Last Week In Bitcoin is a series that discusses the events of the previous week that occurred in the Bitcoin industry, covering all important news and analysis.
Summary of the week
It’s been a whirlwind week in Bitcoin, as El Salvador officially began accepting Bitcoin as a legal tender, giving citizens a value of $ 30 in bitcoins each and paving the way for a new adoption around the world. . Global giants like McDonald’s and Starbucks began accepting bitcoin in the country, knowing that they may start doing the same elsewhere elsewhere in the near future.
Of course, everything has not gone well this week, despite being what can only be considered a historic week for Bitcoin. The same day, Salvadorans lined up to receive their bitcoin and start using it across the country, bitcoin saw a dramatic drop that many consider a coordinated effort to undermine the currency. Here’s what happened this week on bitcoin:
A historically bullish week
On Monday, Bitcoin started what many expected to be a bullish week defaulting $ 51,000 for the first time since May 14, 2021, prior to El Salvador, which would officially accept bitcoin as the legal tender. Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador, announced on Monday that the country had bought its first 200 BTC purchase an additional 200 BTC Tuesday early.
Interestingly, U.S. banks and markets closed on Monday as it was Labor Day, but as we all know; bitcoin never closes.
Tuesday was a whirlwind day for Bitcoin. Bill Miller, a famous investor, announced bitcoin as an alternative to investing in gold, saying “it’s still early” in reference to investing in bitcoin and its potential value in the not too distant future. But that, of course, may have gone unnoticed by many, as Tuesday was full of other more “important” news.
the Savior bitcoin officially implemented as legal tender Tuesday and began launching its Chivo portfolio, ATMs and kiosks across the country. True, now an entire country accepts bitcoin. Local and international companies across El Salvador began accepting bitcoin payments with fast-food giant McDonald’s and global coffee giant Starbucks joining the battle.
In the early hours of the morning, Bitcoin defaulted on the $ 52,000, last seen on May 12, 2021, and seemed ready for a decent run, but the market had other ideas. At noon, bitcoin fell as much as 17%, briefly dropping to just under $ 43,000 before recovering and ending the day just below $ 47,000. The fall was a sufficient incentive for the Salvadoran government to stack some sats, buying an additional 150 BTC, which made its total holdings 550 BTC. True, a country HODLs 550 BTC in its treasury.
But on Tuesday it wasn’t El Salvador, as NBA legend Stephen Curry and bitcoin exchange, FTX, announced a partnership to “demystify” bitcoin to the average consumer. As the day drew to a close, the head of Standard Chartered’s new bitcoin and cryptography research unit, Geoffrey Kendrick, told customers in a note on Tuesday: “As a medium of exchange, bitcoin can become the method peer-to-peer payment for the non-banking world in a future cashless world ”and“ cyclically, we expect a peak around $ 100,000 by the end of 2021 or early 2022. ”This is bullish for a 789 billion-dollar company. dollars.
On Wednesday, Union Investments, a $ 500 billion investment company headquartered in Germany, said they had a pilot bitcoin program underway and would provide exposure to bitcoins to their clients. Later, Blockstream announced a partnership with Macquarie Group, a $ 428 billion investment and leading investor in global renewable energy infrastructure, to pilot a bitcoin mining facility and explore alternative carbon-free energy sources to power these operations.
Also on Wednesday, Dan Tapiero, CEO of 10T Holdings, said “Bitcoin goes up to $ 400,000 or $ 500,000 and potentially more.” Bitcoin bulls continue to grow every week.
On Thursday, Ukraine reached headlines around the world when its parliament passed a law legalizing bitcoin in the country. The bill was first introduced in the fall of 2020 and passed with a total of 276 lawmakers supporting it, and only six against. Now Ukrainians are free to trade and own bitcoins.
Also on Thursday, the controversial investment app, Robinhood, added an average dollar cost (DCA) to its bitcoin-derived product, allowing users to buy and save bitcoin on the platform on a regular basis. However, they made no mention of whether their service would improve.
During Bitmain’s digital mining conference on Thursday, Miami Mayor and laser-eyed fan Francis Suarez concluded his speech by challenging the public to “get out there and elect the next president of the United States to be president. for Bitcoin “.
Finally, on Thursday, BlackRock CIO Rick Rieder told CNBC’s Squawk Box that he owned bitcoins and believes his price could rise “significantly” in the future. In August 2021, BlackRock allocated more than $ 382 million to shares of bitcoin mining giants Marathon Digital Holdings and Riot Blockchain.
Not without blows
This week was not free of bearish news. On Tuesday, as the launch of bitcoins began in El Salvador as a legal tender, bitcoin fell nearly 17%, briefly hitting $ 42,900 before recovering and ending the day just below $ 47,000 . Many have speculated that the sudden fall was a coordinated effort by big players to undermine the deployment of El Salvador and deter other nations from following the same path.
Although the week started off very well, with a bitcoin that rose briefly above $ 52,850 on Tuesday, Tuesday’s fall has yet to see it recover to near $ 50,000, having fallen below $ 45,000 several times this week, especially on Friday.
Speaking on Friday, Dmitry Peskov, acting press secretary to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Friday that Russia has no reason to recognize Bitcoin and is not convinced that the adoption of Bitcoin will bring any benefit to the Russian Federation. Not overly bearish, but not yet positive.
Verdict
Overall, I remain bullish as always. An entire country has obtained legal bitcoin notes and now HODLs notes in its treasury, which is one of the history books, if bitcoin should meet analysts’ expectations over the next decade or two: $ 10 million for bitcoin any? In addition to El Salvador paving the way for others, Ukraine legalizing bitcoin in the country is a big step forward, legitimizing bitcoin as an asset and encouraging wider adoption.
I remain skeptical about whether or not this week’s sudden drop was a coordinated effort or simply a normal market correction that fell on the same day that Bitcoin made a big leap forward. “Buy the rumor, sell the news” has been the mantra for many years over the years and it seems to be exactly what happened.
With Standard Chartered joining my tastes and Bloomberg in predicting a target of more than $ 100,000 for Bitcoin in the near future, I find solace in adopting a macro market outlook, rather than questioning ourselves last week and what will come next. Bitcoin still has a huge margin for growth and I stand firm in believing that a six-digit bitcoin is not that far off.
This week the story has already begun and despite some headwinds, bitcoin is poised for a decent rise as the year draws to a close.
This is a guest message from Dion Guillaume. The views expressed are wholly their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. o Bitcoin Magazine.