Tag: Price

Bitcoin Hash Rate Spikes to All-Time Highs

by Blockchain News

Bitcoin has been making headlines lately, as its price continues to rise, and the hash rate of the network has reached all-time highs. According to data aggregator YCharts, Bitcoin’s network hash rate hit 398 terahashes per second (TH/s) on March 23, a significant increase from 335.32 TH/s on March 26. This surge in hash rate is being attributed to various factors, including unused mining inventory coming online, new facilities going live, and entrepreneurs finding cheap sources of mining.

Sam Wouters, a research analyst at Bitcoin financial service provider River Financial, believes that the recent spike in hash rate is linked to the inventory of mining hardware that was brought online last year. He notes that while Bitcoin’s price was low, miners brought as much inventory online as possible, and the network reached maximum capacity. However, with the recent price surge and some time passing, more inventory has been able to go online, leading to the spike in hash rate.

Wouters also suggests that Hydro models are starting to enter the market, with “250+ TH/s per machine, which adds tremendous hash rate.” Similarly, a March 20 analysis from investment banking company Stifel shared a similar sentiment, speculating that miners are bringing hardware back online, which is leading to the increase in hash rate.

One company that is benefitting from the recent surge in hash rate is TeraWulf, a US-based Bitcoin mining company. According to its CEO, Ammar Khan, TeraWulf has been able to continue mining Bitcoin at lower price levels due to its efficient mining fleets. Khan explains that some have speculated that lower prices forced miners to shut down their rigs and wait for the BTC price to improve, but TeraWulf has been able to continue mining due to their low-cost energy sites.

Khan also notes that TeraWulf has the opportunity to expand its capacity by 80 MW at LMD and 50 MW at Nautilus. He believes that the recent price movement is an indication of the long-term value of the ability to expand at low-cost energy sites. However, he does not expect the network hash rate to continue to increase through the first half of the year, as there is a lag between when investment decisions are made and when that capacity comes online.

In conclusion, while the exact reason for the recent spike in hash rate is unclear, it is evident that Bitcoin mining is becoming increasingly profitable, and miners are taking advantage of the current market conditions. As more companies enter the market, and more inventory comes online, it will be interesting to see how the hash rate continues to evolve and how it impacts the price of Bitcoin.

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Crypto Prices This Week: Market Cap Stays above $1 Trillion, BTC, ETH, DOGE, SHIB, AR

by Blockchain News

The cryptocurrency market has posted a bullish performance, marking a good beginning this week. The market started to rally above the trillion-dollar mark towards the end of last month as the appeal for riskier assets increased amid the current bearish macroeconomic environment.

On Monday 02:46 am EAT (East African Time), the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies was $1.08 trillion, down 2.63% in the last 24 hours. The overall volume of the crypto market during the last 24 hours reached $64.26 billion, a 41.82% fall, according to data platform Coingeko.

With the new month remaining bullish for the landscape, here is a look at five cryptocurrencies investors should watch out for this week.

Bitcoin has maintained its good performance and was trading higher at $21,251.06 after losing 0.31% of its value over the past 24 hours. The flagship cryptocurrency hit a seven-week high on Saturday after a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report in October showed that the labour market remains surprisingly strong, even as the Feds pushes to cool down the economy.

The Altcoin market also continues to see similar bullishness. Ethereum’s price was down 3.26% compared to the prior week at $1,576, but the crypto’s performance has remained among the best this week. The token took advantage of the crypto market’s late push in October, surging all the way to $1,655 and trying to move closer to its $1,700 target. In a span of two weeks, ETH managed to rise by 30%, but the impacts of the Federal Reserve’s 75 basis point interest rate hike caught up with it and made it drop all the way down to $1,500 once again.

