After the sentencing of Sam Bankman-Fried to nearly 25 years in prison for his role in FTX’s financial mismanagement, attention shifts to his former associates. The cryptocurrency world eyes the upcoming Bitcoin halving, expected between April 18 to April 22, 2024. Blackrock’s Ishares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) sees its holdings skyrocket past 252,011 BTC. Ethena announces […]
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The next Bitcoin halving is on the horizon, drawing closer with each passing block and anticipated to take place anywhere between April 18 to April 22, 2024, at the milestone of block 840,000. Following this event, the reward for mining a block will halve from 6.25 bitcoins to 3.125 bitcoins. The following is a thorough […]
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After rising 5% in the last day, Bitcoin (BTC) is now rapidly nearing the coveted $60,000 mark. This is because investor interest in the largest cryptocurrency in the world has reached levels last seen during a 2021 boom, bringing it very close to its all-time high.
The increase in price coincided with a surge in demand as spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) achieved trading volumes of over $3 billion cumulatively on Tuesday. Additionally, other traders cited the anticipated April bitcoin halving as the source of a fresh narrative that spurs a pre-halving increase.
The world’s most sought-after digital asset’s market cap has now reached $1.2 trillion, Coingecko data shows.
Bitcoin fast approaching the $60K level. Source: Coingecko
Joel Kruger, a market strategist at LMAX Group, stated that the market is “that much more determined to see the level retested and shattered” now that bitcoin is that much closer to retesting its record high.
Due mostly to the euphoria surrounding a number of spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds that began trading in January, bitcoin has increased by as much as 16% this week and 35% so far this year.
Bitcoin market cap currently at $1.16 trillion. Chart: TradingView.com
Bitcoin reached its highest level since November 2021 when it surpassed $59,000. The objective of the present surge is to see if the price can rise to $68,790, its all-time high. Six months before a stunning crash in 2022, that peak occurred.
According to Coinglass data, futures bets on lower bitcoin prices have taken on $25 million in liquidations since Asian morning hours, which could have contributed to the price rise.
In the meantime, on Wednesday, the Fear and Greed Index—a sentiment indicator that measures how quickly asset movement deviates from underlying fundamentals—flashed 82, signaling “extreme greed” and hitting its highest level in more than a year.
Source: Alernative.me
A scale of 0 to 100 represents the most anxious and 100 is the most greedy on the index. According to the index’s creators, an environment that is hungry is indicative of exuberance and shows the market is due for a correction.
Since the ETFs started trading on January 11, Bitcoin has increased by 24%. The current upward trend in pricing, according to Bitwise Asset Management analyst Ryan Rasmussen, is merely the beginning.
“The demand that ETFs are generating for the spot bitcoin market is substantially greater than the daily production of fresh supply,” he stated.
In the end, Rasmussen stated:
“What we’re witnessing is cryptocurrency kind of rising from the ashes of the 2022 market.”
The volume of bitcoin trades made thus far this quarter has exceeded the totals for each quarter of 2023 for the same period. Major cryptocurrency trading platforms like Coinbase Global (COIN) and Robinhood (HOOD) have benefited greatly from this activity. Between the start of January and now, those stocks have increased by 27% and 31%, respectively.
Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView
Disclaimer: The article is provided for educational purposes only. It does not represent the opinions of NewsBTC on whether to buy, sell or hold any investments and naturally investing carries risks. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use information provided on this website entirely at your own risk.
The Bank of England (BoE) is a step closer to launching its central bank digital currency dubbed “Britcoin” following the conclusion of a trial study called Project Rosalind.
The Bank for International Settlements and the BoE launched the joint experiment in July 2022 to explore how prototypes of an application programming interface (API) could be implemented in retail CBDC transactions.
A June 16 report that summed up phase two of Project Rosalind found a CBDC could make payments between individuals cheaper and more efficient while allowing firms to create new financial products that work to reduce fraudulent financial activity.
Overall, the study developed 33 API functionalities and explored “more than 30 retail CBDC use cases.”
In addition to looking at how a CBDC would function on smartphones, retail vendors and online stores, the study also explored the concept of “programmability” — a term that refers to customizing digital money to behave in specific ways once certain conditions are met.
CBDC programmability has been met with considerable skepticism, as critics claim a CBDC could be programmed to “work against” those who use it.
Overall, the study concluded a “well-designed” API layer could enable a central bank to interact with the private sector to “safely provide” retail CBDC payments.
Project Rosalind, from the #BISInnovationHub London Centre & @bankofengland, explored how a universal and extensible #API layer could connect central bank and private sector infrastructures and facilitate retail #CBDC payments pic.twitter.com/kDeo0yhrsR
— Bank for International Settlements (@BIS_org) June 16, 2023
“The Rosalind experiment has advanced central bank innovation in two key areas: by exploring how an API layer could support a retail CBDC system and how it could facilitate safe and secure CBDC payments through a range of different use cases,” said Francesca Road, head of the BIS London Innovation Hub in a press release.
Despite the positive findings yielded in Project Rosalind, BoE Deputy Governor Jon Cunliffe said a final decision on if the country would launch a CBDC is still “some years” away.
Related: Privacy should be considered in ‘potential retail CBDC’ — Treasury official
According to a June 16 Bloomberg report, Cunliffe told attendees of Politico’s Global Tech Day conference that the odds of a CBDC project going ahead currently stand at “seven out of ten.”
On the same day the findings from Project Rosalind were released, enterprise blockchain Quant Network announced its role as a vendor in the study. The announcement saw the price of Quant’s native QNT (QNT) token surge more than 20% from $96 to $117 within 12 hours.
Magazine: Bitcoin is on a collision course with ‘Net Zero’ promises
