The spot bitcoin market was pretty dull Thursday. That does not mean it is not moving: Holders of cryptocurrency are increasingly plowing it into decentralized finances.
- Bitcoin (BTC) trades around $ 11,543 as of 20:00 UTC (4 pm ET). Closed 0.50% over the previous 24 hours.
- The 24-hour range of Bitcoin: $ 11,274- $ 11,661
- BTC slightly above its 10-day and 50-day moving averages, a bullish to sideways signal for market technicians.
Little has changed in the past day for the price of bitcoin. The top asset in the crypto market is back at $ 11,500 territory, where it was on Wednesday, after falling shortly after $ 11,274 on spot exchanges such as Coinbase.
Read more: Bitcoin recovers from $ 11.3K despite losses in European currency
However, the state of the options market continues to suggest that traders are expecting a tougher bitcoin ride in the longer term, according to Chris Thomas, head of digital assets for Swissquote Bank. “Implied volatility is higher, but only slightly. This shows that traders are expecting yet another big move, and thus prefer long volatility strategies. ”
John Willock, CEO of digital asset liquidity provider Tritum, expects bitcoin to move much higher before the year is ready, but it will not be a stiff upward trend. “There are quite a few psychological barriers to breaking down along the way, especially when we get to $ 15,000,” Willock said. “If our current pace continues, I could definitely see $ 16,000 this year,” he added.
Thomas of Swissquote also said that the options market is currently seeing less institutional interest and more individual traders. He noted retail-friendly platform Deribit’s increase in bitcoin options open interest (deferred contracts) versus more institutional-oriented CMEs relative stagnation.
Deribit is an upstart crypto-aligned derivatives platform, while CME is a trading platform used by the largest financial players for all types of commodities betting. “This shows that institutional players on the sidelines are likely to prefer to take a summer break,” Thomas said.
Read more: DeFi Frenzy is pushing fees for Ethereum transaction after half time
Bitcoiners plow BTC into DeFI
The second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, ether (ETH), was up around trading at $ 394 on Thursday, up 1.3% in 24 hours from 20:00 UTC (16:00 ET).
Read more: Daily profitability for Ethereum miners hits more than 2-year high
The amount of bitcoin locked up in decentralized finances, like DeFi, exceeded 25,000 BTC on Monday and is currently at 27,027, according to data aggregator DeFi Pulse.
The top spot for parked BTC in DeFI: packaged bitcoin, or wBTC, allowing investors to use the world’s oldest cryptocurrency on the Ethereum network. More than 21,000 BTC is locked up in wBTC, by far the largest use of DeFi.
Mark Hornsby, chief technical officer for crypto-surveillance Trustology, told CoinDesk that the role of bitcoin in DeFi could be Bullish if investors feel comfortable about its role as the dominant cryptocurrency – and close more of it in Ethereum’s network.
“Because of its dominance, the bitcoin blockchain is an attractive proposition for DeFi,” Hornsby said. “Probably, the lending and borrowing that resulted from these ‘impact’ instruments could affect the underlying assets and thus the price point of bitcoin,” he added.
Other brands
Digital possessions on CoinDesk 20 were mixed on Thursday. Notable winners since 20:00 UTC (16:00 ET):
Read more: Token sales are back in 2020
Notable losers from 20:00 UTC (16:00 ET):
Read more: DeFi Meme Coin YAM Succumbs to Fatal Bug, makes plans for ‘YAM 2.0’
Read more: Coinbase to offer Bitcoin-supported loans to US customers
- Oil is down 0.54%. Price per barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude: $ 43.21.
- Gold was up 1.8% in the green and at $ 1,951 as of press time.
Read more: Elliptical teams with fire blocks to automate safety and compliance
- US Treasury bonds were mixed on Thursday. Yields, moving in the opposite direction as price, were down most on the two-year high, in the red 5.6%.
Read more: Why it’s time to pay attention to Mexico’s booming crypto market