Meanwhile, Dogecoin was trading at $0.1243, down 3.17% in the last 24 hours but has gained 96.41% in the last 30 days. Elon Musk’s recently completed his $44 billion takeover of Twitter last week triggered the crypto’s bullishness.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) has also been doing well, with a 25% increase in the past two weeks, though showing consolidation in the past 24 hours, indicating a 2% decline. A lot of the growth that the two meme coins posted is because of the attention it got from Elon Musk buying Twitter. The wild thought that Dogecoin and Shiba Inu could be used on Twitter created massive buying pressure.

Arweave (AR) is also among the most profitable since last week and continues to do well currently. Its current uptake is associated with Meta as the tech firm is undertaking a massive Instagram revolution, requiring third-party crypto projects’ involvement in infrastructure solutions.

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Bitcoin Regains $25,000 since June, Bearish Tone Remains

by Blockchain News

The largest cryptocurrency, bitcoin, topped $25,000 on Sunday for the first time since June, with data on Bitstamp’s exchange hitting $25,050, the highest level since June 13.

The benchmark cryptocurrency was trading at $25,012 at 11:20a.m. Hong Kong Time, up over 1.5% during the intraday, according to CoinMarketCap.

Cryptocurrencies struggled in the first half of the year due to high inflation and the Federal Reserve’s policy of raising interest rates, with the prices of other tokens such as Bitcoin falling by more than 50% from their peaks.

The lower-than-expected U.S. inflation data in the past week means that inflation is not as severe as imagined, so the Federal Reserve may take relatively moderate actions to control high inflation, and Bitcoin will rise accordingly.

The CEO of Microstrategy, one of the largest bitcoin holders, tweeted: 

“This week, the benchmark interest rate reached 69.5% in #Argentina. It has increased by 1750bp in two weeks. The official inflation rate has surged to 71%. It is expected to exceed 90% by year-end. #Bitcoin is more than an investment. Bitcoin is hope.”

The Bitcoin “Fear and Greed index” is back at neutral for the first time since April 2022.

 

However, US “economist” Peter Schiff said the current Bitcoin trading pattern is still bearish.

As shown in the figure below, the bitcoin trend chart shows a double-headed and double-shouldered top. There is a rising wedge below the neckline. He said the current minimum support for bitcoin will be less than $10,000.

 

Crypto analyst Il Capo believes that the top of this bear market rally is very close, with new lows likely to follow, while most altcoins have encountered significant resistance.

“$25k reached, but no bearish signs yet on ltf. We could see another leg up to 25400-25500, but imo the top of this bear market rally is very close,” He wrote on his Twitter.

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Analysts Suggest Crypto Price plunge Could be Start of New Market Trend

by Blockchain News

After experiencing a great plunge in the crypto market, major tokens such as Bitcoin has been rebounded slightly.

Bitcoin has experienced a plunge below $30,000, a move that breached a symbolic price threshold. However, the flagship cryptocurrency later recovered from some of those losses, trading at $30,864.31 as of 07:17 am. ET, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Analysts have tried to explain what is happening in the capital markets. They have generally indicated that the plunge in prices could be the beginning of a new market trend, as Bitcoin’s valuation has fallen to its lowest level since November 2021.

Darshan Bathija, the CEO of Singapore-based crypto exchange Vauld, also said on Monday that: “In light of fears of rising inflation, most investors have taken a risk-off approach—selling stocks and cryptos alike in order to cut down risk.”

Meanwhile, Michael Novogratz, the billionaire crypto investor and the founder and CEO of Galaxy Digital Holdings investment management firm, warned that he expects things to get worse before they get better.

Novogratz stated some important revelations during Galaxy’s first-quarter earnings call on Monday: “Crypto probably trades correlated to the Nasdaq until we hit a new equilibrium. My instinct is there’s some more damage to be done, and that will trade in a very choppy, volatile and difficult market for at least the next few quarters before people are getting some sense that we’re at equilibrium.”

The dip marks the fifth consecutive day for Bitcoin witnessing a downtrend, a decline that has sent its price less than half of what it was at its all-time high of $69,000 in November.

Previously, July 2021 was the last time Bitcoin fell below $30,000 when the digital coin traded at $29,839.80.

