During the first week of July the price of bitcoin (BTC) ranged between USD 11,100 and just over USD 11,500, although over the course of days, it almost got to USD 12,000 in the market. The cryptocurrency still has not reached its historical maximum but continues to overcome the weak growth of altcoins in 2019. There is a very large psychological barrier located at $21,000, a point at which BTC arrived during the last great bullish trend. In this opportunity, the members of the community expect a new historic maximum by the end of this year or next.
The most important news of this week have been influential factors in Bitcoin’s price, as well as in the interest aroused in the community of investors in cryptocurrencies. Recently, information has been made public regarding the mining profitability and the possible consequences that the next Litecoin Halving can bring, so we will be analyzing all the significant aspects of these events.
What were the highlights of this week?
5 events could have an impact on the market due to the amount of money that will mobilize after such announcements. Lately, a significant part of the community has been reincorporating into the market and positive eventualities have been reported for the Litecoin miners.
- Through its latest monthly report on bitcoin prices, the premier research & consulting boutique specializing in the digital asset market, Delphi Digital, said that the enthusiasm of retail investors has returned to the bitcoin market and other cryptocurrencies. The digital assets research company indicated that June was the fifth consecutive month in which Bitcoin posted positive returns. It is the longest streak in almost two years and although it has different patterns to the last bull run has a strong ability to achieve new historical highs.
- The price of bitcoin could reach USD 20,000 by December this year, according to a prediction from analyst firm Skew. The analysis describes certain “signals” that BTC will reach USD 100,000, although for that milestone there is no specific date or approximation. In addition, different experts in the field have made predictions based on the behavior of the market seen so far.
- The 2miners website evaluated how profitable it is to mine cryptocurrencies with the graphics cards (GPU) most commonly used by miners. It determined that both miners who use ASIC equipment and those who use GPU have benefited from the rise in prices of digital assets. Therefore, they enjoy better income this year, compared to the earnings they could receive throughout 2018.
- Through analysis, the Coin Metrics researchers warn about the possible exit of inefficient miners from the network, once the litecoin halving occurs, on August 5. They add that this fact is due to the fact that, by halving the reward per mine block, profitability will be affected immediately. This seems to be a very good time to invest in this altcoin.
- Even before being disclosed publicly, the cryptocurrency of Telegram Messenger, Gram, may have reached an increase of 200% in the appreciation in the market. According to the Japanese Liquid Exchange, the branch of Gram Asia in South Korea offers to sell rights to the cryptocurrency at USD 4 each. This value contrasts with the price paid by investors in March 2018, which was USD 1.33.
In addition to these announcements, we can appreciate that:
- Recently, the price of Dogecoin (DOGE) increased more than 35%, increasing its value to $ 0.0043 after the announcement of its inclusion in the Binance exchange. The exchange house said in a note that it would open the trade for dogecoin (DOGE) at noon (UTC) on July 5. At the time of launch, the exchange offered commercial pairs of DOGE with Binance Coin (BNB) and bitcoin (BTC). He also offered the pairs with the stablecoins (USDT), Paxos Standard (PAX) and USD Coin (USDC). After reaching stability in these levels, it has fallen to $ 0.00355.
- The peer-to-peer exchange platform LocalBitcoins will immobilize the accounts of users who have not been attached to their new identity verification system, on September 1. In a piece of information published on his institutional blog, he explains that the company plans to activate the last two levels of identity verification this July. According to the statement, a previous level was added to the platform between June 24 and 26.
The other cryptocurrencies are not keeping pace with Bitcoin
Bitcoin continues to outperform the weak growth of altcoins in 2019, with a market dominance now over 60%, for the first time since more than a year ago. Even so, the cryptocurrency still fails to reach its historical maximum. Unexpectedly, this bull run did not have an equitable accompaniment by the altcoins, since their prices have not had the same growth that characterized them during the increase of 2017. Everything seems to indicate that the price of the altcoins will remain stable under the current levels in the market until the next Bitcoin price change, or in the case of Litecoin, its halving.
Another way to appreciate the strong contrast between the current position of bitcoin and other altcoins, is by examining its equilibrium point. If the value of cryptocurrencies suddenly increased by 1000% tomorrow, bitcoin would trade at a value of 110,000 USD; a price more than 5 times higher than that reached in the rise of 2017. For the rest of the cryptocurrencies, it would be a different story. Approximately 70% of cryptocurrencies remain below their historical maximum of 2017 and 2018, even with a 10-fold increase in their price.
In this way, the announcement of Facebook’s cryptocurrency, Libra, seems to have caused the additional capital to flow into the world of cryptocurrencies, most of which has been accumulated by bitcoin. Since the most recent news about Libra came out to the public, bitcoin has risen more than 23%, since the initiative backed by numerous corporations has validated even more the need to have legitimate money that is not controlled by companies or governments.
Finally, another possible reason for the lack of growth in the market prices of the altcoins could be the slow rate of most of the equipment. Not many altcoins have managed to accumulate a large community of users, which leads investors to think more critically about the valuations of those projects.
