WBTC, a leader in tokenized BTC, reached second place among DeFi platforms. With a total value locked of USD 2.33 billion, the WBTC platform grew by 43.4% this month.

In recent days, tokenized BTC reached a total value locked of USD 3,185 million. Meanwhile, WBTC, the leading BTC platform on Ethereum, took second place from Compound, thus ranking behind Maker. At the time of writing this article, WBTC reflects a total value locked of USD 2.33 billion.

The number of tokenized BTC on Ethereum has grown, in part, due to the pioneering cryptocurrency’s current bullish cycle. Having exceeded the all-time high of 175,000 BTC in the last week, the total value locked of BTC is currently around 170,000 units, according to data from DeFi Pulse.

However, the increase in the price of Bitcoin has been a determining factor in the rise in the value of the BTC tokenized on Ethereum. For that reason, the WBTC platform has risen very quickly to the first place.

According to data from DefiPulse, the total value locked on DeFi platforms exceeds USD 14,350 million, compared to the list of the five leading DeFi platforms. On September 1^st, the total value locked on WBTC was a fifth of what it exhibits today, and it did not appear among the top 10 platforms.

DeFi platforms, especially lending ones, recorded their biggest boost in July. The total value locked exceeded USD 3 billion thanks to the introduction of the Compound token. In this way, so-called yield farming began to grow in popularity.

The total value locked on DeFi platforms had already reached USD 10 billion in September but continued to grow. After the momentum that Bitcoin gained in July, the pioneering cryptocurrency’s boom has become more pronounced in recent weeks. That has contributed to raising DeFi total value locked, thanks to platforms like WBTC and tBTC.

The rise in the price of Bitcoin has reduced the dominance of Ether (ETH) regarding total value locked, according to figures from DeFi Pulse.

In October, investors shifted from Ether to Bitcoin, which led to this breakthrough of Bitcoin on DeFi platforms. Ether is still the leader on these platforms, with over USD 4 billion and 7.5 million ETH locked. However, it reached its highest value on October 20^th, with a total of 9.25 million ETH locked. In contrast, the number of BTC locked on DeFi platforms went from 164,000 to 170,000 units in the same month.

By Willmen Blanco

Jay Clayton, chairman of the SEC, recently stated that Bitcoin is a store of value and a payment mechanism.

Many people considered Bitcoin to be a kind of joke and others even predicted its imminent death. They argued that the cryptocurrency was something of no real value. On this occasion, the chairman of the SEC, Jay Clayton, assures that Bitcoin is not a security but “a payment mechanism and a store of value.”

Bitcoin’s Achievements

Bitcoin has received a lot of criticism since the beginning, but some people have managed to recognize its potential. However, this year the behavior of the first cryptocurrency has opened the eyes of many investors.

Bitcoin has become an attractive asset to shelter against inflation, even above gold itself. Therefore, it is possible to say that 2020 has been the product of the crypto community’s years of struggle. Investor confidence in Bitcoin has led it to the position that it occupies today.

The SEC chairman Jay Clayton stated, during an interview with CNBC, that Bitcoin is not a security. Clayton sees Bitcoin as “more like a payment mechanism and a store of value.”

Similarly, Clayton explained that “the inefficiency of our current payment mechanisms” drove the adoption of Bitcoin. However, the application of some inefficient economic policies could have also contributed to boosting Bitcoin.

There is another detail that Clayton comments. The SEC chairman says that there could be stricter regulations as the major cryptocurrency grows in popularity.

“I think that we will see this maturation, and I think that there will be more regulation in the payments area,” Clayton said. With this, Clayton clarified that the SEC is not responsible for regulating Bitcoin as a payment mechanism, but the government.

The news on the regulation would not necessarily be bad. If crypto regulations are appropriate, there could even be a boost.

Factors Driving Bitcoin

Concerning the previous news, Clayton attributes the growth of Bitcoin to the inefficiency of payment mechanisms. Sam Trabucco, a trader at Alameda Research, mentions four general factors that are boosting the price of Bitcoin.

In his Twitter account, Trabucco highlighted four key factors that are driving the main cryptocurrency in the market: the accumulation by whales, the increase in adoption, institutional purchases, and the influence of other markets.

