Bitcoin is back in the driving seat. The leading crypto has made 2.5% gains over the past week, pushing the crypto market upwards as sentiment shifts in favor of the bulls.
The move comes on the back of macroeconomic news. Last Wednesday, the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates close to zero until 2023. Traditional safe-haven gold failed to capitalize on subsequent weakness in the dollar, but digital safe haven Bitcoin moved on upwards to flirt with $11,000.
Meanwhile, Ethereum is trading sideways. The smart contract platform has passed several network milestones in the last few days, yet the price hasn’t reacted.
This Week’s Highlights
- MicroStrategy and Grayscale Chase Bitcoin Gains
- DeFi Drives Daily Ethereum Transactions to All-time High
MicroStrategy and Grayscale Chase Bitcoin Gains
Two of the biggest Bitcoin buyers are facing off on Twitter. MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor tweeted on Tuesday that his firm has completed its purchase of a whopping 21,454 BTC, or 0.1 percent of the total supply.
This prompted another big buyer — Barry Silbert, founder, and CEO of Grayscale — to joke about a “buying race” between the two firms. Investment fund Grayscale, however, has had a significant head start. In April, the firm had already accumulated more than 1.7% of the total supply of BTC and was later said to be buying an average of 1,190 BTC per day.
DeFi Drives Daily Ethereum Transactions to All-time High
Ethereum has recorded the highest number of daily transactions ever, according to data from Etherscan. This is driven by the newfound popularity of decentralized finance, with the amount of value locked in DeFi apps now hitting all-time highs on the approach to $10 billion.
Meanwhile, competitor NEO continues its multi-week winning streak. The “Chinese Ethereum” is showing double-digit percentage gains as traders anticipate the launch of multi-chain yield farming app Flamincome. This is released today and will allow crypto traders to simultaneously farm yield across NEO and Ethereum.
The Week Ahead
In the coming week, market volatility could be sparked by rising tensions between China and its neighbors Taiwan and Indonesia. These territorial grievances are coming to the surface just as the U.S. ups the ante in its own battle over tech industry regulation.
On Friday, traders will be braced for the expiry of a big batch of Bitcoin options contracts. Data from Skew shows the number of open contracts is almost at an all-time high, and around half of them are due to expire on Friday. This could spark a sudden move as a large number of traders reposition themselves.