The Bitcoin price has just hit a 13 month high above US$9300 – here are 10 promising new signs this bull run isn’t about to end anytime soon.
1. Binance closing to US customers boosts the Bitcoin price
The news that Binance is booting US customers off the seventh largest exchange on CMC is bad news for altcoins, but great news for Bitcoin.
US traders make up around a third of its user base – and numerous altcoins have their largest markets on Binance.
US traders are pulling their altcoins off Binance out of necessity, while others who believe a coin will no longer be available in the US (BNB, VET, WTC, etc) are considering cashing out to Bitcoin to avoid a potential price slump.
“If you hold ‘small caps’ in Binance and are concerned about the news, maybe because you are a US resident who fears getting funds stuck without KYC, or maybe because you think ahead, yet want crypto exposure, what do you do?” asked crypto economist Alex Krüger.
“Sell everything, buy $BTC (or $ETH), exit Binance.”
2. Bitcoin hash rate sets new all-time high
Data from Blockchain.com shows the Bitcoin network hash rate (the computing power required to secure the network) topped 62 million tera hashes per second on Friday – surpassing the previous record of 61.9 million set in August 2018.
3. Daily Bitcoin addresses top one million
The number of Bitcoin active daily addresses are once again above one million. Despite the increased usage, transaction fees haven’t increased that much and are currently averaging around $1.33.
Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst from eToro, argues that network fundamentals are the best indicators of BTC price movements.
4. Bakkt will begin testing Bitcoin price futures in July
The Intercontinental Exchange’s Bakkt platform will begin testing its two futures contracts on July 22.
Bakkt’s futures differ from CME’s in that they are ‘physically settled’ so customers will actually receive Bitcoin, rather than the equivalent amount in cash, on the contract’s expiration.
Bakkt’s futures contracts were announced to launch late last year, then delayed until early this year, but now look like they’ll finally happen.
5. Flight of capital from Hong Kong boosts Bitcoin price
The ongoing unrest in Hong Kong – which has seen a million protesters taking to the streets against proposals to extradite ‘criminals’ back to China – is believed to be helping boost the Bitcoin price.
Wealthy Hong Kong residents are moving their money offshore to prevent meddling by Chinese authorities who will be able to ‘freeze funds related to crime’ under the new laws. Reuters reported one tycoon has moved $100 million to Singapore.
“As Hong Kong’s wealthy look for a place to move their funds it’s likely that a significant proportion will find that parking their money in cryptocurrencies would be the safest way to avoid Chinese authorities,” writes BeingCrypto.com
6. Facebook’s crypto puts the focus on why Bitcoin is better
Facebook has billions of users and this week it emerged they’d signed up giant companies including PayPal, Uber, Mastercard, and Visa to its new cryptocurrency.
Not only does their embrace of crypto validate the technology, but it also draws a huge amount of free publicity to the king of cryptocurrency Bitcoin.
Users will no doubt notice Bitcoin’s many advantages which include having no connection to a multinational giant that has no respect for privacy and will track every single transaction you make.
Caitlin Long wrote in Forbes, “Facebook’s cryptocurrency will turn out, in the end, to be a Trojan horse that benefits bitcoin … (it) will greatly accelerate the pace of teaching people about cryptocurrencies.”
7. Coinbase Custody nearing $2 billion in assets
Coinbase’s plan to bring $10 billion of Wall Street money into Bitcoin and crypto is on track, with the leading US exchange hitting $1.3 billion in institutional assets under custody.
Coinbase Custody is only available to investors with more than $10m in deposits.
“Coinbase Custody is a regulated, insured and secure custodian. We have $1.3b AUC and expect to hit $2bn soon. We have no intention of stopping there.”
3/ “There’s a narrative out there that institutional-grade services don’t exist in crypto. This isn't true. Coinbase Custody is a regulated, insured and secure custodian. We have $1.3bn AUC and expect to hit $2bn soon. We have no intention of stopping there.”
— Coinbase Institutional 🛡️ (@CoinbaseInsto) June 13, 2019
8. Weiss Ratings upgrades Bitcoin to a ‘B’
Bitcoin is the highest rated coin on Weiss Ratings and it’s just been upgraded again, from a B- to a B (when the ratings began it was a C+ sparking outrage).
The king of crypto has been rating a solid A for ‘tech/adoption’ for some time but the risk/reward score (which obviously all cryptocurrencies are seen as risky) has just been bumped up to a C-, giving Bitcoin the overall B rating.
9. Grayscale reports find instability boosts Bitcoin price by 47%
Grayscale’s research department has just updated its “Hedging Global Liquidity Risk with Bitcoin” report that shows during periods of economic instability – including Grexit, Brexit, Chinese economic woes in 2015/16 and the recent US/China trade war – Bitcoin does rather well.
In the most recent occurrence in May when President Trump slapped high tariffs on Chinese goods, Bitcoin jumped 47%.
“We have identified evidence supporting the notion it can serve as a hedge in a global liquidity crisis, particularly those that result in subsequent currency devaluations.”
The Chinese Yuan is currently trading at lows last seen in December 2018.
10. Jack Dorsey says Bitcoin is the Internet’s native global currency
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has been buying $10k a week of Bitcoin this year – and given he’s no fan of Facebook, its probably not surprising he’s also backing Bitcoin as the one true global internet currency.
He says the principles behind BTC are “very pure”, it’s a scarce resource that’s deflationary and it’s been resilient over ten years.
“I haven’t seen any other currency that would challenge it across the dimensions that I think are really important,” he told Quartz this week.