After a little over six months, Bitcoin has reached a new peak. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has managed to break the previous ATH set on April 14, and climbed above the $65K mark for the first time in its history.
Slow but steady wins the race
When Bitcoin reached its previous ATH of $64,816 back in April, the price of BTC surged from $59,000 to a new high in the span of fewer than 48 hours. This time around, the climb to a new peak valuation was a little tamer. BTC managed to break the elusive $60K level on October 15 and has since been slowly climbing towards a new high.
Bitcoin has reached a new ATH of $65,667.
The key catalyst for Bitcoin reaching a new ATH were the rumors of the first BTC futures exchange-traded fund (ETF) being traded in the United States, which pushed the price above $60K for the first time in six months. After almost a decade-long wait, the market welcomed the news with much enthusiasm. The rumors quickly turned out to be true as on October 19, the first-ever US BTC ETF debuted on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
Thanks to BTC’s immense rally, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization has increased to a new high of $2.59 trillion. It is interesting to observe how the market has changed in half a year since the last time Bitcoin hit $60K. Click here, to check our examination of the two distinct market periods.
Bitcoin is now up 40% in the last month and 134% since the beginning of the year. It might have seemed like an outlandish take, but Tone Vays’ prediction of Bitcoin reaching $100K by year’s end doesn’t seem as far-fetched anymore.
It took Bitcoin more than half a year to reach prices this high again
In April, the list of the top 10 cryptocurrencies looked a lot different than it does today
Altcoins and stablecoins have been gaining popularity over recent months
Are you wondering about how the market has changed since Bitcoin last hit $60K in mid-April? We’re taking a look at historical market data to see what has changed in the last six months.
Notable changes in the cryptocurrency top 10
Let’s start the comparison by looking at a list of the top 10 cryptocurrencies on April 12. The total market cap had just surpassed $2 trillion a few days before, and Bitcoin was trading above the $60K mark for the second time in history at that point.
Like now, the trio of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB) was occupying the first three spots on the list of largest digital currencies. The first thing that jumps out is that Ethereum was trading far below today’s levels as it had an 80% lower market value than it does today.
Market snapshot of top ten cryptocurrencies on April 12. Image source: CoinCodex
Bitcoin dominance was approaching new heights as Bitcoin went on to reach its all-time high price of $64,800 just two days later, on April 14. The 4th to 6th spots belonged to XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), and Tether (USDT). Polkadot (DOT) was trading near its all-time high, while Litecoin (LTC) was experiencing a strong rally that pulled its price from $196 on March 25 to $250 on April 12. ChainLink (LINK) and Stellar (XLM) rounded up the top 10 list.
Altcoins have gained ground on Bitcoin in the last six months
We’re fast-forwarding to October 15, when Bitcoin managed to again break $60K on the heels of positive news surrounding the first-ever ETF launching in the US. The same trio of cryptocurrencies still sits at the top; however, both ETH and BNB now enjoy a much high market cap. Ethereum’s London hard fork that went live early in August is mainly responsible for the almost 80% price increase.
Market snapshot of top ten cryptocurrencies on October 15. Image source: CoinCodex
The remainder of the list has seen some significant changes in the period of the last six months. For starters, XLM, LINK, and LTC have slipped out of the top 10 and have been replaced by newcomers to the list.
Solana (SOL) has managed to become the 7th largest digital currency by market cap after gaining a whopping 10,400% since the start of the year. Dogecoin is the first ‘memecoin’ to break into the top 10.
Stablecoins have been gaining popularity in recent months. USDT’s market cap has increased by a third, while USD Coin managed to join the group of 10 largest coins on a $21 billion valuation.
While Bitcoin has almost the same market capitalization in our two market snapshots, the total cryptocurrency market cap is 17% larger in October than in April. The reason for this is simple – altcoins have been gaining momentum. For reference, on October 15, Bitcoin dominance was 15% smaller than in April.
At the time of this writing, Bitcoin is exchanging hands at $63,840 and is just 1.51% removed from its previous ATH. Furthermore, the cumulative value of digital assets has reached a new peak above $2.6 trillion on October 19. Let’s see where this bullish momentum can take us and how it will shape the industry’s landscape over the next six months.
