Crypto Digest. 08.10

Bitcoin continues to take new heights, today the coin briefly tested values ​​above $56,000. Then the market corrected slightly. Interest in BTC as an independent instrument is growing.

A JPMorgan report states that institutional investors prefer to invest in cryptocurrencies over gold. Most financial institutions now see bitcoin as a key inflation hedge.

There is also an increase in demand for the largest altcoin – ether. CoinShares surveyed investors and found that 42% of them consider ETH as a more promising tool even compared to the main cryptocurrency.

The updated rating of crypto exchanges is also noteworthy. In particular, the CME (Chicago Stock Exchange) significantly strengthened its positions in the futures market.

Trying to stay afloat

The October breakthrough turned out to be significant, and now Bitcoin is trying to gain a foothold in the won positions. On Friday evening, 08.10, the coin is trading at $54,800, its capitalization has grown to $1.043 trillion.

Ether rose in price to $3,612 (+0.97%). The rest of the top ten altcoins are losing value. Binance Coin (BNB) suffered the biggest losses, depreciating by more than 4% to $425. Cardano, XRP and Dogecoin (DOGE) retreated to $2.27, $1.08 and $0.247 respectively.

By the end of the week, market capitalization had fallen to $23.329 trillion. On the other hand, the Bitcoin dominance index is gaining amid a reduction in investment in other digital currencies. According to CoinMarketCap, this figure rose to 44.8%.

The WhaleMap team, which tracks whale activity, points to a strong Bitcoin support zone in the range of $30,000 to $40,000. There are several clusters in this area in which large investors purchased coins at prices up to $40,000. Accordingly, these whales will make every effort to prevent a large-scale drop in the value of cryptocurrency.

At the moment, the lion’s share of bitcoin addresses is in profit. This figure is close to 90%, according to the Glassnode report.

Is gold no longer trending?

Institutional investors, in the face of growing inflationary risks, began to switch to bitcoin. This conclusion was made by analysts at JPMorgan investment bank.

Their report says that the 35% increase in the cost of BTC this week only increased the demand for this instrument from hedge funds and asset managers. The key event was the breakout of the cryptocurrency above $50,000. According to the bank’s analysts, even gold is now viewed as a less attractive instrument.

The position of bitcoin is also strengthened by the lack of dependence of cryptocurrency on central banks. This is its main difference from fiat money.

In addition to inflationary risks, experts identified two more factors pushing institutionalists to invest in MTC. Firstly, it is an extension of the Lightning network, an additional blockchain for processing bitcoin transactions. Secondly, the cryptosphere was supported by recent statements by US leaders that Washington has no plans to ban mining and crypto transactions.

Despite the gigantic potential of BTC, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon still has a negative attitude towards digital currency. He has been criticizing bitcoin since 2017, calling it a scam. He also urges investors not to buy such assets.

Ether vs bitcoin: who wins?

CoinShares surveyed investors and found that 42% of them consider Ethereum to be the most promising cryptocurrency. Only 18% of survey participants believe in the great future of BTC.

Supporters of ETH argue that this altcoin will be able to bypass the leading digital currency in terms of capitalization. To do this, its value must soar by almost 140%. That is, the ether exchange rate needs to rise to $8,500, and the price of bitcoin during this time should at least remain unchanged, or better, decrease.

However, followers of military-technical cooperation are sure that such a scenario is practically excluded.

Kings of the bitcoin futures market

According to Skew, the Binance crypto exchange continues to hold the lead in both the spot and futures markets. It ranks first in the ranking of platforms in terms of the amount of contracts with bitcoin futures. The open interest for this product on Binance is $4.14 billion.

Recently, the Chicago Stock Exchange (CME) has noticeably strengthened its position. Open interest in BTC futures on this platform rose to $3.05 billion.

Next in the ranking are FTX, ByBit and OKEx with $3.03 billion, $2.33 billion and $1.68 billion, respectively.

Thanks to the bitcoin rally, the Chicago Stock Exchange was able to climb the list of the main trading floors for institutional investors. On this platform, open interest in futures increased by 17%. At the same time, futures premiums increased. This situation suggests that players expect BTC to continue growing at least until the end of this year.

Sources: CoinMarketCap, Twitter, CoinTelegrap, ByBt, WhaleMap, Glassnode, Bloomberg