Crypto Scoop: ETH reaches new ATH, Bitcoin dip continues

Exciting updates this week! Here are the highlights:

• ETH reaches new ATH
• BTC dips by 13%
• Goldman Sachs may join crypto space
• DOT overtakes XRP

Ether reaches new All-Time High

Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency reached an ATH of $1,438.30 on Binance Exchange on Tuesday, surpassing its previous ATH record of $1,432.88 in January of 2018. This has put the market value of all ether in the world to about $160 billion.

The price surge of ETH might have to do with the latest data from Messari which records an increase in the volume of daily transactions on the Ethereum blockchain by $12 billion in January. Another reason for the ETH price rally could be the low volatility of BTC in the last couple of days which has led to the rise in demand for altcoins with lower volume and liquidity.

Bitcoin drops by 13% despite continued demand

Although bitcoin kicked off the new year with an ATH well past the $40k mark, the price has since dropped and started off this Tuesday at $36,483. This happened despite continuous buying from investors like Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the biggest publicly traded crypto investment trust, which purchased a total of 16,244 BTC ($607 million) on Monday. 

According to Glassnode, the number of addresses holding at least 1,000 BTC has skyrocketed to a new lifetime high of 2,438 yet on Wednesday, bitcoin took another dip by $2,600 and was down for the third day straight as it slipped below the $34,000 level.

On Thursday, bitcoin fell to $31,470, its lowest price since January 11 and its largest daily loss in ten months. It went further down as low as $28,850 in the early hours of Friday before bouncing back above $30k.

Goldman may be joining the bitcoin space

For years, many of the popular traditional banks have expressed their distrust for bitcoin and cryptocurrency. In 2017, JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon had called bitcoin a fraud and as at last May, Goldman refused to recognise cryptocurrency as an asset class. While some banks have since cosied up to bitcoin, Goldman Sachs has been a noticeable holdout but it seems that the bank can no longer dismiss the coin as it prepares a crypto custody strategy.

Similarly, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager is adding bitcoin futures to two of its funds. This is the first time the company has mentioned bitcoin in any of its filings considering the fact that three years ago, BlackRock’s CEO referred to bitcoin as an index of money laundering.

The filing for the two funds, BlackRock Global Allocation Fund and BlackRock Strategic Income Opportunities Portfolio, state that “certain funds may engage in futures contracts based on bitcoin.”

DOT overtakes XRP as the fourth-ranked crypto

DOT, the native token of the Polkadot network has become the fourth-ranked crypto after setting an ATH of $19.24 last Saturday with its market cap standing at $16.8 billion surpassing the market cap of Ripple (XRP) by $4 billion.

However, its price has since dipped, putting the token in a range of $15.13 to $18.06, leaving its current market capitalisation at about $13.7 billion.