Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies gain amid renewed market optimism
Bitcoin reached $30,000 on Asian afternoon trade on Tuesday, while all other top ten non-stable cryptocurrencies significantly strengthened their position in the past 24 hours amid renewed market optimism and Standard Chartered’s price predictions.
Bitcoin has also witnessed an impressive rally of 82 percent throughout this year. However, it may be important to note that it still has a significant distance to cover its peak value of $69,000, which it achieved in 2021.
Other cryptocurrencies are also experiencing positive movements in the market. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, has risen 1.45 percent to $1,883. Polygon’s Matic token, currently priced at $0.742, saw the highest surge compared to the other top 10 non-stablecoin cryptos at 9.43 percent. The significant increase may be due to Polygon Labs’ announcement of the Polygon 2.0 roadmap, which took place on June 30.
Solana and BNB have also witnessed significant gains, increasing over 6 percent in the past 24 hours. Solana currently stands at $22.11 after a 6.8 percent increase, while BNB has reached $247.20 following a 6.22 percent rise.
As previously implied, the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has strengthened by 1.64 percent in the past 24 hours, reaching $1.19 trillion. The volume of crypto market transactions has also surged by 44.7 percent, amounting to $33.02 billion.
The recent surge in the cryptocurrency market coincides with a series of applications for Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) from notable traditional finance companies in the U.S., such as BlackRock, WisdomTree, Invesco, and Bitwise. This signals their growing interest and the potential for general advancements in the digital currency landscape to the market.
CoinShares, a European investment firm specializing in cryptocurrencies, reported that investment products associated with cryptocurrencies experienced a net inflow of $136 million in the week ending July 7. This marks the third consecutive week of inflows and effectively reverses the previous nine weeks of outflows.
Bitcoin may reach $120,000 by the end of 2024
A previous Standard Chartered report predicted that Bitcoin would surge to $100,000 by the end of year. However, it failed to anticipate the significant impact of increased profitability for Bitcoin miners due to supply reduction. The revised prediction now envisioned the cryptocurrency to jump to $120,000 by the conclusion of 2024 — four times higher than its current price.
“Increased miner profitability per BTC mined means they can sell less while maintaining cash inflows, reducing net BTC supply and pushing BTC prices higher,” said Geoff Kendrick, head of crypto research at Standard Chartered.
Bitcoin mining requires significant energy, as miners use robust computer systems to validate transaction information on the blockchain. Miners generate profits by selling the awarded Bitcoin in the market. During high prices, miners can cover their expenses by selling a small portion of their Bitcoin while retaining a larger portion in anticipation of future price increases.
The upcoming 2024 “halving” event, which significantly influences the Bitcoin supply, is expected to change this. The event will reduce the maximum number of Bitcoin awarded to miners from 900 to 450 per day, virtually ensuring that the total number of tokens remains below the limit of 21 million.
“Going by the historical price patterns of Bitcoin, the bull run could come in 2025 or late 2024 after the next halving in 2024,” Rajagopal Menon, vice president of crypto firm WazirX, said.
