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⚡Bitcoin Hits Monthly Highs*️⃣

Croxroad

09 Feb 2024 — 3 min read

☕️ GM Dear Plebs!

Here is Crox Road, your daily dose of orange pill that will turn you into a Bitcoin Maxi.

The menu for today:

⛸️ BTC Ignites Fire

Bitcoin, after lingering around the $43,000 mark for days, finally broke free in the past 24 hours, surpassing $44,000 for the first time since the decline in post-ETF approvals in January. The entire crypto market experienced a positive shift, gaining $60 billion in a single day.

Despite attempts to breach $44,000 last week, Bitcoin faced setbacks, particularly after the US Federal Reserve announced no changes to its monetary policy. After a brief dip, BTC recovered to $43,000 and remained relatively stable until today.

In a noteworthy turn of events, Bitcoin initiated a substantial upward movement, reaching $44,700 and marking a monthly high. Its market capitalization now stands at $875 billion, with a dominance of 51.3% over alternative coins.

Most altcoins, which were unusually stagnant in recent days, joined the positive trend. Ethereum led the way with a 2% increase, surpassing $2,400. Binance Coin followed suit, reaching $315 after a 4% daily jump.

Solana and Cardano saw the most significant gains among larger-cap altcoins, with SOL rising by 6% to surpass $100, and ADA soaring by 9% to trade above $0.5. Overall, the crypto landscape has seen a refreshing shift with notable gains across various digital assets.

✨ Bitcoin ETFs Take the Lead

The newly launched spot bitcoin ETFs, excluding Grayscale's GBTC, have surpassed MicroStrategy in bitcoin holdings. With over 192,000 BTC combined, these ETFs added almost 5,000 tokens on Wednesday alone. Analysts highlight that the concentration of coins among these entities doesn't pose a risk to the Bitcoin Network.

Despite being on the market for less than a month, these ETFs have attracted billions in investment, providing investors with a convenient way to gain exposure to bitcoin. Wednesday saw over $1 billion in inflows into these ETFs, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.

It's worth noting that Grayscale's GBTC, which started trading as a spot product simultaneously, is not included in these numbers. GBTC began as a spot ETF with approximately 630,000 bitcoin, but recent outflows have reduced its holdings to just over 470,000 bitcoin.

Markus Levin, head of operations at XY Labs, emphasises that the concentration of coins held by MicroStrategy and these ETFs doesn't pose a risk to the Bitcoin Network. In total, the ETF issuers (excluding GBTC) and MicroStrategy hold about 1.8% of the total 21 million bitcoins that can ever exist. When considering GBTC's holdings, this percentage rises to 4%.

⛔ Problems With Proof-of-Work

Alright, so basically, the big issue people have with proof-of-work, especially in the context of Bitcoin, is that it's seen as an energy hog. Some studies suggest that the energy consumption of Bitcoin is higher than that of entire countries like Norway and Argentina. Critics argue that it's bad for the environment and will only get worse as more people use it.

However, there's another side to the story. Some argue that Bitcoin's energy usage isn't as bad as it's made out to be. They say it actually uses less energy compared to traditional monetary systems and big industries like gold mining and finance. So, there's a debate about whether Bitcoin's energy consumption is a real problem or if it's being blown out of proportion.