Ether and Meme Coins Drive Recovery in the Americas as Bitcoin Lags
The digital asset market saw an uptick during the European morning, with ether surpassing $3,500. Over the last 24 hours, ETH has surged by over 4%, currently trading at $3,540. The CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) also saw an increase of about 1.6%. Despite a recent slump, DOGE is up nearly 3.5%, and SHIB, another meme coin, has risen by over 3%. On the other hand, Bitcoin remains relatively stable, hovering around $65,400, showing a minor increase of 0.2% compared to the previous day. In the U.S., spot bitcoin ETFs witnessed an outflow of $152.4 million on Tuesday.
According to data from wallets tracked by CryptoQuant, whales have sold more than $1.2 billion worth of BTC in the past two weeks. These long-term holders of bitcoin are not showing signs of increased demand, indicating a lack of upward momentum for the leading cryptocurrency. Analysts note that traders are not adding to their bitcoin holdings, and there is a notable absence of growth in demand from large holders. Market experts suggest that crypto miners may be shifting their focus towards the thriving AI sector instead of bitcoin, leading them to sell their bitcoin rewards rather than hold onto them. Both industries heavily rely on robust computing chips for data generation and maintenance.
Bitcoin and crypto-related stocks are being touted as undervalued and ripe for institutional adoption by broker Bernstein. While BTC and bitcoin ETFs have shown promise in the past but disappointed recently, Bernstein anticipates ETF approval by major wirehouses and large private bank platforms in the latter part of the year. The report forecasts that inflows into Bitcoin ETFs will accelerate in the third and fourth quarters, with the next phase of adoption being driven by major advisers approving ETFs and making room for allocations from existing portfolios. Bernstein has given outperform ratings for publicly traded companies linked to bitcoin like MicroStrategy, Robinhood, and mining firms Riot Platforms and CleanSpark.
In the realm of bitcoin perpetual futures trading on major exchanges, the cumulative open interest has decreased from $6.07 billion to $5.10 billion over a two-week period. This decline suggests that the recent pullback in bitcoin prices is primarily due to the unwinding of bullish positions or profit-taking rather than a resurgence of bearish sentiment. The source of this information is VeloData.
