Bitcoin surged above $29,000 overnight and, despite a quick dump (that we've seen at each big figure break), has stabilized there as mainstream interest and trading activity soars.

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Source: Bloomberg

And at $539 billion, the largest cryptocurrency surpassed the market cap yesterday of finance giant Berkshire Hathaway, the CEO of which, Warren Buffett, famously likened Bitcoin to “rat poison squared”.

image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

And while crypto may remain "rat poison" to some, CoinTelegraph's William Suberg notes that bitcoin has posted its highest transaction volume since early 2018 as data points to more and more investors entering the market.

Figures from on-chain analytics resource Digital Assets Data highlights December 2020 as already sparking Bitcoin’s second-largest transaction volumes.

BTC transaction volume eyes record

At a total of $252.37 billion for the remaining 24 hours of December may yet take the tally further still as it rivals December 2017.

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Bitcoin transaction volume 1-month chart. Source: Digital Assets Data

Other indicators, such as the size of unprocessed transactions in Bitcoin’s mempool and network transaction fees, also suggest heightened activity overall.

As Cointelegraph additionally reported, wallets containing both large and small balances also continue to increase to unprecedented levels.

Google Trends, meanwhile, has captured the highest levels of search interest in the term “Bitcoin” worldwide since February 2018.

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Google search interest in "Bitcoin." Source: Google Trends

The reason, one which is attracting attention from mainstream sources as well as seasoned crypto traders, lies in the price bull run that is continuing unabated this week.

Ether continues to outperform

Despite its 290% year-to-date returns, however, Bitcoin still pales in comparison to the performance of the largest altcoin Ether (ETH). As Digital Assets Data confirms, ETH/USD has sealed gains of almost 500% since Jan. 1. Versus the March lows, performance is even stronger.

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Bitcoin vs. Ether year-to-date returns chart. Source: Digital Assets Data

In a series of tweets on Wednesday, Bobby Ong, creator of price data site Coingecko, gave his predictions for the crypto market in 2021. Among the major tokens, Ether would see a return to higher transaction fees but pass its existing all-time high from 2018.

“ETH will break past its $1,500 ATH mainly driven by DeFi. Gas fees will skyrocket again and highlight scalability issues,” he wrote.

“Most of the year will be spent coordinating on a Layer 2 scalability solution. My bet will be on ZK Rollup gaining traction towards the end of the year.”

For Bitcoin, Ong forecast a price trajectory towards $100,000, alongside the launch of a long-awaited exchange-traded fund and the first central bank adding Bitcoin to its balance sheet.