A long-held fantasy of Bitcoiners appears to be coming true (at least in a small way), with Bitcoin surging in the midst of fears over the collapse of the banking sector.
Bitcoin is up 40% since the crisis began and reclaimed the US$28K mark this week for the first time since June 2022.
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index has topped 66 (Greed), the highest level since November 2021 (Bitcoin's ATH).
The crisis has lessened the chances of further steep interest rate rises in the US, with the market tipping a 25-basis point rise this week. What some characterise as backdoor money printing from the Fed's Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) may also be having an impact.
The overall crypto market cap is US$1.17 trillion. Bitcoin surged 16.3% this week and is currently trading at US$27,980, while Ethereum was up 4.3% to US$1,755.
Bitcoin is leaving the other coins in the dust, with XRP flat, Cardano down 3.5%, Polygon (-6.3%) and Dogecoin (-1.9%). Solana increased by 10%.
Million Dollar Bet
Former Coinbase Chief Technology Officer Balaji Srinivasa was the talk of Twitter over the weekend, thanks to his heroic bet that one bitcoin will be worth US$1 million within 90 days. He argues the banking crisis will be the moment " the world redenominates on Bitcoin as digital gold." He had no shortage of takers for the bet (which could be hedged by buying a single Bitcoin). Few people think there's much chance of a 3,600% increase in that timeframe, which would outpace the 2020-2022 bull market (a 547% rise) and the 2017 rally (a 1,105% rise). Crypto analyst Ali estimates that more than $18 trillion would need to be injected into Bitcoin markets for the price to hit $1M per Bitcoin. Real Vision CEO Raoul Pal says the bet is just a stunt: "He's got zero point zero chance of being right, but what he's doing is spending a million bucks, two million bucks, on marketing what is an important concept." Pal believes the US$50K mark is more likely this year.