Bitcoin’s Rollercoaster at $69,000 and the Prospects of a New ATH: This Week’s Crypto Recap

This week saw Bitcoin ping pong between two very important levels. This choppy price action resulted in hundreds of millions worth of liquidated leveraged positions. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization has remained relatively unchanged since last week, hovering around $2.45 trillion.

As mentioned, Bitcoin’s price has been ranging between two very important levels – the $69K and $65K. The week started off well and the cryptocurrency was even eager to break above $70K. However, the bears took control on Monday and pushed the price down toward $67,000 before initiating another leg down later in the week and going even lower – toward $65,000. That’s where the important 200-day moving average is located.

The bulls, however, staged an impressive recovery and were able to push BTC back toward $69K – more or less where it is found right now, at the time of this writing.

It’s also important to note that Bitcoin’s network soared to a new all-time high in terms of mining difficulty, highlighting the competition among miners to produce new blocks.

Elsewhere, following eight long months, Nigerian authorities finally dropped the money-laundering charges against Tigran Gambaryan – an executive at Binance. Gambaryan has reportedly left the country.

In more exchange-related news, Kraken, one of the leading trading venues in the US, announced that it intends to launch its very own blockchain in 2025. This follows the move of Coinbase, which launched Base – currently the most popular Ethereum layer-two scaling solution.

The US Presidential elections are also right around the corner. Brace for volatility because their outcome will surely have an impact on the crypto market.

Market Data

Market Cap: $2.45T | 24H Vol: $105B | BTC Dominance: 55.5%

BTC: $68,269 (-0.2%) | ETH: $2,543 (-3.8%) | BNB: $592 (-0.1%)

Screenshot 2024-10-25 at 17.57.17 — Source: Quantify Crypto

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t-Miss

Bitcoin Mining Difficulty Reaches New All-Time High. While bitcoin’s price has fluctuated quite a bit lately and lost some of its recent momentum, the network’s fundamentals have been gradually increasing. This became evident this week by the new all-time highs from the blockchain’s hash rate and the mining difficulty, making the network even more robust.

Nigeria Drops Charges Against Binance Executive Tigran Gambaryan Following Health Concerns: Report. After months of imprisonment, Nigerian authorities finally dropped all charges against Binance’s Tigran Gambaryan. However, multiple reports have emerged claiming that his health worsened a lot during his time behind bars due to lack of proper medical care.

Crypto Exchange Kraken to Launch Its Own Blockchain Next Year: Report. Following the footsteps of its US-based rival Coinbase, Kraken said it plans to launch its own blockchain in early 2025. Dubbed Ink, the new product would aim at decentralized applications for users to trade, lend, and borrow crypto without intermediaries.

Here’s When Alex Mashinsky Will Appear in Court for Fraud and Market Manipulation Charges. Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of Celsius, will appear in a US court on November 13. He faces numerous serious charges, including securities and commodities fraud, as well as market manipulation.

Ripple Submits Form C in SEC Case, Highlighting 4 Key Issues: Details. Ripple Labs has answered the SEC’s most recent appeal in their ongoing legal battle, highlighting four key issues the agency has failed to address in the past four years. The main take is that the Commission has failed to provide specific guidelines on which (if any) cryptocurrencies are actually securities.

Expanding M2 Money Supply Signals Potential Extended Bitcoin Bull Market. The growing M2 money supply suggests that BTC’s price could be primed for another massive long-term rally, according to analysts. The prediction is based on historical performances, as bitcoin shot up during the M2 supply expansion in 2017 and 2020/21.