Bitcoin (BITCOMP) has crept back up close to its recent all-time high (ATH) over the weekend, while ether (ETH-X) has now blown through its previous ATH.
ETH has hit an ATH over the weekend as the price rallied. Having broken the $4,000 level in late October the cryptoasset has been on a march upwards. Last Monday ETH was trading around $4,300 but spiked to over $4,600 on Tuesday and Wednesday before falling away.
But now the cryptoasset is trading above the $4,700 level having hit an ATH of $4,768. ETH is now up around 59% since the beginning of October.
Meanwhile BTC rallied over the weekend to now trade just over $66,000 after a week of oscillating between $62,000 and $64,000. The cryptoasset is now nearing three-week highs in the wake of a new ATH in mid October.
Crypto markets tops $3 trillion
Crypto has reached a new milestone of over $3 trillion in market capitalization for the first time, according to crypto analytics firm CoinGecko.
The milestone is the highest point since May this year when markets raised above $2.6 trillion, and underscores the positive outlook of investors as institutional players enter the market through instruments such as futures ETFs.
Still top of the crypto space is bitcoin which accounts for around 42% of the market, followed by ether which accounts for just over 18%.
Shifts have been underway lower down the ranking however, with Solana most notably running up in terms of market cap. SOL has now overtaken Cardano (ADA-X) as the fourth largest cryptoasset in the world after a spectacular rise in the past few months.
The cryptoasset has risen 22% in the last week alone, although in terms of market cap it is still dwarfed by BTC and ETH at 2.5% of the market.
New York Mayor to take salary in bitcoins
New York mayor-elect Eric Adams has vowed to take his first three paychecks in bitcoin, after a Twitter exchange with the mayor of Miami.
The incoming mayor of New York, one of the largest financial centres in the world, has underlined his vision of turning the city into a cryptoasset hub too. Adams, responding to a tweet by Miami mayor Francis Suarez committing to take his paycheck in bitcoin, upped the stakes saying he would take his first three in the cryptoasset.
New mayor Adams also tweeted on Thursday: “NYC is going to be the center of the cryptocurrency industry.”
Adams is to an extent playing catch up with Suarez and Miami which has drawn financial talent away from New York during the pandemic and has already announced a raft of pro-crypto measures including accepting tax payments in bitcoin and allowing employees to take their salaries in cryptoassets.
With Adams at the helm in New York it would appear anti-crypto measures such as the banning of mining in the city have now been largely ditched.
President’s Working Group report underpins stablecoin potential
A report from the Biden administration on financial markets has underlined the potential for stablecoins to consumers.
The report said stablecoins could transform the way US citizens pay for everyday products from haircuts to phones. Commissioned by the White House, the report’s authors included key economic advisers to President Biden.
While underlining the importance of regulation of the space, the report said stablecoins could: “support faster, more efficient, and more inclusive payments options...Moreover the transition to broader use of stablecoins as a means of payment could occur rapidly due to network effects or relationships between stablecoins and existing user bases or platforms.”
Stablecoins now account for a significant chunk of the cryptoasset market. The largest by market cap is Tether, at over $74 million. Stablecoins differ from cryptoassets such as bitcoin as their value is typically pegged to a fiat currency.
Tether, as an example, is pegged to the US dollar, using cash holdings and short-term debt called commercial paper to underpin its stable value.
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