Whilst this week has certainly been a dramatic one in terms of news events, there is nothing immediately apparent that has driven this latest bout of investor optimism. Almost every digital asset is up over the last 24-hours, with a couple of notable exceptions.
Bitcoin and Leading Cryptos Post Gains Almost Across the Board
Bitcoin and other digital assets are having another good day following a brief lull in recent upwards momentum. As recently as midnight last night, the leading digital asset by market capitalisation was hovering just above the $5,000 price point. Since then, the Bitcoin price has made a dramatic move upwards to its price at the time of writing of $5,225.Other crypto assets have fared similarly. The second largest digital asset by market capitalisation, the native currency on the Ethereum blockchain, has posted larger percentage gains over the last 24 hours. It traded at close to $162 as April 16 began. It has since surged to almost $170.
In fact, the only cryptos in the top twenty by market cap to not post gains of at least one percent over the last day were XRP, USDT (Tether), and Bitcoin SV. Meanwhile, some performed even better than Bitcoin and Ethereum. The likes of Tezos (XTZ), and Monero (XMR) have seen the size of their markets expand by 5.68 and 4.69 percent respectively.
The continued upwards momentum lends support to those crypto proponents that have been saying Bitcoin has finally bottomed after the crypto bear market of 2018. However, many are still calling for the price to retrace back to somewhere in the $4,000 to $5,000.
BCHSV: The Elephant in the Room
On an almost universally green day, there is one cryptocurrency that stands out as having a much rougher time than the rest of the market. That is of course the side of last November’s Bitcoin Cash hard fork that is championed by Australian computer scientist Craig Wright and online gambling entrepreneur Calvin Ayre. Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (BCHSV) has taken an absolute battering in the markets since a Binance-led mutiny of the crypto by leading exchanges. Wright has reportedly been sending letters of legal action to individuals who have claimed him to be lying about creating Bitcoin. This behaviour has angered much of the wider crypto community including some exchange executives:Do the right thing. — CZ 🔶 BNB (@cz_binance)
Banding together, several exchanges have decided to stop supporting Bitcoin SV in a move that has divided opinion in the space. The majority think that the delisting is a positive development since it may help to destroy Bitcoin SV once and for all, something that those of the opinion that Wright is lying about being Satoshi are keen to see. Meanwhile, others have highlighted how it shows the power centralised exchanges have over a crypto’s prospects for mass adoption. Finally, some find it odd that Binance and other exchanges have chosen to delist Bitcoin SV and not a load of other assets that they feel are equally suspect.
Since the exchanges have announced that they will no longer support Bitcoin SV, the price has taken an absolute nose dive. Prior to the announcement by Binance, the unpopular Bitcoin fork was trading above $70 per coin. It has since plunged to just over $55. That’s a drop of over 21% in less than two days. According to Peter McCormack, more delistings are expected to follow:
//twitter.com/PeterMcCormack/status/36629248Related Reading: Why Did Japan’s SBI Just Delist Bitcoin Cash? Potential Factors
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