OpenOcean positions itself as the go-to place for best-priced cross-chain swaps. Its combination of margin pools for greater capital efficiency and intelligent wealth management services have attracted institutional interest. There is a vast ocean of liquidity in the cryptocurrency world, and OpenOcean makes it possible for anyone to dive right in.
The launch of OpenOcean V2, dubbed OpenOcean Atlantic, introduces a lot of new features. OpenOcean Atlantic runs across aggregated networks, including Binance Smart Chain, Avalanche, Polygon, Solana, and Fantom. There is also support for OKExChain, Tron, Ontology, and Heco. Later on, we will support Ethereum. Users will benefit from maximized returns outperforming any other DEX aggregator on the market. More importantly, all of these benefits are accessible free of charge.
OpenOcean Atlantic implements a superior algorithm and protocol upgrade set to trade for the best possible returns. The algorithm leverages multiple parameters, such as better price, lower gas fee & slippage, and optimized routing. As a result, users no longer need to worry about these aspects and potentially higher fees from exploring alternative routes. Instead, OpenOcean Atlantic will ensure you get the most out of each swap.
The OpenOcean Atlantic solution underwent rigorous testing by the team. Over 4,587 test cases on BSC were conducted to determine if the higher-than-expected returns kept up. The result is showing Atlantic is better in 60% of the cases, giving it a strong competitive edge over other leading DEX aggregators. The OpenOcean team experimented with its native solution, ParaSwap, and 1inch across multiple batches with different trade volumes across different blockchains to conduct the tests. Even when tests were conducted in parallel, OpenOcean Atlantic came out top of the class rather regularly.
Beyond the OpenOcean Atlantic upgrade, the team has also enhanced the routing algorithm, front page, and roadmap. The trading terminals will be overhauled soon and offer enhanced features. For example, a future update will bring stop-loss and limit orders to OpenOcean Atlantic, removing the need for users to wait around or certain market conditions. Another addition to look forward to in the future is grid trading for volatile assets.
Furthermore, OpenOcean continues to make continuous tweaks and improvements to its products and services. The focus lies with improving spot trading and derivative aggregations, two features that will benefit traders globally. The team also explores opportunities for margin trading to enable greater capital efficiency in this trading segment.
Launched in September 2020, OpenOcean has achieved numerous milestones since then. The technology stack has run smoothly for over a year and currently aggregates ten networks and over 50 exchanges. Moreover, there are over 350,000 active addresses on the platform. OOE, the native utility token, launched in July 2021 and is used for governance voting, trading function and services, and supplying liquidity.
About OpenOcean
OpenOcean is a one-stop full chain aggregation protocol that acts as a bridge between DeFi and CeFi. It eliminates the fragmentation that exists within the DeFi ecosystem by giving users access to the entire crypto market via a single, user-friendly interface. Users enjoy full access to aggregated liquidity and best pricing from a wide range of centralized and decentralized exchanges.
Galaxy Digital, a cryptocurrency investment firm founded by prominent billionaire investor Mike Novogratz, has announced it raised $325 million for Galaxy Interactive investment fund. The funds will go towards blockchain-powered games, finance, and other nascent technologies.
Key takeaways:
A little less than $150 million out of the total $325 million have already been invested or designated for the fund’s new portfolio companies.
According to Sam Englebardt, general partner of Galaxy Interactive and co-founder of Galaxy Digital, the fund is searching for companies and projects that have the biggest probability for success given that “younger generations are moving en masse from the physical to the digital world.”
Englebardt added: “There has never been a better time to focus on the intersection of content, finance and tech, and we’re fully dedicated to leading the charge in growing this sector.”
Galaxy Interactive’s existing portfolio consists of more than 60 companies, including Mythical Games, Genvid, Immutable, GreenPark, Current, and StockX.
CEO of Galaxy Investment Partners, Mike Novogratz, offered high praise for Galaxy Interactive leadership: “They were the first people to pound my desk insisting that gaming and digital objects – which weren’t even called “NFTs” yet would provide the biggest opportunity for blockchain technology to scale.”
Generally speaking, the crypto gaming sector has been on a massive upswing in 2021. In last month alone, the number of unique wallet accounts connected to gaming smart contracts increased by 64%, while non-fungible token (NFT) and DeFi-specific wallets recorded only 6% and 3% increases, respectively.
