The price of bitcoin surpassed the psychological $20,000 resistance thanks to “extreme buying power,” data from the blockchain and cryptocurrency exchanges shows, as hundreds of users were depositing stablecoins to buy at the same time.
According to data shared by on-chain crypto analytics firm CryptoQuant, the number of stablecoin inflow addresses for cryptocurrency exchanges surged ahead of BTC’s move up, in what was described as an indicator of “extreme buying power.”
CoinDesk reports that a chart shared by crypto data portal CryptoWatch shows $45 million were traded on Kraken’s BTC/USD spot market in about 30 minutes, in which the price of BTC moved up by 5%.
The flurry of activity at the time was felt across most cryptoasset exchanges. Binance, the leading exchange in terms of trading volume, revealed on social media some of its users were having difficulties accessing its website and mobile app.
While it’s unclear what triggered the rally, it occurred shortly after it was revealed U.K.,-based Ruffer Investments confirmed it allocated around 2.7% of its portfolio into bitcoin, buying around $740 million worth of the cryptocurrency.
At the time the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) also announced the launch of ether futures contracts on February 8, 2021. Each ether futures contract is set to have 50 units of ETH and the derivative will trade between 5:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m. CT from Sunday to Friday.
It’s worth noting that One River Asset Management, a hedge fund specializing in volatility bets, has invested over $600 million into bitcoin, and committed to holding over $1 billion in both BTC and ETH by early 2021.
Featured image via Pixabay.
