Bitcoin, Ethereum Rise Double Digits Over The Week Amid Institutional Interest
Leading cryptocurrencies are enjoying a bullish recovery since the start of 2022, with both Bitcoin and Ethereum posting double-digit gains over the past week.
Despite falling as low as $33,000 in mid-January, Bitcoin has since mounted an impressive recovery over the first week of February.
The leading cryptocurrency is currently trading hands just over $43,000 and capping a 12% rise over the past seven days, according to data provided by CoinMarketCap.
As the appetite for Bitcoin has renewed, so too has investor interest in the second-largest cryptocurrency: Ethereum.
Ethereum is also enjoying a healthy rise, posting 10.3% gains over the week. It's currently trading at just over $3,060, after falling as low as $2,211 on January 24.
Cryptocurrencies fell hard in January alongside traditional markets.
Amid news that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates to fight inflation, equities markets like the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq also dropped roughly 1% and 3.3%, respectively.
These figures may seem minor in crypto terms, but whole percentage losses are nothing to balk at for markets as large as these two.
Institutions turn to Bitcoin, Ethereum
The latest crypto dip also appears to have been a buying event for several institutions.
MicroStrategy, which has become a proxy investment for Bitcoin, scooped up another 660 Bitcoin for $25 million on February 1. The company's CEO, Michael Saylor, reported that the company now holds a total of 125,051 Bitcoin, which were purchased at an average price of roughly $30,000 each.
MicroStrategy has purchased an additional 660 bitcoins for ~$25.0 million in cash at an average price of ~$37,865 per #bitcoin. As of 1/31/22 we #hodl ~125,051 bitcoins acquired for ~$3.78 billion at an average price of ~$30,200 per bitcoin. $MSTRhttps://t.co/bF6VImC0Qy
The electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla also reported that its Bitcoin holdings hit nearly $2 billion at the end of 2021. Tesla first purchased $1.5 billion in Bitcoin last February, which now appears to have been a good bet.
The final marker of recent institutional interest in cryptocurrencies comes from "Big Four" accounting firm KPMG.
The firm's Canada branch announced yesterday that it had added both Bitcoin and Ethereum to its treasury via Gemini Crypto's custody services.
A spokesperson for KPMG told Bloomberg that "Our investment allows us to share our journey, our experiences, our challenges with [clients and prospective clients] so that we can help them navigate the cryptoasset world."
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.
Daily Debrief Newsletter
Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more.
The ETF applications keep coming. Canary Capital on Friday filed an S-1 prospectus with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday for a spot Tron ETF that would include staking capabilities.
The staking feature of the Canary Staked TRX ETF would allow investors to earn extra yield with their investment.
The fund’s “investment objective is to seek to provide exposure to the price of Tron,” the filing said.
Nashville, Tennessee-based Canary has filed for a number of crypto ETFs. Th...
Should President Donald Trump make good on apparent threats to fire Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, analysts tell Decrypt that the extraordinary move would likely throw the American political system into turmoil. But could it also be bullish for Bitcoin?
On Thursday, Trump, who has unsuccessfully lobbied Powell to lower interest rates for weeks, said the Fed chair’s termination “cannot come fast enough.” While presidents often come into conflict with the Fed, which dictates U.S. monetary p...
Bitcoin miners may be struggling as the price of the biggest cryptocurrency by market value trades sideways, and investors sell off their equity—but stablecoin giant Tether is betting big on one of the sector's largest players, purchasing about $32 million in equity in publicly traded Bitdeer in April.
An SEC filing shows Tether snapped up the shares as the price of Bitdeer’s stock dropped. Tether did not immediately respond to Decrypt’s questions, but the company has increased its interest in t...