The month of October is here – a make it or break it month for Bitcoin price. The leading cryptocurrency by market cap has reached a pivotal resistance level. Breaking above it, could mean a phase of full-blown Bitcoin FOMO and cryptocurrency mania.
PrimeXBT analysts have provided a research-based retrospective explaining how the current market environment and coming changes in those conditions could spur widespread investor speculation.
Here is a closer look at the Bitcoin mania that could soon unfold.
Bitcoin, And How Investors Behave During Bubbles
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies exist solely in the virtual world, which has made them challenging for many to come to terms with. The fact they’re a new type of technology that isn’t backed by governments is a strange concept to others. Until the asset becomes truly mainstream as a currency, cryptocurrencies will remain a speculative asset class – for now.
The stock market, housing, and just about anything else at all can form a bubble that eventually bursts, causing a return to mean and a period of rebuilding. Speculative assets do the same, but tend to go far beyond the semi-realistic valuations of other traditional assets.
These sharp changes in price happen abruptly. For example, Bitcoin grew 375% from $4,000 to $20,000 in only three months. Within a year, Bitcoin had retraced back to $3,000. Such moves aren’t always healthy for the asset, market, or investors, but that’s just the way market participants behave during such bubbles.
Supply Shock Narrative Worldwide To Cause BTC FOMO
Adding fuel to the fire of what’s to come, the supply of BTC on exchanges is at historic lows. The 21 million hard-capped supply of BTC is already tiny by comparison to the trillions of US dollars that were produced in 2020 and 2021 alone.
The supply shock narrative could soon become the narrative of all things across the rest of the quarter. US Secretary of Treasury Janet Yellen warned US citizens about the coming holiday season, cautioning people to expect serious supply issues and to not be alarmed. All markets work in a state of supply versus demand, and if supply is limited, and demand is high, prices on all consumer goods could soon skyrocket.
Conditions created by the pandemic continue to create a strain on society that isn’t going away anytime soon. When the hysteria over not being able to buy, or even afford, the goods that Americans once took for granted, a flight of US dollars into literally anything else could happen.
Smarter investors will put that money into crypto versus luxury items and other goods. The complete lack of available BTC one exchanges while the world goes into a mass buying frenzy, could fuel what is ultimately the last let up in Bitcoin’s bull cycle, and fulfill its destiny of reaching $100,000 or more.
PrimeXBT Bitcoin Price Retrospective: What Do Technicals Suggest?
Looking back at price action, courtesy of PrimeXBT’s research retrospective and free built-in charting tools, each Bitcoin cycle thus far has culminated between late November and mid-December.
Each cycle also ended with the monthly RSI above a reading of 70, which typically would indicate overbought levels. During the peak of a bull market, however, assets can stay overbought for an extended period.
Note that in the chart above, the current cycle more closely mimics Bitcoin’s earliest cycle, where mania arrived after a previous high was taken out. The monthly RSI bounced precisely at the 70 level, resulting in a bearish divergence that was ultimately proven valid, leading to Bitcoin’s longest bear market on record.
After such a beating, Bitcoin’s next cycle stayed elevated above 70 for nearly a full year. With Bitcoin a bit more bullish during the most recent cycle, a reading of 70 came early, but so did a correction. Bitcoin price is back at a reading of 70 on the monthly RSI, just as a new parabolic curve seemingly builds another base.
Benefit Best From Bitcoin Mania With PrimeXBT
PrimeXBT traders have the most control over the outcome, whatever it ends up being. Leveraged long positions can make the final phase of the bull run more profitable than otherwise possible, while a well-timed short position near the top could prove to be an even bigger trade.
In the right hands, the award-winning and advanced trading tools can make the most out of the opportunity that possibly lies ahead. Users can buy BTC, trade synthetic contracts on crypto, forex, stock indices, oil, gold, and more, all from a single, secure account protected by bank-grade security.
Personalized services are offered to novices and professionals alike through a dedicated account manager and 24/7 live customer support. A help center and company blog also include valuable market insights, with useful charts like the one provided above.
On Sunday, Polkadot founder Gavin Wood announced there are 18.9 million DOT reserved in treasury for ecosystem development
The new development fund will help boost blockchain development on the Polkadot network ahead of parachains going live in December
The price of DOT has increased by 290% in the last three months
Polkadot founder Gavin Wood has recently taken to Twitter to announce the 18.9 million DOT development fund worth approximately $776 million at current market rates. The funds will go towards “building, improving, educating,” according to Wood.
