News of the last hours: the price of Bitcoin has reached 44k USD, showing an increase of 82% compared to the moment when Jim Cramer advised investors to sell it nine months ago.
In addition, according to CNBC, Bitcoin is now recognized as the first asset in history to be considered ‘scarcer than gold’. Let’s see all the details below.
Summary
Bitcoin price news: record at 44k USD and an 82% growth
As anticipated, in the last few hours the price of Bitcoin has reached $44,000, surpassing all possible expectations, according to the latest available data.
As easy to imagine, these increases occur in a context where speculation is made about the imminent approval of Spot ETFs on Bitcoin by the SEC, while it is anticipated that the Federal Reserve will adopt more accommodating policies in the future.
It is interesting to note that this level, marking the new peak for BTC in 2023, was reached while the spot price of gold has dropped by over 5% in the previous three days.
By analyzing the settlement data, it emerges that, with the price of BTC exceeding $43,000, there has been a total liquidation of approximately $30 million in the cryptocurrency market in the last few hours.
Of these, about 25 million dollars were generated from short positions, while 5 million dollars are associated with long positions.
Examining the details of the settlements, Bitcoin is in the lead with 15 million dollars, followed by Ethereum with 5 million dollars.
In third position, as a surprise, ORDI emerges, an Ordinals-type altcoin, belonging to the category of memecoins on the Bitcoin network, which has attracted attention with a liquidation of 1.34 million dollars.
Jim Cramer’s bearish statements on Bitcoin, and more
As mentioned earlier, former hedge fund manager and host of CNBC’s Mad Money, Jim Cramer, has recently reiterated his negative stance on cryptocurrencies, sharply contrasting the views expressed by another hedge funder on CNBC on the same day.
Cramer has indeed expressed his skepticism towards both gold and Bitcoin, stating the following:
“I can’t go out with gold because gold is not good; I can’t go out with bitcoin [BTC] because I can’t involve myself in something that Mr. Bitcoin is about to crash.”
We underline that it is not entirely clear whether “Mr. Bitcoin” was referring to the ongoing process involving Sam Bankman-Fried or to Bitcoin in general, but Cramer’s negative perspective is evident.
Despite Cramer’s declared bearish position, it is important to note that Bitcoin, although far from its all-time high of $68,000 in the bullish market of 2021, has still recorded a 68% increase since the beginning of the year.
Cramer had sold most of his Bitcoin holdings in June 2021 following China’s restrictions on cryptocurrency miners, arguing that the cryptocurrency had structural issues and predicting further price decline.
On the other hand, Paul Tudor Jones, billionaire hedge fund manager, stated on CNBC that he is a supporter of both Bitcoin and gold, highlighting the combination of geopolitical risk and the increasing levels of US government debt as reasons behind his investment choice.
MicroStrategy acquires 16,130 BTC as Bitcoin adoption expands in the United States
The adoption of Bitcoin continues to grow in the US financial system, with MicroStrategy, the main institutional holder of BTC, announcing the acquisition of an additional 16,130 Bitcoin for approximately 593.3 million dollars, at an average price of 36,785 dollars per Bitcoin.
Michael Saylor, president and founder of the business intelligence company, stated that this latest transaction was financed through the sale of shares in November, with BlackRock, a major fund manager, among the main buyers.
MicroStrategy now holds a total of 174,530 BTC, purchased for approximately $5.28 billion, with an average price of $30,000 per BTC.
Parallelly, Jason Lowery, a leader of the United States Space Forces, has urged the Department of Defense to consider adopting Bitcoin as a “compensation strategy”.
Lowery argues that Bitcoin, along with Proof-of-Work (PoW) technology, could revolutionize the landscape of cyber warfare and defense. This trend reflects a growing institutional interest in Bitcoin.
In addition, the FOMO related to Bitcoin ETFs has caught the attention of traders, playing a key role in the recent rally.
Analysts predict that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will approve all spot BTC ETFs by January 10, 2024.
In particular, Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart states that the agency has a narrow window between January 5th and 10th to make crucial decisions on several ETF requests.
The increasing FOMO trading activity testifies to investors’ efforts to capitalize on the potential benefits resulting from such approvals.
