Bitcoin broke above key resistance levels, touching highs last seen in February. The increase was buoyed by various macro-factors.
Bitcoin’s price has risen 10% since the 24th of February, when it briefly traded over $45,000 and it gained 10% during this week.
Bitcoin (BTC/USD pair) rallied by over 4% on Friday to rise above $45k. While the price of Bitcoin has fallen since then, it is still well-bid at over $44,700 as of this writing.
Do Kwon’s $3 billion BTC plan gives bulls legs
The leading cryptocurrency’s upside follows weeks of ranged trading, with relief rallied over the past month tempered by risk-off sentiment triggered around the Russia-Ukraine war and the impact of rising inflation on equities.
GlobalBlock analyst Marcus Sotiriou says that the hype around Terra Labs founder Do Kwon and fresh accumulation this week has fueled upside sentiment.
Kwon, who recently placed two bets worth $11 million on Terra (LUNA)’s price being higher than $90 by March next year, has unveiled a “$3 billion Bitcoin accumulation plan,”
Do kwon announces plans for $3 billion worth of acquisition #bitcoinIn the immediate future
bitcoin magazine: 🦗🦗🦗
— udiverse🔺 (@udiWertheimer) March 19, 2022
Sotiriou points to Do Kwon and Terra’s Bitcoin reserve purchases as key to the buying pressure for BTC and Ethereum (ETH), which surged above $3,100 for the first time in weeks.
‘PetroBitcoin’ sentiment helps BTC climb to $45k
This week’s big jump above recent resistance and testing of $45,000 was also aided on Thursday by sentiment around Russia’s announcement that it would accept Bitcoin from ‘friendly’ countries for its oil and gas. These countries will also be able to pay in their native currencies, such as the yuan and Turkish lira.
“Besides the bullish narrative behind Bitcoin being used as a stablecoin reserve asset, there are now talks of a Petro Bitcoin instead of a Petro Dollar,” Sotiriou noted in emailed comments.
He says this has probably added a fresh narrative to BTC’s price movement. Russia’s flip towards Bitcoin for oil and gas exports is an indication of the cryptocurrency’s ‘ideological malleability.’ It’s not just about Russia, but a broader promotion of the fact that crypto is “unstoppable.”
The big question, in Sotiriou’s view, is whether PetroBitcoin is poised to replace PetroDollar. Can countries begin to price oil in Bitcoin, and not the US dollars?
Bitcoin was up by more than 30% since the sell-off to lows of $33,000 soon after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Exxon and BlackRock news
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said on Thursday that the asset manager, the world’s largest with over $10 trillion in AUM, was considering crypto services for its clients. Fink said that clients have been asking for more crypto opportunities, which the investment giant is looking into.
Elsewhere, Texas-based gas giant Exxon is mining Bitcoin using excess gas in a move that is set to see around “18 million cubic feet of gas” utilised to mine BTC every month. The gas, which would otherwise be flared off, is thus helping with environmentally-friendly mining.
Exxon’s Bitcoin mining operation is bullish for the cryptocurrency, Sotiriou said in a comment. He believes this is likely to bring on board many institutional investors, with Bitcoin’s market capitalisation of $845 “seems so undervalued to many.”
