The crypto winter could be finishing. During February’s last week all of the major cryptocurrencies went up impressively (yes, Bitcoin and Ethereum too).
The market capitalization was over $142 billion (half of it was Bitcoin’s), and the gains were quite stable even on the weekend (the market is slightly in red again today, though). The momentum couldn’t be sustained, so the current total market capitalization is at $124.
Bitcoin reached $4,200 (it’s at $3,757 as we write this), but it wasn’t the only coin going up. Many did increase in value, and some were even more profitable than BTC (Ethereum, for instance, went up by more than 10%). EOS, Tron, Cash, and Litecoin went up by 5% or more; XRP by 4%.
If that trend had followed (which it didn’t) market valuations for many cryptocurrencies would have been green and in two figures. But the most important thing is that that upsurge shows that the market is fighting hard to get rid of the bear’s hug it’s suffered for more than 15 months already. And Bitcoin’s price didn’t have to go all the way down to $3,000, as many people thought, for that to happen.
It’s not crazy to think that the events of February’s last week can be the turning point in which we will see consistent growth. Yes, there will be fluctuations, things won’t be smooth (they’ve never been), but we could be looking at the light at the end of the tunnel, and that’s good news in itself.
Why the upsurge?
An expert at eToro is on the record explaining that the reason for the upsurge could have been Ethereum’s sudden scarcity. It makes sense if you take into account that Ethereum lead the way regarding impressing games during that time period, so it does suggest that Ethereum’s shortage was behind the crypto jump.
But it also had something to do with Samsung. That’s Korea’s larger smartphone manufacturer. The company announced that the new handsets would include support for cryptocurrency wallets, which is a shift in the firm’s past policies. This is relevant because it means that the world’s main tech vendors are realizing that cryptocurrencies are here to stay and that supporting them is the way to go.
Samsung, McAfee, and Lund
And even before Samsung’s announcement of adding built-in crypto wallet in their upcoming Galaxy 10, both Jesse Lund and John McAfee stated an opinion: Bitcoin will go all the way up to USD 1 Million, sooner or later. Mr. McAffee has been saying that for years now, and while he remains an authority in the technology world, he’s been so vocal about it that a lot of neutral observers don’t take him that seriously anymore.
Mr. Lund is a different animal. He’s not a tech celebrity, but he still is very influential because he’s the head of blockchain and cryptocurrencies at IBM. Mr. McAfee says the 1M record will happen by next year’s end, and Mr. Lund gives no dates, he just thinks it will happen.
The future
Ethereum could keep leading the way for some time. The network’s hard fork and update (called Constantinople) has been expected for a very long time (and it got delayed because it didn’t work properly). As that update just went online recently (assuming that it works and addresses some of Ethereum’s most disturbing problems), it could keep Ethereum in the vanguard.
But even if Ethereum doesn’t lead the way, there are plenty of projects in the cryptoverse that have very solid fundamentals and real-life value (Tron, Cardano, Ripple, Electroneum, just to name a few). So, crypto will recover never doubt that. When? Well, that’s impossible to say. In the meantime, we still have a chance to buy cheap.
Image courtesy of Pixabay.
Disclaimer: The presented information is subjected to market condition and may include the very own opinion of the author. Please do your ‘very own’ market research before making any investment in cryptocurrencies. Neither the writer nor the publication (TronWeekly.com) holds any responsibility for your financial loss.