Double-Digit Weekly Gains for Bitcoin and Ethereum Send BTC Over $22,000

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has soared more than 12% over the past seven days. The leading cryptocurrency has since retaken $22,000 at press time, a figure not seen since August. 

Over the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency has jumped just over 2.6% and is trading hands at around $22,235, according to CoinMarketCap. 

Despite the tamed rally in the past day, trading volumes for Bitcoin have risen by more than 20%. Key markets on Binance, FTX Exchange, and Coinbase have hosted a majority of this trading. 

The heft of Bitcoin’s weekly price surge began on September 7, with the cryptocurrency rising from $18,661. From this trough to today’s price marks a whopping increase of over 18%. 

Ethereum has enjoyed an equally bullish rally over the past week, jumping from roughly $1,562 to today’s price of around $1,755. Over the past day, though, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has dropped by roughly 0.4%. 

Like Bitcoin, the majority of Ethereum’s 12% rise since last Monday came on September 7, when the asset rose from just over $1,500. 

The bullish momentum in both assets is still tempered by the fact that both Bitcoin and Ethereum are still down by more than 60% since their all-time highs set last November. 

At the time, Bitcoin topped out at $68,789 and Ethereum hit $4,891.

What’s driving Bitcoin and Ethereum?

Bitcoin’s latest rise comes amid a number of relatively bullish headlines. The most notable, perhaps, is Tonga's plans to make Bitcoin legal tender in October. 

Lord Fusitu’a, a former MP of the Polynesian state, responded to questions about making the leading cryptocurrency legal tender by saying that “it’s actually scheduled for the end of next month.” 

Elsewhere, the SEC chairman Gary Gensler recently backed plans to give the CFTC regulatory purview over Bitcoin, calling it a commodity and not a security (and thus not under the SEC’s jurisdiction). Gensler, however, did not mention the regulatory status of Ethereum. 

Despite that, Ethereum has continued to rally ahead of its highly-anticipated upgrade this week. Called the merge, the event will transition the network from a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake (PoS) system. 

The shift is expected to increase the network’s efficiency by 99.95%, according to the Ethereum Foundation. 

According to block tracker Wen Merge, the event is slated to occur on September 14.