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Last weekend, Bitcoin surged up to $9,381, soaring over 7% in 24 hours, meaning that bitcoin’s market cap reached $165 billion – the highest so far in 2019. Since bitcoin breaking the $8,000 mark in May, it has continued its upward movement, although there have been some pullbacks.
Why did bitcoin manage to rise above $9,000? Here are 5 factors that may be contributing to the surge.
BTC Hash Rate Sets New All-time High
Data from Blockchain.com shows that the BTC network hash rate – the computing power required for transaction confirmation and network security – topped 62246627 TH/s – surpassing the previous record set in August 2018. In addition, the number of transactions also reached the second largest number ever at 364,000 – with the largest being 452,000, hit in May this year. According to some analysts, there is a positive correlation between Bitcoin’s hash rate and price.
Market News – Bakkt’s BTC Futures Trading Test
Bakkt announced last week that it will begin testing bitcoin futures on July 22. The company also announced that it will support the ICE Futures U.S. launch of daily and monthly margined futures for bitcoin by bringing regulated custody as part of the futures contract. It is hoped that the launch will usher in a new era for institutions looking to access crypto markets.
BTC Reward Halving in 2020
The reward for mining new blocks on the Bitcoin blockchain will drop from 12.5 Bitcoin to 6.25 Bitcoin — and this already has people speculating about how this could affect the Bitcoin price.
If history repeats itself, the price of Bitcoin will climb somewhat ahead of the halving event. The rise in price makes sense in terms of supply and demand: large buyers of Bitcoins have to either buy on the exchanges or get them through mining, and a halving event forces more to buy on the market.
Binance Restricts U.S. Users
Binance announced that it will launch a U.S.-based service to avoid uncertainty around its legality In the meantime, it is implementing restrictions for U.S. passport holders worldwide and those based in the country. Binance’s U.S. users (at least 30 million) cannot trade AE, HOT, LINK, NANO, VET and other cryptocurrencies. According to analysts Josh Rager, “With US Binance ban & other exchange delistings, people could be moving into BTC & major market cap coins.”
Bitcoin Used as Hedge
The United States – China trade war, it has seen both superpowers slap tit-for-tat tariffs on each other’s goods, ultimately making everyday products more expensive for consumers. Due to fears of Yuan devaluation, Bitcoin may have risen in value, which vastly outperformed traditional wealth preservation assets.
Many market analysts predict that if Bitcoin can stabilize above $8,800 mark, the next target will be around $10,000.
Trade BTC Futures to Hedge Risks & Take Profits on Bexplus
Bitcoin futures volumes have surged to record highs of $12 billion in May, a growth of 118% from April. JP Morgan believe that because of fake volume, the importance of Bitcoin futures has been understated. Institutional investors have increasingly turned to the cryptocurrency market, and the futures market in particular, to hedge funds – which will likely further boost the bitcoin futures market.
Bexplus is a world-leading cryptocurrency futures exchanges which provides BTC, ETH and LTC futures trading with 100x leverage. Founded in late 2017, Bexplus is one of the fastest growing startups in the crypto futures market. Now it has established offices in Hong Kong, United States, Brazil, Australia,etc.
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