Another day another all-time high Bitcoin hits 24K in weekend surge

Another day, another all-time high — Bitcoin hits $24K in weekend surge

Bitcoin hits a fresh all-time high of $24,210 on Coinbase as volatility ensures the weekend bulls are not yet done.


Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            DEC 19, 2020

Bitcoin (BTC) set a new all-time high on Dec. 19 as markets continued to deliver surprises in weekend trading.

BTC price just hit another all-time high

Data from Cointelegraph Markets and Tradingview showed BTC/USD just eclipsing its record level set this week, reaching $24,210 on Coinbase before reversing.

Volatility was high as the previous all-time high of $23,777 just gave way before resistance kicked in once again. According to exchange orderbook data, sellers are ready at $24,000, with that area now forming a psychological barrier currently under attack from bulls.


BTC/USD hourly chart (Coinbase). Source: Tradingview (Click image for larger view)

"Let's go, another all-time high during weekend hours?" Cointelegraph Markets analyst Michaël van de Poppe tweeted, keenly eyeing the renewed energy in Bitcoin markets.


Bitcoin exchange buy and sell areas (white = more orders). Source: Material Indicators (Click image for larger view)

Trader warns $18.5K still support to watch

The move continues a trend that has developed in recent weeks, significant price action occurring during weekends rather than strictly during the week.

On Saturday, meanwhile Van de Poppe urged caution, arguing that crucial support still lay much lower on the BTC/USD chart at $18,500.

"Such vertical rallies aren't sustainable for long. Thus, a correction will occur at some point. However, predicting when it happens is anyone's guess as Bitcoin may easily run to $30,000 and then see a 30% correction," he summarized.

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Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by William Suberg.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

OneCoin marketing guru in plea talks

OneCoin marketing guru in plea talks

The "public face of OneCoin" is in plea talks for a range of charges


Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            DEC 19, 2020

According to court reports from Friday, yet another suspected player behind the OneCoin ponzi scheme is now set to face justice.

On Friday, counsel for marketing guru Karl Sebastian Greenwood and US prosecutors informed Manhattan Judge Edgardo Ramos that the two sides are currently discussing a plea deal for Greenwood, who was indicted in 2018 for charges relating to his involvement in the OneCoin Ponzi scheme.

Greenwood — who is currently facing five charges including money laundering, fraud, and conspiracy — was described in previous civil litigation as the “public face of OneCoin.” Greenwood was responsible for pitching OneCoin and soliciting new investments in the project, which eventually defrauded billions from investors worldwide.

The indictment alleges that Greenwood "made false statements and misrepresentations soliciting individuals throughout the world […] resulting in the receipt of over $1 billion of investor funds”. The marketer operated out of Sweden during his time with OneCoin, and was arrested in Thailand in 2018.

Greenwood is in jail in Manhattan as he awaits his trial or a possible deal. The mastermind behind OneCoin, Ruja "Cryptoqueen" Ignatova, remains at large.

The OneCoin case and its aftermath has proven to be one of the messiest in crypto’s history, and a movie based on the events is set to enter production with star Kate Winslett, along with a separate BBC series in the works.

Additionally, despite the ongoing litigation Greenwood should consider himself lucky: Ignatova’s personal lawyer Mark S. Scott was disbarred in November following his conviction for money laundering, and two other marketers involved with promoting OneCoin were found dead after a reported kidnapping in July.

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Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Andrew Thurman.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Messari Values Coinbase At Nearly 30 Billion As The Bitcoin Exchange Prepares To Officially Go Public

Messari Values Coinbase At Nearly $30 Billion As The Bitcoin Exchange Prepares To Officially Go Public

By Brenda Ngari – December 18, 2020

Messari, a cryptocurrency data and research provider has valued Coinbase at close to $30 billion. This comes after the San Francisco-based crypto exchange filed all the necessary documents for an IPO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Coinbase Confirms SEC Registration

The crypto exchange made the announcement in a December 17 tweet and an accompanying blog post which reads,

“Coinbase Global, Inc. today announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The Form S-1 is expected to become effective after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions.”

