Cryptocurrency update: BTC rally pushes crypto market above $2 trillion

Key tokens start the day with greens across the board, with Bitcoin and Ethereum leading the charge.

Cryptocurrency update

Global cryptocurrency market hits $2 trillion

With BTC and ETH reaching highs not seen for months, the total value of the global crypto market has exceeded $2 trillion for the first time since May.

Bitcoin crept above $48,000 on Monday morning, although it fell back towards $47,175 as the day progressed. Ether, which has strengthened on a successful network upgrade, is on a seven-day high after gaining 11% throughout the week. Cardano is up 53% across the last seven days.

It’s a good sign of market confidence in digital tokens. Bitcoin in particular had been experiencing a torrid couple of months recently. A strong sell-off in July, precipitated by falling token prices influenced heavily by China’s crypto crackdown, caused prices to dip below $30,000. Now, they’re rallying strongly and eyeing up the next resistance level.

During the BTC sell-off with prices at their lowest in July, the overall crypto market cap was around $1.12 trillion. Its peak, recorded in May when Bitcoin was trading at all-time highs, totalled $2.5 trillion.

There is still ground to recover. Volatility, however, is never far away from the world’s cryptocurrency markets.

While the bulls are feeling pretty good, there is still time for prices to go south again. Analysts predict the current BTC surge could top out at around $55,000. After that, the token may begin to fall away below $30,000 again.

The impact of the upcoming US Infrastructure Bill’s crypto tax provisions has yet to be truly felt.

That said, some are still optimistic. Others are predicting BTC hold its place above $40,000 and possibly over $50,000, going forward.

Singaporeans prefer Ether

A joint survey by digital token exchange Gemini, crypto market data analysts CoinMarketCap, and finance platform Seedly has revealed Singapore’s favourite coin: Ether.

78% of those surveyed by the group stated they hold onto Ether, compared to 69% that hold Bitcoin. Cardano was the third most popular token with 40% of respondents saying they had invested in it.

4,000 adults were surveyed as part of this study. 67% of respondents said they included digital tokens in their portfolios, and two-thirds of that group said they had increased their crypto holdings during the pandemic.

A fifth of those surveyed said that half or more of their investments are in cryptocurrencies.

Ether has been tipped to overtake Bitcoin as the world’s most popular digital token in the future. Many decentralised finance (DeFi) apps run off the Ethereum blockchain network, for instance, and users wishing to use said blockchain must pay a small fee in ETH to do so.

The network’s recent London Fork upgrade has introduced more user-friendly features, which may explain why ETH is rallying right now.

Still, with Bitcoin accounting for up to 68% of the total worldwide crypto market, Ether has some way to go before it can challenge for the top spot. It does appear, however, to be moving in the right direction – particularly if one nation’s traders and investors are seeing high potential in Ether.

The top five crypto-investing banks revealed

Institutional support for cryptocurrencies has been steadily building throughout the year, even with Bitcoin’s erratic price behaviour. Banks have stepped up their digital finance services and offers and been keen to grab their slice of the $2 trillion market.

A report from Blockdata has put together the 13 banks investing the most capital into blockchain networks and cryptocurrency wallets. Together, they represented over $3bn in investments. This includes token purchases and acquisition, as well as investment into tech companies and others in the digital finance ecosystem.

Blockdata said it reviewed banks in terms of size of funding rounds as a proxy of investment into the crypto space, saying it used that measure as banks participated in funding rounds with multiple or many other investors.

The top five crypto-investing banks as identified by Blockdata are:

• Standard & Chartered – $380m in 6 investments
• BNY Mellon – $321m in 5 investments
• Citibank – $279m in 14 investments
• UBS – $266m in 5 investments
• BNP Paribas – $236m in 9 investments

While the above banks represent those betting the most on the crypto sector, it’s starting to pick up steam amongst other financial institutions.

55% of the world’s 100 biggest banks by assets under management are investing directly or indirectly in companies and projects related to digital currencies and blockchain, according to Blockdata research.