Market Wrap: Bitcoin Edges Up to $7.7K as Mining Power Rebounds
Bitcoin’s price is on the upswing, and so is the amount of computing power securing the network as a once-in-four-years event known as the halving approaches.
The world’s oldest cryptocurrency is up 12% over the past five days, and less than a percent over the last 24 hours, trading in $7,600-$7,700 territory Tuesday.
Bitcoin trading on Coinbase the past five daysSource: TradingView
The price for one BTC has been above the technical indicator 10-day and 50-day moving averages, indicating bullish sentiment.
Bitcoin trading on Coinbase since April 26Source: TradingView
Meanwhile, mining power is making a comeback from March lows. After a high of 121 exahashes, or millions of terahashes, per second (EH/s) in early March, the network dropped to 95 EH/s by March 19. The hashrate is now trending up again ahead of the halving.
Bitcoin network hash rate since 10/31/19Source: CoinDesk Research
Bitcoin’s March price bloodbath, with over $700 million in BitMEX liquidations triggered, likely contributed some to the March mining power dip as some machines became less profitable. However, bitcoin’s 19% gain over the past month certainly doesn’t hurt miners now.
Daily bitcoin trading on Coinbase since 10/31/19Source: TradingView
Despite the recent increase, network power will likely recede over time, according to John Lee Quigley, an analyst for MinerUpdate.
“Hashrate is expected to decline post-halving with industry professionals estimating decreases in the range of 13% to 60%,” Quigley wrote in an April report.
Vishal Shah, an options trader and founder of derivatives exchange Alpha5, sees inflows to cryptocurrencies broadly as one reason for bitcoin’s recent price appreciation.
“The past week at least appears to be spot-led and is indicative of some unlevered capital funneling into crypto in general,” he said.
Yet, as bitcoin’s price continues its rebound from March lows below $4,000, the real pop may not come until summer or fall.
“The real climb around halvings occurs months later,” post-halving, according toHenrik Kugelberg, a Sweden-based over-the-counter crypto trader.“I see no reason that will not happen again.”
The rationale for bullishness, while hotly debated, is that once the amount of supply entering the system every 10 minutes or so drops from 12.5 BTC to 6.25, unchanged demand should drive the price up.
“Both previous halvings had a very positive impact on bitcoin’s price, since they compress the supply and drive greater demand,” said Sebastian Serrano, CEO at Argentina-based crypto payments company Ripio.
Other markets
Digital assets on CoinDesk’s big board performed well Tuesday with nearly everything in the green. The second-largest coin by market cap, ether (ETH), gained 1% as of 20:25 UTC (4:25 p.m. EDT).
Big gainers included lisk (LSK) gaining 11.5%, stellar (XLM) climbing by 8.7% and xrp (XRP) jumping 8.4%. All price changes are as of 20:25 UTC (4:25 p.m. EDT).
Oil remains in turmoil, although only down 1.8% as of 20:25 UTC (4:25 p.m. EDT) However, the 30-day historical volatility of oil has been higher than bitcoin’s this month.
30-day volatility for various assets since AprilSource: CoinDesk Research
“The oil market implosion just reminds us that there are many skeletons in the traditional market closet, and a lot fewer in digital assets than many believe,” digital asset investment firm Arca wrote in its Monday letter this week.
Gold traded flat Tuesday and closed the New York trading session at $1,708.
“Gold has shied away from marking new highs with all the optimism going around,” said Mati Greenspan, founder of Quantum Economics, in an investor update, referring to gold’s role as a store of value in bleak times.
The S&P 500 index slipped less than a percent – down 10% year-to-date. U.S. Treasury bonds slipped – yields, which move in the opposite direction as price, were down with yields on the 2-year down 13.8%.
Europe’s FTSE Eurotop 100 index of largest companies in Europe ended its trading day in the green 1.6% amid positive news of pandemic lockdown easing.
In Asia, the Nikkei 225 index of Japanese stocks closed almost flat with losses in the transportation and real estate sectors.
The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.
This post is part of CoinDesk's 2019 Year in Review, a collection of 100 op-eds, interviews and takes on the state of blockchain and the world. Amir Taaki created libbitcoin, the first alternative bitcoin implementation, and has worked on the wallets Electrum and Darkwallet as well as privacy markets and decentralized technologies. He founded the…
news Cryptocurrency holdings are neither cash nor financial assets, but meet the definition of an intangible asset, at least according to an influential global accounting standards body. The Korea Times said in a report on Monday that according to the Korea Accounting Institute, the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) made such decisions after a…
Sep 15, 2020 at 16:00 UTCUpdated Sep 15, 2020 at 16:09 UTCBitcoin News Roundup for Sept. 15, 2020With BTC crossing into bullish territory and a new smart contract-powered tokenized DeFi Index, CoinDesk’s Markets Daily is back for your latest crypto news roundup! For early access before our regular noon Eastern time releases , subscribe with Apple…
Tokens of Solana, Avalanche and Injective surged as much as 20% in the past 24 hours as the meme coin trading frenzy extended into a third week on these networks.Solana’s SOL jumped 8% while Avalanche’s AVAX added almost 12% before giving back some gains. Dog-themed tokens dogwifhat (WIF) and bonk (BONK) trended on Solana, while
The Ramp Network has secured a virtual asset services providers (VASP) registration in Ireland.It plans to make Ireland its European headquarters and secure a license as a Crypto Asset Service Provider.14:50Rep. French Hill 'Rejects' Gensler's Argument Ahead of FIT21 Vote01:04Donald Trump-Themed Meme Coins Are Breeding Crypto Millionaires01:40SEC's Gensler Pushes Back Against House Bill; Crypto Exchanges
Jun 30, 2020 at 11:35 UTCFirst Mover: Bitwise Calls $50K Bitcoin Price When Market Calm Finally BreaksBitcoin has traded in an ever-tightening range for two months, and digital-market analysts say a new wave of coronavirus cases and emergency measures could provoke the largest cryptocurrency by market cap out of the doldrums. The backdrop is an anemic economy,…
Apr 22, 2020 at 05:00 UTCChainvine CEO Oliver Oram said COVID has thrashed his budget. "Everything has to be slashed at the moment because you don't even know where normality will come back.” (Credit: Loveandrock / Shutterstock)UK’s Tech Bailout Could Help Blockchain Devs Weather COVID-19 ShutdownBritain's tech startups are getting a tailor-made COVID-19 relief fund.On…
Nearly half of all corporate political contributions in the 2024 election cycle came from cryptocurrency companies, according to a Wednesday report from corporate influence watchdog Public Citizen. Public Citizen’s report, which was based on data provided by government transparency group OpenSecrets, found that, so far, 48% of corporate election spending has come from crypto companies
Solana (SOL) looks overvalued compared to Ethereum (ETH) based on several metrics, but each token's relative performance to each other and bitcoin (BTC) depends heavily on who will be the next president of the U.S., a Tuesday report by Standard Chartered Bank said. Led by Geoff Kendrick, the global head of digital assets research, the