In the tweet, Coinbase clearly indicates that the firm is set to complete an Initial Public Offering (IPO) subject to regulatory review.

Speculations about an IPO from Coinbase have been swirling for months since July of this year. Back then, it was rumored that Coinbase was considering a stock market listing and was already having serious discussions with law firms and various investment banks but had not filed any paperwork with the SEC.

Although Coinbase has not revealed a specific date, the recent update confirms the rumors and suggests that the exchange could be going public very soon.

Messari Tags Coinbase’s Valuation at $28 Billion

As Coinbase gets ready for a public offering, Messari is estimating the exchange’s current valuation to be $28 billion. The research firm analyzed various aspects of Coinbase including its trading volumes, debit cards, and assets under custody to arrive at this ballpark figure.

In October of 2018, Coinbase was valued at $8 billion after a fundraising round. Messari, however, believes the firm now has a $28 billion valuation. Regardless, it will be a huge IPO and it will allow more institutional and retail investors to get exposure to cryptocurrencies.

A strategist at Messari noted that an IPO would not only benefit Coinbase but also the crypto industry at large:

“This listing is important even for Token valuations as Coinbase will provide a valuation anchor — not only for future equity listings — but also for crypto-native exchange tokens.”

Perfect Timing?

Coinbase’s submission with the SEC is especially notable because it comes at a very interesting time in the crypto space. Basically, the exchange announced the registration just a day after the world’s oldest cryptocurrency leaped past the $20,000 mark for the first time in history.


BTCUSD Chart By TradingView (Click image for larger view)

Bitcoin’s meteoric rise has drawn a lot of attention from mainstream media across the globe and the entire financial world. Thus, Coinbase could be capitalizing on the spotlight that has been placed on bitcoin to position itself as Wall Street’s go-to bet on cryptocurrencies.

It should, however, be noted that Coinbase is not the first blockchain-focused company to launch an IPO. Other firms like Marathon and Canaan have also gone down the road of a public offering. There are also reports that San Francisco-based blockchain payments firm Ripple is considering going public.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Brenda Ngari and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Millionaire Bitcoin addresses go parabolic as BTC price crosses 20K

Millionaire Bitcoin addresses go parabolic as BTC price crosses $20K

Early BTC miners with the foresight to hodl have now become millionaires.


Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            DEC 17, 2020

Bitcoin’s (BTC) parabolic run has turned early miners into millionaires at a pace rarely seen before. Data from Glassnode shows that the number of Bitcoin addresses holding at least $1 million has skyrocketed to 66,540 this week — an increase of 150%.

The rise of millionaire wallets is attributable to early miners retaining their Bitcoin over the years, culminating with the asset's latest surge above $20,000.

As Glassnode tweeted on Thursday:

“$BTC crossing $20k has turned all early miner addresses (50 BTC block rewards, unspent or lost) into millionaire addresses.”

The tweet was accompanied by a chart showing the number of millionaire addresses at or near record highs, with the last major peak coinciding with Bitcoin's late-2017 top:


The number of BTC addresses holding at least $1 million by Glassnode (Click image for larger view)

Bitcoin’s rally intensified on Thursday, zipping through $23,000 with very little resistance. On-chain data suggests another parabolic move could be imminent as BTC enters a new phase of price discovery. At current values, Bitcoin has a total market capitalization of nearly $430 billion.

While early Bitcoin miners benefited from larger block rewards, they were operating in a market that was highly speculative and much more volatile than today. Today’s miners receive only 6.25 BTC per block but have greater assurances that their efforts will be rewarded as Bitcoin evolves from an obscure, esoteric concept to a mainstream digital asset.

As Cointelegraph recently reported, cryptocurrency mining has evolved from a small endeavor to an industrial business as more entities look to capitalize on Bitcoin’s network infrastructure. Institutional inflows have made mining the digital asset more appealing than ever before.

Currently, miners produce roughly 900 BTC per day — a quantity that is being quickly consumed by institutions and businesses, many of which are recent adopters.

