Well-known stocks from the tech heavyweights, Microsoft and Google’s parent Alphabet, provided some impetus for Bitcoin (BTC) as the price surged to over $28,000 despite the Federal Reserve raising rates. In the midst of questions and debate about monetary policy, fears of bank collapses and speculation about future economic uncertainty, BTC stepped up and shined under the light of current circumstances.
Altcoins also followed suit. Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, rose 1.8% to reach $1,869 after momentarily dipping below $1,800 earlier in the day. Dogecoin (DOGE) further fueled the fire by jumping 16.5%, while the payments provider Alchemy Pay‘s native ACH token rose 7%.
Crypto Market Uptrend Despite Banking Turbulence
Amidst all the market turbulences due to liquidity issues, the CoinDesk Market Index, measuring overall crypto market performance, managed to stay positive with a 0.1% increase. Kaiko‘s report indicated both BTC and ETH’s 2% market depth have continued to drop as a result of the collapse of Alameda Research, the trading arm of the crypto exchange FTX, in November. This hints at a correlation between the rise of cryptos and the weakening of traditional banking processes.
Crypto’s Time to Shine: Adversity, Regulations, Debt, and Mistrust
Edward Moya, senior market analyst at foreign exchange market maker Oanda, weighed in on the situation in an email stating that personal consumption was bound to slow down going forward, conflicting with the current lax monetary policy. Moya then added that this might be “the time for crypto to shine” against all this adversity, regulations, compliance/obedience. Meanwhile, the fiat world is struggling with debt, bank concentration and this shift to a multipolarized world with so much mistrust against institutions and lack of guidance and leadership from politicians.”
Stefan Rust, CEO of data aggregator Truflation, shared Moya’s sentiment as he wrote that uncertainty surrounding the macroeconomic situation underlines crypto’s potential to provide a “leapfrog into a new modern age of financial innovation without middlemen.”
Oil Prices Surge, BTC Stuck Below $30K: What’s Next?
In the equity market, the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.3% and 1%, respectively. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) was up 0.2% today. Furthermore, OPEC+ announced an oil production cut of over one million barrels a day, sending oil prices higher.
However, despite some projections that BTC had found a floor, the currency has yet to break through the $30,000 mark. Nonetheless, the surge observed gives some hope that BTC will resume its bullish rally to reach new heights. What remains to be seen is how the current situations and debate about monetary policy will affect the cryptocurrency, and the economy, for the better in the future.
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