First Mover: Bitcoin tops $ 17K as Scaramucci enters, Ethereum meets rival

Bitcoin surged above $ 17,000 early Tuesday for the first time since January 2018, pushing this year’s remarkable rally to 137% year-on-year. This is 10 times more than the Standard & Poor’s 500 index of large US stocks.

“The bears are in disbelief,” digital asset market analyst firm Arcane Research wrote in a report earlier Tuesday, noting that the cryptocurrency is on track to post its sixth consecutive weekly gain. “There seems to be nothing stopping bitcoin at the moment.”

In traditional markets, European equities slipped and US stock futures indicated a bearish opening as investors feared the potentially economic scars of a coronavirus resurgence. Gold weakened 0.1% to $ 1,888 an ounce.

Read more: Bitcoin slices $ 17,000 as market capitalization approaches an all-time high

Look no further than this year’s rapid growth in the scorching arena of decentralized finance, or DeFi, and it’s clear why the Ethereum blockchain is dominating so many conversations right now in the digital asset industry.

The blockchain’s second largest native cryptocurrency, ether (ETH), has increased by 266% this year, double the amount of mooning bitcoin (BTC).

But many digital asset savvy investors are hedging their bets, buying tokens associated with emerging blockchains that could potentially grab market share from the Ethereum network, often referred to as a “world computer” for its versatility and programmability.

One such token is dot (DOT), from the Polkadot blockchain, whose co-founder Gavin Wood was a co-founder of Ethereum. Wood wrote the original project white paper for Polkadot in 2016, just a year after the launch of the Ethereum network.

Since it went live in mid-August on exchanges after the Polkadot network performed a 100: 1 split, the points token has increased by more than 44%. Over the same period, Ethereum’s ether only rose a little over 8%.

“Market and investor appetite has been very strong for Polkadot’s dot token,” said Keld van Schreven, CEO of investment firm KR1, which includes Polkadot in its portfolio. An initial valuation from a network’s pre-launch fundraiser was valued at around $ 3, he said. “So, trading consistently above $ 4 has been really encouraging ever since.”

Read More: As DeFi grows, investors see Polkadot as the next Ethereum

Bitcoin’s strong rally continues with demand outstripping supply amid growing expectations of a rapid global economic recovery on potential coronavirus vaccines.

The best cryptocurrency by market value climbed to new 33-month highs above $ 17,000 during the first US trading hours. Prices have gone up 20% this month alone.

Bitcoin has been characterized by some investors as “digital gold” due to the belief that cryptocurrency can serve as an effective hedge against inflation. But in recent weeks, bitcoin prices have risen as gold has struggled, following news that two drug makers, Pfizer and Moderna, had announced promising results in developing coronavirus vaccines.

The possibility that a vaccine could arrive early next year, helping the global economy return to pre-pandemic production levels sooner than expected, has triggered a rotation of money from defensive and risky businesses, according to Ole Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank.

Bitcoin, however, held the offer due to strong holding sentiment and supply shortages. “Since bitcoin was at $ 11,400 a month ago, miners sold an average of 11 bitcoins per hour in exchanges. In comparison, 214 coins an hour were collected from exchanges,” Willy tweeted early Tuesday. Woo, on-chain analyst and author of The Bitcoin Forecast newsletter.

With global stocks of negative-yielding bonds at all-time highs and the US dollar expected to depreciate amid optimism over the coronavirus vaccine and continued printing of money by the Federal Reserve, the odds look stacked in favor of a rally to record highs of over $ 20,000.

Litecoin (LTC): The cryptocurrency also launched in bitcoin cash (BCH) in the crypto charts with a rally of up to nine months.

Uniswap (UNI): Uniswap can reward rewards like SushiSwap corners for catching traveling farmers.

Dollar of origin (OUSD): The Stablecoin project suffers a “re-entry attack” early Tuesday, with a loss of $ 7 million, including $ 1 million deposited by the company, founders and employees.

SkyBridge Capital, Anthony Scaramucci’s $ 9.2 billion hedge fund of funds, seeks exposure to digital assets, including altcoins (CoinDesk)

Coinbase drops as bitcoin approaches $ 17K (CoinDesk)

Galaxy Digital Gets Initial Approval For New Canadian Bitcoin Fund (CoinDesk)

Chinese Cryptocurrency Miners Struggle To Pay Electric Bills As Regulators Crack Down OTC Banks (CoinDesk)

Cryptocurrency Depository Anchorage Appeals to US Regulator OCC to Convert to National Bank Card from South Dakota-based Trust Company (CoinDesk)

Israeli startup discovers loophole in market for debt positions secured by DeFi MakerDAO (CoinDesk) lending platform

Binance Stops British Pound-Linked Stablecoin, Calling It Just an “Experiment” (CoinDesk)

The decentralized exchange Uniswap and stablecoin tether (USDT) dominate the Ethereum network, occupying over 35% of transactions (CoinDesk):

Citigroup Says US Dollar Could Plunge 20% in 2021 (Bloomberg)

American zombie companies amassed $ 1.4t of debt (Bloomberg)

About 13 million US workers have signed up for emergency benefit programs that expire on January 1; Deutsche Bank estimates that income could decline by $ 150 billion in the first quarter, causing weaker consumer spending that would remove 1 percentage point from economic output (WSJ)

Extremely low U.S. mortgage rates, thanks to the Federal Reserve’s easy monetary policy, have allowed homeowners to refinance themselves, reducing monthly payments and freeing up cash (Bloomberg)

Austerity is not in sight as the chief economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development plans a half-century repayment program for coronavirus (WSJ) debt

Japan now offers sweeteners with 0.1 percentage point interest rates to incentivize consolidation in the low-profit banking sector (WSJ)

US consumers are full of cash after paying off debt, helped in part by government stimulus (Bloomberg)