Bitcoin is moving up, and it’s taking 99 of its best friends along for the ride. In the last 24 hours, every one of the top 100 coins by market cap was in the green, with 84 of them posting gains of over 5 percent. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was sitting at $7,310, up 14 percent in the last 7 days and up almost 10 percent in the last 24 hours.
CoinMarketCap Top 100
Bitcoin itself crossed the $7,000 mark for the first time in the last month, an indication — but no sure sign — that it might be shaking off a summer slump that’s seen prices plunge below $6,000 on more than one occasion. Bitcoin is quickly moving back toward early June norms around $7,500, though may meet resistance at $7,750. In March, Bitcoin dipped below the $10,000 mark and it’s been unable to mount a rally back above that level in the months since.
screenshot via CoinMarketCap
They may not last, but mid-July’s gains aren’t just a Bitcoin story. Out of the top 100 coins, 24 coins made double-digit gains in the last 24 hours, including 0x and Zcash, two coins recently tapped by Coinbase as potential assets that the platform is “exploring.” Big Bitcoin jumps normally lead the charge for altcoin growth, though seeing its peers so uniformly follow suit isn’t something you see every time the most prominent coin’s price shoots up.
So why is the price up? Potentially all or none of these reasons:
- Yesterday, Coinbase shared the news that U.S. regulators will open the door for the exchange to list tokens that are categorizes as securities.
- Last week, Coinbase announced it was exploring the addition of Cardano, Basic Attention Token, Stellar Lumens, Zcash and 0x.
- At Goldman Sachs, current COO David Solomon will move into the chief executive role. Solomon is regarded as a cryptocurrency-friendly choice for CEO.
- Asset manager BlackRock created a working group to examine blockchain and cryptocurrencies, though its CEO cautioned that he hasn’t observed “huge demand for cryptocurrencies.”
- Japan’s LINE is launching a cryptocurrency exchange known as BitBox this month, though the token-to-token exchange won’t serve the U.S. or Japan.
- The major Japanese financial firm SBI Holdings just opened its doors to traders on a cryptocurrency exchange based in the country.
As with any price shift, headlines in one part of the world are just a single rumble among the many invisible international seismic signals sending coins up or down on a given day. As one reads the tea leaves, it’s worth remembering that correlation ≠ causation when it comes to big price moves. Still, that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the tea.
Disclosure: The author holds a very small position in some cryptocurrencies, mostly because it seemed like a fun idea back in 2013 and then she forgot about it. Regrettably, it is not enough for a Lambo.