Bitcoin Surges to $60,000 – Is the Bull Run Here to Stay or Just a Last Hurrah?
Bitcoin experienced a massive surge this week, gaining 12,600 points and reaching a staggering 25% increase. It also crossed the $63,000 mark, coming within 10% of its all-time high of $69,000.
But can the cryptocurrency market continue its upward trend, or is it simply overvalued? Let’s analyze the situation from both a financial and emotional perspective.
Financial Perspective: ETF Opens the Floodgates for Bitcoin Investment, Resulting in Continued Inflows
Starting with the financial aspect, ever since the approval of the Bitcoin ETF on January 11th, we have seen a steady increase in net inflows. From the first week of outflows to the present, there has been a daily net inflow of approximately $500 million. Traditional institutions have not lost interest in Bitcoin over time; instead, they are providing a continuous stream of buyers, turning the crypto market into an incrementally growing market.
Emotional Perspective: Sentiment is Warm, But Not at its Peak
According to the “Shoeshine Boy” theory, we can gauge global interest in Bitcoin by looking at Google Trends and the Coinbase ranking in the US App Store.
Using the keywords “bitcoin,” “ETH,” and “Crypto” to measure global search popularity, it’s evident that Bitcoin is the most popular. However, its popularity rating currently stands at 50, indicating that it’s only halfway to its peak.
While the cryptocurrency’s price has been hitting new highs recently, search interest is only at half the level it was on January 7th, suggesting that there could be more users entering the market.
Now let’s take a look at Coinbase’s ranking in the US App Store. It currently ranks 15th in the finance category but is not visible in the overall rankings. When Bitcoin reached $69,000 in October 2021, Coinbase ranked first overall. This indicates that sentiment has not yet reached its peak.
Although the financial and emotional perspectives suggest that the market has not reached its peak, the recent violent price rally and high volatility make it inadvisable to engage in high-leverage trading at this stage to avoid the risk of losing positions due to unchanged prices.
Weekly Recap of the Crypto Market
Uniswap Plans to Distribute Protocol Fees to UNI Token Holders
The Uniswap Foundation announced that the “Uniswap Protocol Governance Launch” proposal will commence on March 8, 2024. This proposal suggests upgrading the protocol to reward UNI token holders who delegate and stake their tokens.
News Interpretation: This development is not only extremely positive for Uniswap but also for Dex tokens in general, as the entire sector experienced a 30% surge this week.
Pantera Capital Research Report: Bitcoin DeFi Ecosystem’s Total Value Locked Could Reach $450 Billion
Cryptocurrency investment firm Pantera Capital recently released a research report stating that while Ethereum-based DeFi applications occupy between 8% and 50% of Ethereum’s market value, the total value locked in Bitcoin’s DeFi applications is expected to reach $225 billion (25% of Bitcoin’s market value).
Over time, the total value locked is estimated to reach a high of $450 billion. Furthermore, the valuation of top Bitcoin-based DeFi applications could eventually reach $20 billion (2.2% of Bitcoin’s market value), ranging from $6.5 billion to $40 billion. This would place them among the top 10 most valuable assets in the crypto ecosystem.
News Interpretation: The current total value locked in Bitcoin Layer 2 Merlin is approximately $1.9 billion, which is roughly equal to the combined total of Polygon and Avalanche. The future looks promising for the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Arweave Launches Arweave AO Public Testnet, Mainnet Expected to Go Live Within the Year
Arweave has announced the release of the Arweave AO public testnet, a network designed to support smart contracts and blockchain protocols with high scalability. Additionally, Arweave has disclosed plans to launch its mainnet by 2024.
Please note that the views expressed in this article are diverse and do not represent the stance of “WEB3+.”
Proofread by: Gao Jingyuan