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Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Sam Bourgi.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

The Coinbase IPO is coming according to SEC filing

The Coinbase IPO is coming, according to SEC filing

Coinbase has sent draft registration to the SEC, leaving a future IPO in the commission's court.


Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            DEC 17, 2020

One of crypto's most-anticipated initial public offerings is one step closer.

On Thursday, Coinbase announced that the firm had sent its draft registration for a public offering to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company wrote that:

"The Form S-1 is expected to become effective after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions."

Per its last valuation, Coinbase was worth $8 billion, but that was in 2018. As it stands, the firm is one of the biggest names in crypto and has a reputation for working well with U.S. regulators, two factors that have long put Coinbase as one of the frontrunners in the race for crypto's major IPOs.

However, the S-1 in question is confidential for the time being, so information is limited to Coinbase's very brief announcement of the matter. Strangely, Bitcoin's price has, as of 21:20 UTC, slipped by over $600 since the announcement broke just over two hours ago.

Likely, this is not a problem for Coinbase, which sporadic service during times of major price action.

Though the draft is still awaiting the SEC's review, Coinbase has been eyeing an IPO for some time. Indeed, the whole crypto industry has been waiting for shares in any of the major exchanges to see public trading, but the rigors of SEC registration and the rich ecosystem of private investment have stalled that process. ASIC manufacturer Canaan Creative is maybe the most noteworthy crypto-centric firm to trade publicly, but its shares have seen lackluster performance since its IPO just over a year ago.

As of publication time, Coinbase had not responded to Cointelegraph's request for comment.

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Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Kollen Post.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Bitcoin Can Potentially Unseat Google Declares Pundit Following Global Outage

Bitcoin Can Potentially Unseat Google, Declares Pundit Following Global Outage

By Olivia Brooke – December 16, 2020

At 12:00 pm UTC on Monday, Google users experienced a shut down as the company’s services were inaccessible for a short period of time. Although at 12:30 pm UTC the services were back up. This still did little to suppress the massive impact that the 30 minutes service outage had caused globally. Users all over the world were quick to take to social media platforms like Twitter to express their inability to access YouTube, Gmail, Google web, Google Docs, and other related services.

Crypto-Twitter Weighs in

Crypto-Twitter was as usual not left out of the bunch as commentators and Crypto-Twitter personalities had a thing or two to say about the event, while others made noteworthy comparisons about both Google and Bitcoin. Meme lovers came in with the jokes, as usual, making slight jest of the service consumers, while others noted that Bitcoin’s decentralized nature could perfectly fix this problem.

One of the most notable takes was from CNBC’S Ran Neuner whose tweet hammered on the relevance of Bitcoin as a disruptive technology with the potential to easily unseat Google as it can already replicate most of Google’s existing services. The decentralized state of Bitcoin is also a plus in terms of reliability and transparency. Neuner noted that in terms of advancement, Bitcoin still seats in the first place despite Google lying on a market capitalization that holds an $844 billion value greater than Bitcoin’s current market cap.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s price was also not spared during the time of the shutdown, some commentators noted. According to the observers, prices took a decline and later made a correction immediately the glitch was fixed. But some Bitcoiners disputed this claim and attributed the fluctuation in price to regular market volatility.

Centralized Platforms may still have a major impact on Bitcoin

Regardless of what the case was, this could be an important reminder of the external effects that outages from centralized organizations like Google can have on decentralized assets like Bitcoin.

Like it or not, centralized tech platforms still possess a generous amount of control over Crypto-accessibility. Platforms like YouTube and Google search engine still play a significant role in accessing content, information, and applications centered around cryptocurrencies. In a situation that global users cannot access these platforms, the prices and overall value of crypto-assets like Bitcoin may actually suffer.

Although this reinforces the need for the decentralization that Blockchain brings to the web, competing against big dogs like Google will consume a good number of time and resources. Nonetheless, the future presents a generous room for an attempt.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Olivia Brooke and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Bitcoin Price Finally Climbs Above 20000 For The First Time Ever

Bitcoin Price Finally Climbs Above $20,000 For The First Time Ever

By Erie Maxwell – December 16, 2020

Bitcoin price is currently trading at $20,600 after a massive breakout above $20,000 for the first time in its history. The digital asset has peaked at $20,800 on Binance which suffered significant outages, mostly on its mobile application.

