Crypto “Whale” Emerges
Meanwhile, the price of Ethereum hit its highest level since May, 2018 …
For the first time in its lifespan, Bitcoin ripped past the critical psychological price level of $20k on Wednesday.
As of writing, the worlds largest largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is priced just above $20,700 …
The historic move comes two weeks after the price of Bitcoin briefly passed its pervious all time high made approximately three years ago before pulling back 8%.
While such a parabolic move from the March lows might bring back fears of a bubble, as was the case in the crypto market in 2017, Joseph Young of Cointelegraph argues that this time is different.
“This rally is different from 2017’s due to several reasons that could help BTC soar even higher. These include growing institutional demand, the increasing perception among investors that BTC is a store of value, and stronger network fundamentals,” Young wrote on Wednesday.
Young also points to the increase in the daily value transfered on the Bitcoin network and the increase in the network’s hash rate – a metric used to gauge network security – as strong reasoning for the increase in price:
As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin’s fundamentals are stronger than ever as the network is now moving $500,000 per second around the globe. In other words, Bitcoin transfers $4.627 billion in value per day.
The network is also ten times more secure than in late 2017, as the hash rate and mining difficulty both continue to hit new highs this year. The hash rate indicates how much computing power is being dedicated to validating Bitcoin transactions and securing the network.
As noted by Zero Hedge, on the same day Bitcoin finally breaks out above $20,000 we get more information on the interest institutional investors have for crypto as a hedge fund specializing in volatility bets has emerged as “one of the largest investors in Bitcoin.”
It’s oddly fitting that on the day bitcoin finally breaks out above $20,000 – a critical psychological level first established during the Dec 2017 meltup – we learn that a new and formerly unknown massive bitcoin whale, who just happens to be one of the most respected hedge funds currently operating, has backing from legendary traders and is a frequent guest on these pages – has been quietly accumulating a lot of bitcoin… some $1 billion worth.
According to Bloomberg’s Erik Shatzker, a hedge fund specializing in volatility bets – one which is very familiar to regular Zero Hedge readers – has emerged as one of the largest investors in Bitcoin after quietly buying more than $600 million in cryptocurrencies and joining forces with legendary trader Alan Howard, co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management.
Echoing what we have said repeatedly in recent months, namely that the next leg higher in bitcoin will come on the back of insitutional rotation into the cryptocurrency, Eric Peters, CEO of One River Asset Management, told Bloomberg he set up a new company to seize on the growing interest in cryptocurrencies among institutional investors. In addition to its initial purchases, One River Digital Asset Management has commitments that will bring its holdings of Bitcoin and Ether to about $1 billion as of early 2021.
Meanwhile, the price of Ethereum hit its highest level since May, 2018 …
Year to date, Ethereum is up over 370% …
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