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The bitcoin spot market was pretty boring on Thursday. That doesn’t mean it’s not moving – holders of the cryptocurrency are investing more and more in decentralized finance.
- Bitcoin (BTC) traded around $ 11,543 at 20:00 UTC (16:00 ET). Slipping by 0.50% compared to the previous 24 hours.
- Bitcoin 24 Hour Range: $ 11,274- $ 11,661
- BTC slightly above its 10 and 50 day moving averages, a bullish to sideways signal for market technicians.
Little has changed in the last day for the price of bitcoin. The main asset in the cryptocurrency market is back in the $ 11,500 territory where it was on Wednesday, after briefly hitting $ 11,274 on spot exchanges like Coinbase.
Read more: Bitcoin recovers from $ 11.3K despite losses in European equities
However, the state of the options market continues to suggest that traders are expecting a more erratic round of bitcoin in the longer term, according to Chris Thomas, head of digital assets for Swissquote Bank. “Implied volatility has increased, but only slightly. This shows that traders are still anticipating another big move, thus preferring long volatility strategies. “
John Willock, CEO of digital asset liquidity provider Tritum, predicts bitcoin will move much higher before the end of the year, but it won’t be a steady upward trend. “There are quite a few psychological barriers to break down along the way, especially once we hit $ 15,000, Willock said.” If our current pace keeps up, I could definitely see $ 16,000 this year, “he added.
Thomas of Swissquote also said that the options market is currently seeing less institutional interest and more individual traders. He noted the rise of the Deribit retail platform in bitcoin open interest options (pending contracts) compared to the relative stagnation of the more institution-centric CME.
Deribit is an encrypted-only derivatives platform, while CME is an advocate of trading used by the largest financial players for all types of commodity betting. “This shows that the institutional actors are stepping aside, probably preferring to take a summer break,” said Thomas.
Read more: DeFi Frenzy takes Ethereum’s transaction fees to an all-time high
Bitcoiners throw BTC into DeFI
The second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, ether (ETH), rose Thursday trading around $ 394 and climbing 1.3% in 24 hours at 20:00 UTC (16:00 ET).
Read more: Daily profitability for Ethereum miners reaches a maximum of over 2 years
The amount of bitcoin stuck in decentralized finance, or DeFi, surpassed 25,000 BTC on Monday, and is currently at 27,027, according to data aggregator DeFi Pulse.
The first place to park BTC in DeFI: Wrapped bitcoin, or wBTC, which allows investors to use the world’s oldest cryptocurrency on the Ethereum network. Over 21,000 BTC is locked into wBTC, by far its largest DeFi usage.
Mark Hornsby, chief technical officer for cryptocurrency custodian Trustology, told CoinDesk that bitcoin’s role in DeFi could be bullish as investors feel comfortable about its role as the dominant cryptocurrency and lock more of it within. of the Ethereum network.
“Because of its dominance, the bitcoin blockchain is an attractive proposition for DeFi,” Hornsby said. “Probably, lending and borrowing originating from these ‘wrapped’ instruments could strengthen the underlying asset and thus the price point of bitcoin,” he added.
Other markets
Digital assets on CoinDesk 20 are mixed on Thursday. Notable Winners at 8pm UTC (4pm ET):
Read more: Token sales are back in 2020
Notable Losers at 20:00 UTC (16:00 ET):
Read more: DeFi Meme Coin YAM succumbs to fatal bug, makes plans for ‘YAM 2.0’
Read more: Coinbase will offer Bitcoin-backed loans to US customers
- Oil is down 0.54%. West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil Barrel Price: $ 43.21.
- Gold was 1.8% green and at $ 1,951 at press time.
Read more: Elliptical teams with Fireblock to automate security and compliance
- US Treasuries were mixed on Thursday. Yields, which move in the opposite direction to the price, fell more in the two-year period, in the red by 5.6%.
Read more: Because it’s time to pay attention to Mexico’s crypto market boom