The flagship cryptocurrency is trading at $20,650 at the time of writing in what seems to be a healthy breakout during the past two hours. Bitcoin is now in the ‘price discovery’ zone facing no resistance above.


BTCUSDT Chart Via TradingView (Click image for larger view)

Most analysts remain bullish on the digital asset which has reached a market capitalization of $383 billion for the first time ever and has increased its dominance to 64.2% again. Several major cryptocurrencies have followed suit with XRP jumping above $0.50 again and Ethereum touching $620.

The total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency industry jumped by $20 billion within 1 hour reaching a two-year high at $598 billion.

Bitcoin Technicals Remain Heavily Bullish

When it comes to the majority of technical indicators, it seems that they still show investors should buy the digital asset. On the daily time-frame, the consensus is a ‘strong buy’ which can be seen across practically all time-frames.


(Click image for larger view)

The trading volume of Bitcoin and the entire market has spiked significantly in the past two hours, indicating that the breakout has a lot of strength. The next potential price targets for Bitcoin would be psychological levels located at $21,000, $22,000, etc.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Erie Maxwell and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Sygnum Becomes World’s First Bank To Tokenize Its Shares On DLT

Sygnum Becomes World's First Bank To Tokenize Its Shares On DLT

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 12/15/2020 9:12 AM ET

Swiss cryptocurrency bank Sygnum has successfully tokenized its shares, becoming the world's first bank to issue its shares on a distributed ledger. It is using a proprietary, institutional-grade tokenization platform called Desygnate to issues digital representations of shares and associated legal rights and obligations on blockchain.

The blockchain-powered Desygnate platform has been designed to be fully compatible with the new Swiss distributed ledger technology (DLT) law, which comes into force from February 2021.

The tokenization of its own shares lays the foundation for Sygnum's future public offering, which includes a potential dual listing across Switzerland and Singapore in partnership with SIX Digital Exchange (SDX).

Following the tokenization, Sygnum's share registry will continuously and automatically update itself whenever capital increases or share transfers occur, allowing the bank to manage primary and secondary market transactions in a fully digital manner.

This also eliminates the need for buyers to inform Sygnum to manually update its shareholder registry, and does away with lengthy cash settlement processes, thus minimizing counterparty risk.

Further, it eliminates the administrative burden of written form requirements for the transfer of shares between buyers and sellers, facilitating faster and more efficient secondary market transactions.

Sygnum will also leverage the smart contract capabilities of its tokenized shares to enable the full potential of stakeholder relationships.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Rich Dad Poor Dad author explains why Bitcoin will see 50000 next year

Rich Dad Poor Dad author explains why Bitcoin will see $50,000 next year

Robert Kiyosaki, the best-selling author of “Rich Dad Poor Dad,” says Bitcoin is heading to $50,000 in 2021.


Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            DEC 15, 2020

The Bitcoin (BTC) price is heading to $50,000 in 2021, says the best-selling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, Robert Kiyosaki.

Kiyosaki pinpointed that a “wall of institutional money” is coming to Bitcoin in 2021, which could push the price up further.

Why is Kiyosaki talking about institutional interest in Bitcoin?

Kiyosaki, who is also a real estate mogul and an investor in precious metals, has historically liked various stores of value including silver.

Based on the institutional inflow into Bitcoin, Kiyosaki noted that BTC below $20,000 is ideal, as $50,000 is the next target. He said:

“Glad I bought Bitcoin. Next stop $50k. Wall of institutional money coming 2021. Buy below $20k. If you missed Bitcoin, buy silver. Silver set to move due to AOC’s Green New Deal. America in trouble. Future bright for gold silver Bitcoin and entrepreneurs.”

If Bitcoin hits $50,000, its market cap would reach $928 billion, which is around 10.3% of gold’s market cap compared with the current 2.9%.

Bitcoin is in a favorable position to rally in the upcoming months because of its low correlation with the stock market.

