Bitcoin Stabilizes as Institutions Flow, Ethereum Fees Spike While Chainlink Trades At New-Highs
Key Highlights:
- MicroStrategy endorses Bitcoin after $250 million purchase
- Ethereum transaction fees surpassed block rewards on August 12
- Chainlink soars, trending at new all-time highs
- Cosmos and Waves recover, register solid gains
Trending News: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Chainlink, Cosmos, and Waves
Bitcoin is a movement. Reflective of the community’s grand ambitions are steady and resilient bulls. The trading community is upbeat. Despite shocks in the past few days, prices are steady.
Strong resistance remains at $12,000. However, candlestick arrangement hints that this mega sell-wall won’t hold for long, considering the massive fundamental tailwinds announced in the last few days.
Institutions Flowing to Bitcoin, MicroStrategy Endorsement
Admittedly, retailers are the main drivers of crypto prices. Restrictive rules and strict compliance requirements are limiting the participation of institutions and hedge funds. Nonetheless, the tide is changing for the better.
A few weeks after the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announcement, on August 11, MicroStrategy stated it had moved $250 million to Bitcoin. They described BTC as superior money, dependable as a store of value.
MicroStrategy is a publicly-traded business intelligence company whose shares are listed at the NASDAQ, one of the world’s most active bourses.
The firm said their main reason was to make BTC their primary treasury reserve and was part of their new capital allocation strategy seeking to maximize long term value for investors according to their CEO, Michael J. Saylor.
DeFi and DEXes Driving Ethereum Utility
The DeFi space continues to heat up. Although there are minor blemishes like the recent capitulation of YAM’s reserve, the space continues to mature, helping drive Ethereum’s overall utilization.
By August 12, the total network utilization of the world’s most popular smart contracting network stood at 96 percent, according to Etherscan. Meanwhile, due to high demand, Ethereum miners are the main beneficiaries.
On August 12, for the first time in history, miners earned more from transaction fees (17,000 ETH) than from block rewards (13,500 ETH), as DeFi activities pump and drive Ethereum’s utility.
Specifically, investors are beginning to shift their interest to decentralized exchanges. Ethereum’s leading DEX, Uniswap is consistently registering monthly trading volumes of over $1 billion.
Chainlink Aiming For the Stars
Talking of ERC-20 tokens, Chainlink is now playing a dominant and instrumental role in the DeFi scene.
Its token, LINK is this week’s top performer, as its price is trending near its all-time high, which was printed this week.
The project is now more valuable than Bitcoin Cash, lodged at fifth with a market cap of $5.9 billion, after adding 24 percent in the last trading day, according to Coinlore.
Cosmos and Waves Register Solid Gains
Other noteworthy performers in the top 50 include Cosmos (ATOM), and Waves, whose tokens are up eight percent and 25 percent respectively in the last trading day.
Litecoin Price Analysis
Changing hands at $54, the Litecoin price is down roughly seven percent against the USD, BTC, and ETH, respectively. Despite being in the top 10, LTC is one of the biggest losers week-to-date after this week’s pullback.
Candlestick arrangement hints of a possible pullback. Anchoring price action is the conspicuous bear bar of August 2. It is bearish and despite traders’ confidence, prices are still oscillating within its high low with caps at $65.
Immediate support is the 20-day moving average, that is, the middle BB, and $50—an important support previous resistance. As long as prices are trending within this $15 zone, every low is technically a buying opportunity, with immediate targets at $65 and later $85.
Strong dips below $50 nullify this bullish projection.
Technical Chart courtesy of Trading View
Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice, but the opinions of the author. Do your due diligence.
Dalmas is a very active cryptocurrency content creator and highly regarded technical analyst. He’s passionate about blockchain technology and the futuristic potential of cryptocurrencies.
