It was another milestone-driven week for Bitcoin and the broader crypto market, marked by all-time highs and a wave of bullish developments. On Wednesday, BTC broke through the $100,000 barrier for the first time, a historic moment for a once experimental internet cryptocurrency. BTC briefly traded as high as $103,600, pushing its market capitalization past $2 trillion – another milestone in the evolution of digital assets. President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of crypto-friendly blockchain advocate Paul Atkins as SEC Chair on Wednesday likely helped nudge bitcoin to breach the $100,000 mark. Trump congratulated Bitcoiners on the milestone in a post on Truth Social, taking some credit for BTC’s price surge.
US Fed Chair Jerome Powell drew comparisons between Bitcoin and gold ahead of BTC reaching the pivotal milestone. “People use Bitcoin as a speculative asset, right? It’s like gold,” Powell said Wednesday during The New York Times’ DealBook Summit. “It’s just like gold, only it’s virtual, it’s digital.” The crypto industry largely agrees that Bitcoin’s price still has room to grow in this cycle. On late Thursday, however, bitcoin’s price experienced a sharp drop to its lowest level in over a week within minutes, triggering over $1 billion in digital asset liquidations before rebounding strongly. Meanwhile, Bitcoin ETFs also hit another milestone. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) surpassed $50 billion in assets under management, achieving the milestone in just 228 days – over five times faster than any other ETF in history.
The recent rally has also been reflected in trading activity and exchange volumes. Monthly trade volume across spot crypto exchanges surged to $2.71 trillion in November, the highest level since May 2021 and more than double October’s $1.14 trillion trade volume. Most altcoins also registered strong gains across the board this week. Binance’s native token (BNB) soared to record highs on Wednesday amid a broader crypto market uplift. BNB jumped by 8% to a new peak above $788, surpassing its previous all-time high of $710 from June, according to CoinGecko data. Dogecoin rallied to a weekly high of nearly $0.46 after Bitcoin’s surge past $100,000 late Wednesday. While DOGE has dipped slightly since, it remains the biggest gainer among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Market Overview
The global cryptoasset market capitalization currently amounts to roughly $3.86 trillion – up from $3.52 trillion last week, with bitcoin accounting for 51.5%. Among the Top 30 cryptoassets by market cap, Hedera (HBAR) outperformed, gaining 85% over the week. The price of bitcoin (BTC) rose by 3.3% to $100,300 while the price of ether (ETH) increased by 12.8% to $4,043. The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi is sitting at almost $135 billion, with Ethereum (excluding Layer 2s) accounting for about 57% of TVL. Arbitrum One remains the largest Layer 2 by value locked, accounting for about 35% of the $59 billion in assets.
This Week’s Headlines
- President-elect Trump taps crypto-friendly former regulator Paul Atkins to lead the US SEC
- Donald Trump appoints David Sacks to lead AI and crypto at White House
- Rep. French Hill pledges to investigate debanking following crypto executives’ complaints
- Former Facebook exec David Marcus says Diem/Libra stablecoin fell victim to a “political kill”
- MicroStrategy acquires another 15,400 bitcoin for $1.5 billion, taking holdings to 402,100 BTC
- Semler Scientific buys additional 303 BTC, expands its bitcoin treasury’s value to over $180 million
- Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky pleads guilty to two criminal counts in NY court, faces up to 20 years in prison
- Top NFT brand Pudgy Penguins to release PENGU token
- Nike-owned NFT wearables startup RTFKT is winding down
Notable Deals and Fundraising
- MARA buys Texas wind farm from a joint venture between National Grid Plc and the Washington State Investment Board, Bloomberg reports
- Bitcoin community engagement protocol BLIFE raises $7 million
- Crypto-AI startup GAIB raises $5 million in pre-seed funding
- Story Protocol-based AI startup Sekai raises $3 million in seed round led by Hashed
- DeFi.app raises $2 million seed round at $100 million token valuation