Traditional safe-haven assets, like gold, often pull back when U.S. equities rally. In the case of BTC, it has shown a relatively low correlation with U.S. stocks. Hence, Bitcoin has seen sharp uptrends even when equities increase in value.


Bitcoin correlation vs. Gold, S&P500. Source: Digital Assets Data (Click image for larger view)

For instance, over the past 24 hours, Bitcoin price has increased by around 4.5%, recording a 6.5% gain at the day’s peak.

BTC rallied in tandem with gold, while the Asian markets slumped and U.S. stocks slightly retreated. Holger Zschaepitz, a market analyst at Welt, said:

“Asian stock retreated w/European and US Futures after a mixed Wall St session, amid caution over econ risks from virus-related curbs and ongoing US fiscal stimulus talks. Bonds gain w/US 10y yields [are less than] 0.9%. Dollar steady w/Euro at $1.2153. Gold rises to $1839. #Bitcoin at $19.1k.”

The lack of correlation between Bitcoin and U.S. stocks likely comes from two factors. First, when risk-on assets increase, BTC benefits from an overall rise in investor appetite.

Second, stocks have increased in recent months due to unprecedented central bank liquidity injections. Relaxed financial conditions benefit Bitcoin because investors move to hedge against inflation.

CME and Grayscale trading activity continue to surge

The CME Bitcoin futures market’s open interest is hovering at $1.07 billion, just behind OKEx and Binance Futures.

The data shows that institutional demand for Bitcoin is high to the point where institution-focused platforms are surpassing major retail exchanges in open interest and trading volume.

Grayscale has also surpassed $13 billion in assets under management on Dec. 15, indicating a large increase in institutional inflow into Bitcoin.

Institutions appear to be rapidly accumulating Bitcoin following the high-profile publicized investments from the likes of MicroStrategy, Square and MassMutual. Consequently, as Cointelegraph reported, this has led to aggressive dip-buying in both the futures and options markets.

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Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Joseph Young.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Bitcoin price tipped to consolidate before continuing bull run in 2021

Bitcoin price tipped to consolidate before continuing bull run in 2021

The Bitcoin price could stagnate until early 2021, various on-chain indicators show, as investors could take profit.


Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            DEC 15, 2020

The Bitcoin price (BTC) reached the $19,400 mark in the past 24 hours, which has served as a critical resistance level since the start of December. However, on-chain indicators show that the dominant cryptocurrency could stagnate or consolidate until early 2021. Although BTC is nearing its all-time high at around $20,000, there are compelling reasons to expect more sideways action.

On-chain analysts primarily explore two indicators to gauge the sentiment of an ongoing rally: the Spent Output Profit Ratio, or SOPR, and Long-Term Holder MVRV. The SOPR indicator shows whether short-term holders are selling at a profit or a loss. If SOPR increases, it means investors are selling at a profit, which typically means there is room for a minor correction. But if the SOPR decreases, it means retail investors are likely getting shaken out, and a trend reversal to the upside is likely.

The Long-Term Holder MVRV is an indicator that looks at whether Bitcoin is overvalued or undervalued. The MVRV divides the price at which investors are buying Bitcoin by the current market cap. It allows the indicator to gauge whether investors accumulate BTC at an abnormally high price, making the rally overheated. A rally becomes unsustainable if MVRV goes above 20.

SOPR and MVRV in action

Bitcoin is currently in an ideal position, where the SOPR indicator is signaling the likelihood of a further profit-taking pullback, while the MVRV is indicating a long-term rally. This trend is positive for BTC, since it shows that the overall uptrend would likely be intact even if a short-term correction or consolidation phases occur.

Willy Woo, an on-chain analyst and the creator of Woobull.com, said the SOPR has room to reset. Based on historical cycles, Woo noted that it could take until January to happen. Hence, at least in the near term, Bitcoin’s probability of consolidating or stagnating for a longer period remains high. While this does not mean that BTC would see a significant correction, it could result in lower volatility and a more cautious near-term price trend. Woo explained:

“Once SOPR starts declining, profit taking begets profit taking. We wait until all investors in profit who are going to sell to complete their sell off, when this happens, coins moving no longer carry profit, SOPR goes to 1.0, and we can move forward. ETA January perhaps.”