Polkadot treasury funds will be distributed according to what the community deems most valuable
The co-founder of Ethereum and creator of Polkadot and Kusama has said that the allocated funds will be used on “ideas” that the “Polkadot governance believes valuable.” Polkadot treasury collects funds via “transaction fees, slashing, staking inefficiencies,” according to the project’s documentation.
The @Polkadot treasury currently has 18,936,300 DOT (DOT, not USD – do the math) in it ready to spend on *your* ideas for building, improving, educating and indeed, anything else that the Polkadot governance believes valuable.
Active stakeholders can propose infrastructure improvements, marketing campaigns, community outreach events, software development goals, and more. However, the Polkadot Council, consisting of 13 members, has the final say on how the treasury funds are ultimately spent.
The announcement of massive ecosystem investment comes on the heels of Polkadot parachain auctions news from last week. The first parachain auction will begin on November 11 and is slated to last seven days. The market has responded very positively to the reveal of auctions schedule as the price of DOT experienced a sharp increase and had gained more than 20% in the span of four hours on October 13, and reached the highest value in the last five months.
DOT is currently trading at $41.1 and is slowly nearing its ATH price of $49.6 that the currency reached mid-May.
Parachains are customized blockchains designed to feed into the main blockchain. Because they are tailored to project-specific use cases, parachains can achieve greater throughput while retaining cheaper transaction fees than the main blockchain.
The $770 million development fund will likely encourage developers to begin creating Polkadot-specific blockchain projects, which will help boost the overall ecosystem activity to new heights ahead of the first batch of parachains launching on December 15.
17th quarterly burn was the largest in terms of dollar value, surpassing 15th burn by over $44 million
Binance plans to eventually remove half of BNB supply from circulation and decrease total supply to 100 million BNB
Over its four-year-long life span, BNB has grown to become the 3rd largest digital asset
Binance has announced the successful completion of the 17th quarterly token burn, which forever removed 1,335,888 BNB (equivalent to $639,462,868) from circulation. The largest cryptocurrency exchange has burned more than 30 million BNB via its token burning program, worth approximately $14.7 billion at current market rates.
BNB burn program will continue until 50% of the total supply is removed from circulation
When BNB was created in 2017, 40% of the total BNB supply was reserved for the Binance team. The team’s 80 million BNB allocation has been used exclusively for scheduled quarterly burns and nothing else. Binance’s goal is to remove all of the team’s BNB from circulation and decrease BNB’s total supply to 100 million coins, down from the initial figure of 200 million.
More than 1.33 million BNB have been burned in the latest quarterly burn. Image source: Binance
The 17th token burn was more significant than the 16th one, both in terms of BNB burned and dollar value. Additionally, the latest BNB burn was the largest quarterly event in USD figures, ahead of the previously largest 15th burn by more than $44 million. In terms of BNB tokens destroyed, the 14th burn still reigns supreme, with over 3.6 million tokens removed from circulation.
Binance Coin was launched via an initial coin offering (ICO) in July 2017. Out of 200 million tokens, 50% was allocated for public sale, 40% to the founding team, and the final 10% went to so-called angel investors. Binance uses a fifth of its quarterly profits to buy and burn its native tokens, which increases scarcity and ups the value of BNB.
On this day four years ago, BNB was trading near its all-time low, at $1.33 per coin. Since then, the price of BNB has increased by a staggering 36,616%. BNB is the 3rd largest digital asset with a market cap dominance of 3.19% and a market valuation of $83 billion.
While many centralized exchange tokens were hit hard by the news of China banning crypto, Binance’s BNB has shown its resiliency and remained mostly unaffected. Furthermore, the recently launched Binance Smart Chain Growth Fund has contributed to BNB’s stellar performance this year. Despite BNB losing almost 30% since its ATH in mid-May, it remains one of the best-performing crypto assets of 2021, up 1,223% YTD at the time of this writing.
Press Release: Chimeras successfully raised over $2 million in its latest fundraising round, which will help to fund the play-to-earn project’s market and product development.