Overall, major cryptocurrencies have also seen a significant drop from their positions in the last 24 hours and several coins crashed below support levels. Binance (BNB) has witnessed a huge plunge, 12.78% down; Solana token fell significantly by 14.77%; Ethereum was 7.06% down in the last 24 hours, trading at around $2,317.

The price decline comes amid the recent sell-off that has affected much of the cryptocurrency market and equities. In the last 24 hours, the global crypto market cap is drastically down by 9.83%. Also, the three most majorly followed stock indexes in the U.S. – the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite – fell to their lowest level since 2020.

On Thursday, the Federal Reserve stated that it would raise interest rates by half a percentage point —the largest increase since 2000—to battle inflation. US Stocks have been on a steady decline since the announcement.

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GameStop Shares Surges 26% after Announcing to Enter NFT and Crypto Markets

by Blockchain News

GameStop, an American seller of video games, consumer electronics and wireless services, said it is entering the Non-Fungible Token (NFT) market. After the announcement, GameStop’s shares on the Nasdaq exchange, GME, rose 26% in after-hours trading.

GameStop has hired more than 20 people to run its newly formed NFT division, according to the Wall Street Journal report on Jan. 6. The division will focus on building an online platform to support the buying, selling, and trading of gaming NFTs.

At the same time, it is about establishing key partnerships with two encryption companies to develop NFT games and develop blockchain projects jointly.

Non Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are a particular type of cryptographic token representing a unique digital asset that is not interchangeable. An NFT is used in specific applications that require unique digital items, such as encrypted art, digital collectables, and online games.

The company asks selected game developers and publishers to list NFTs on its marketplace later this year. At the time of writing, GME shares were up 23.04% at $161.22 in after-hours trading.

Last January, GameStop and AMC shares soared as retail investors teamed up on Wall Street stakes forum Redditors.

Robinhood, along with other trading platforms such as Ameritrade, has moved to cancel the purchase of GME after GameStop rocked the trading world, soaring to unfathomable heights after a group of Redditors pushed its value upon subreddit r/WallStreetBets.

Prominent hedge fund managers who are renowned short sellers of the GameStop shares are already at a loss amid the growing retail buyup of the shares.

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Bitcoin $100K possible by chipping away at gold’s market share: Goldman Sachs

by Cointelegraph

Bitcoin (BTC) failed to close 2021 above the long-expected $100,000 level, but experts believe the psychological horizon is still achievable by taking gold’s market share, albeit over a more extended period.

In a note released to investors on Tuesday, Goldman Sachs co-head of global FX and EM strategy Zach Pandl hypothesized that if the largest cryptocurrency could overtake 50% of the store of value market share over the next five years, BTC price would increase to just over $100,000, marking a compound annualized return of 18%.

While the current market cap of BTC is close to $884 billion, Goldman Sachs estimates the float-adjusted market cap of Bitcoin is under $700 billion, accounting for one-fifth of the “store of value” market. The said market is not crowded, though. The only other participant of Goldman’s store of value market is gold, with an available investment at $2.6 trillion.

Despite its ups and downs, Bitcoin still managed to top Goldman Sachs’ 2021 return scorecard with over 60% yearly returns. Gold is placed at the bottom in the same chart with a 4% yearly loss.

Yearly returns scorecard. Source: Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

Related: Wait-and-see approach: 3/4 of Bitcoin supply now illiquid

Goldman Sachs experts believe that the demand for BTC will not be harmed by the hot debate surrounding the Bitcoin network’s energy consumption. While a recent study claims the Bitcoin ecosystem consumes eight times the energy of Google and Facebook combined, New York Digital Investment Group estimates that Bitcoin mining will not represent more than 0.4% of global electricity consumption over the next decade.

As detailed in a Cointelegraph New Year Special, Bitcoin saw a bumpy ride over the last year. Many experts believed that $100,000 was an easy target for the flagship cryptocurrency for 2021. However, BTC closed the year around $47,000 after touching an all-time high around $69,000 in November, falling short of analysts’ ambitious target.