One positive factor that could offset a potential SOPR-induced sell-off in the short to medium term is the Long-Term Holder MVRV. Glassnode analysts explained that the MVRV is far from the danger zone, which previously marked local tops. For example, when Bitcoin hit an all-time high in December 2017, the Long-Term Holder MVRV surpassed 20. In contrast, this metric is currently at around 3.


(Click image for larger view)

Both SOPR and MVRV suggest that Bitcoin is still in the early phase of its bull cycle. SOPR is substantially lower than where it was during the 2017 peak, similar to MVRV. It goes in line with the narrative of a post-halving cycle, where Bitcoin tends to peak 12 to 15 months after a block reward halving occurs. If a similar cycle as the last halving in mid-2016 repeats, BTC could peak in mid-2021.

Glassnode analysts explained that the MVRV ratio is currently extremely bullish, adding: “When LTH-MVRV reaches the red zone (above 20), this generally indicates a global top. But as we can see in the chart below, Bitcoin’s LTH-MVRV is still very far from the red zone.”


(Click image for larger view)

If $20,000 breaks, a bigger rally could start

However, Bitcoin breaking past $20,000 is a possibility in the near term. There are mixed opinions about what comes next after BTC cleanly breaches its record high. Some believe there could be a blow-off top in the $20,000 to $21,000 range as euphoria peaks. Others say that retail interest in Bitcoin could begin.

There are two main reasons why the mainstream interest in Bitcoin would rise after BTC reaches a new all-time high. First, many retail investors lost large sums of capital in 2017 by buying near $20,000. As such, the all-time high remains a roadblock for many investors. Secondly, there is no historical ceiling for BTC above $20,000, so the price discovery period will likely begin.

A pseudonymous technical analyst known as “Crypto Monk” said a break of $20,000 presents the “max pain scenario”: “All those people who could have jumped in below $10k but decided to pass by targeting crazy low prices are now hoping for a massive pullback to get a second chance.”

Eric Thies, a cryptocurrency trader, told Cointelegraph that he expects Bitcoin to break $20,000. Thies said Bitcoin would likely see a newfound rally in January 2021 that would continue the ongoing uptrend after some consolidation:

“I’d expect with recent news of bank interest and continued retail growth, Bitcoin will soon be in the $20,000 zones and beyond. It’s no doubt we see continuation of this uptrend and birth of a new bull run. The best option for entries may come now in the $19,000 range or if we happen to break down from here, the entries will be quick to fill in $15,000 during these consolidation efforts. In January 2021 we will see new highs for Bitcoin.”

Alongside the historical significance of Bitcoin surpassing $20,000, on-chain data suggests that the number of BTC holders is generally increasing. On Dec. 10, the number of Bitcoin addresses with a balance reached 33.22 million, according to researchers at IntoTheBlock. This is a record high, and it suggests that the retail interest in BTC is increasing.

Atop the strong on-chain fundamental factors buoying the ongoing rally, the institutional demand for Bitcoin continues to increase. On Dec. 15, Barry Silbert, the CEO of Grayscale, said the firm achieved $13 billion in assets under management. This is indicative of increasing institutional appetite for an exchange-traded fund alternative among accredited investors in the United States.

The sustained institutional demand for Bitcoin has been crucial for the recent uptrend because it has made traders cautious in net-shorting BTC. The Bitcoin price was at risk of major corrections several times in the past week, most notably, the threat of a larger pullback to the $16,000 macro support area when the price fell under $18,000.

Yet, traders seem reluctant to short Bitcoin due to the unpredictability of institutions accumulating BTC. A pseudonymous trader known as “Bitcoin Jack” said that he doesn’t want to bet against the billionaires, adding: “A cash position is the moderate approach between downside risk mitigation and getting blown up to the up-/downside. Reality is that I don’t know what will happen from here. Big cash flows are entering Bitcoin.”

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Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Joseph Young.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe