Weekly news digest: new maximums of Bitcoin, investment boom and Zcash halving
The most significant thing of the past week was the rise in the price of bitcoin: the first cryptocurrency crossed the $ 18,000 mark. Thus, bitcoin updated its annual maximum and came close to the absolute price records set by it in 2017. At the same time, the prices of other digital assets, including Ethereum, are growing, as well as investment in cryptocurrency.
New records of Bitcoin
Since the beginning of the week, BTC has been growing steadily: started the week near the $ 16,000 mark, by Friday it was traded above $ 18,000. If the first cryptocurrency rises in price by only 7%, it will break the absolute price records set in 2017 (above $ 20,000).
Meanwhile, the capitalization of bitcoin has already renewed its all-time high, rising to above $ 340 billion.
Mining and investment boom
Analysts attribute this activity to the investment flows from large institutional investors who, during a period of economic instability, invest in bitcoin more often than in gold. But as the price rises, so come new investors, institutions, and individuals.
The value of cryptocurrency assets under the management of Grayscale (the largest Bitcoin trust) exceeded $ 10 billion this week. As in 2017, investing in cryptocurrency is becoming prestigious. For example, Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams recently tweeted that she had become a bitcoin investor.
The expected result of Bitcoin's growth is an increase in prices for other cryptocurrencies. Ethereum on Friday touched the $ 500 mark. The activity of miners has also become higher, according to the skyrocketing demand for mining hardware.
First halving on the Zcash network
On Wednesday, an update was carried out on the blockchain of the private cryptocurrency Zcash. Technically, it was a hard fork. As a result, the major update Canopy was launched, which includes five important improvements. And also halving occurred, so the reward for miners now is half the previous. This is not the first division of the Zcash blockchain, but the first halving in its all history. Nowadays, Zcash is in the top 40 cryptocurrencies in terms of capitalization; for 2020, the price of the coin increased by 78.8%.