October 18th, 2021 – The Chimeras Play-to-Earn metaverse project has completed its funding round with the participation of leading blockchain venture companies, including, amongst many others, Master Ventures, AU 21, Poolz, BullPerks, X21, OIG Invest, Panda Capital, Shima Capital, LVT Capital, Otis Capital and Lotus Capital. The round successfully raised over $2 million which the Chimeras team has earmarked for the metaverse’s product development and marketing campaigns, including the launch of its brand native token, CHIM.
The team is also announcing the upcoming Chimeras initial DEX offering (IDO) on the Ignition, Poolz, and BullPerks platforms. The Poolz platform IDO will take place on October 26th, followed by the Ignition and BullPerks IDOs two days later on October 28th. Additionally, Chimeras are in the process of negotiating with one more IDO platform – the details of which will soon be shared on social media. After all IDOs have taken place, CHIM will be available to trade freely in the cryptocurrency market.
A Strong In-Game Economy
CHIM will have a maximum supply of 75,000,000 CHIM, with the initial supply allocated between its team, leading blockchain-focussed funds, advisers, users who are part of the Chimeras metaverse and farming pools. Users will be able to use these pools to provide in-game loans, as well as generate interest and other rewards.
The token will also form the backbone of the in-game economy, allowing users to exchange in-game assets such as land and NFT-based items. Users can also spend CHIM on content creation and the maintenance of in-game assets.
About Chimeras
The Chimeras project is a Play-to-Earn metaverse that takes the Free-to-Play approach of allowing players to earn on the content they generate in-game and the actions and feats they accomplish. The core concept of Chimeras is a thrilling mobile game with integrated DeFi farming and NFT tokenization that revolves around a fantasy world filled with cuddly creatures – Chimeras.
Chimeras includes a well-developed backstory that engulfs players with its lore. The vast fantasy world of Chimeras is populated with farmers, alchemists, merchants, killers, landowners, and socials. The islands and archipelagos of the metaverse stretch out in the middle of a boundless world ocean, with some islands having owners, while travelers and merchants surf the expanses of the universe in search of adventures and profitable deals. The game also includes combat elements, as warriors are eager to fight worthy rivals in arenas, while scientists compete for the breeding of the most amazing creatures in their laboratories.
The players are rewarded with NFT-based items or CHIM tokens that can be used to breed the creatures, trading, building the virtual land plots in the game, as well as in battles. The gamers can buy and sell everything, including trade reagents, resources, and creatures at auctions, while more peace-loving players can live on the rent they generate from the ownership of numerous islands.
The team behind Chimeras has immense experience in the industry. This includes professionals in BlockchainDev, GameDev, and Marketing, all focussed on creating a tier-1 entertainment crypto-game. More than 30 specialists implement cutting-edge practices to develop successful gaming solutions and focus on entertainment as the core throughout the entire gameplay.
For more about Chimeras and the launch of its native token CHIM, visit their main website here.
Media Contact Details Contact Name: Yuliya Prekrasnova Contact Telegram: @ChimerasPR
CHIMERAS is the source of this content. This Press Release is for informational purposes only. The information does not constitute investment advice or an offer to invest.
ProShares’ Bitcoin ETH will be the first exchange-traded fund in the United States. The soon-to-be-launched Bitcoin ETF will be traded under the ticker BITO. BITO will provide Bitcoin exposure to US-based investors that feel at ease buying stocks and ETFs but are not prepared to use cryptocurrency exchange to acquire digital assets.
Key takeaways:
The blockchain community has been waiting for almost ten years, more precisely since the Winklevoss brothers filed the first BTC ETF application in 2013, for the first Bitcoin ETF to begin trading within the borders of the US.
In Monday’s press release, Michael Sapir, the CEO of ProShares, stated that the launch of the first Bitcoin ETF will be a historic milestone for the industry, similar to the first equity ETF launch in 1993.
Sapir also added that BITO will provide “exposure to BTC to a large segment of investors who have a brokerage account and are comfortable buying stocks and ETFs,” but are not prepared to create a cryptocurrency wallet account.
On October 15, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Proshare and Valkyrie’s BTC applications, citing “significant investor protections” as the main reason for their decision.
While the regulatory agency has approved ETF based on futures contracts trading, it remains to be seen whether coin-based ETF will be approved in the near future.
The review of VanEck’s BTC ETF proposal is scheduled for November 14. It will be interesting to see how the SEC handles the review process now that future-based Bitcoin ETFs are here.