ETH 2.0 Advantages Will Come Sooner Than Expected

In an Ask me Anything session, Vitalik Buterin indicated that the crypto community could see the benefits of ETH 2.0 sooner than expected.

The Ethereum Foundation itself was in charge of organizing the question and answer session. The intention may have been to draw attention to crypto updates.

OKEx Will Allow Cryptocurrency Withdrawals

Crypto exchange OKEx announced the resumptions of cryptocurrency withdrawals at the end of November. They had suspended that service on October 16^th.

Last October, the police asked Xu Mingxing, a crypto founder, to collaborate with them in the investigation. Since then, the crypto exchange had not offered the withdrawal service, which caused a lot of talk in the community.

By Willmen Blanco

The new payment option is only available at the Rattan Plaza branch. The establishment uses Cryptobuyer as a Bitcoin payment gateway.

There are a growing number of options to buy with Bitcoin in Venezuela. One of the most popular supermarkets on Margarita Island, Rattan, joins the use of this means of payment.

On its Instagram account, the commercial establishment confirmed in recent days that it incorporated Bitcoin. They rate this new payment option as being an innovation milestone.

Rattan makes this incorporation after joining forces with the Panama-based company with a presence in Venezuela, Cryptobuyer. That company provides the payment gateway and its Cryptobuyer Pay point of sale system to the supermarket.

Apart from Bitcoin, Rattan now accepts seven other cryptocurrencies, which include DASH, Litecoin (LTC), Ether (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB). Besides, they accept payments in the stablecoins Tether (USDT) and DAI. Finally, the supermarket’s customers will be able to pay for their purchases with XPT, Cryptobuyer’s token launched under the ERC-20 standard of the Ethereum network.

The Rattan supermarket chain has three branches on Margarita Island and other cities in the country. On their Twitter account, they confirmed that at the moment they are only accepting payments in Bitcoin at their Rattan Plaza branch, which is located on the island.

Customers will now be able to use the pioneering cryptocurrency at this popular chain. There, they will be able to buy food, groceries, liquors, cleaning, and personal hygiene products, as well as medicines.

A Growing Number of Businesses Accept Bitcoin in Venezuela

Rattan supermarkets join a growing list of large businesses that have included Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in their payment options. A few weeks ago, another supermarket chain, Excelsior Gama, did it in the city of Caracas. Citizens might even receive a rechargeable Visa card with cryptocurrencies to buy anywhere in the country.

The Mega Soft Company has installed around 35,000 points of sale and cash registers in various cities of the country. This year, they partnered with Cryptobuyer to give the businesses that are using their equipment the option to accept Bitcoin payments.

Antonio Castro, Director, and partner of Mega Soft, explained that about 500 of its points of sale or cash registers currently receive payments in some cryptocurrencies. The executive says that businesses process an average of at least two transactions a day.

Blockchain research firm Chainalysis published in September a study in which it notes that Venezuela is the third country with the highest rate of adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the world. The peer-to-peer trading of Bitcoin and its use for remittances are the most prominent in Venezuela due to the weak economic situation and hyperinflation. This has also led to the incorporation of various options for payments and everyday transactions.

The steady depreciation of the bolivar (VES) recently led the price of the main cryptocurrency to reach an all-time high in Venezuela; due to such high levels of inflation, an increasing number of Venezuelans are turning to Bitcoin as a store of value.

By Willmen Blanco

The money supply in US dollars is 15 times greater than the capitalization of Bitcoin. The market capitalization of Bitcoin exceeds the money in circulation in Brazil.

According to a study by crypto-analysis firm Ecoinometrics, the boom in the adoption of Bitcoin is the biggest obstacle to an eventual government ban. His claim is based on a comparison between the total circulation of the national fiat currencies of various countries and the market capitalization of Bitcoin.

Ecoinometrics, a firm that focuses on trend analysis of Bitcoin and its role in the world of finance, recently published the study. This research indicates that one of the arguments against Bitcoin is that governments would simply ban it if it became a threat to national fiat currencies.

The study establishes a comparison between the market capitalization of Bitcoin and the total circulation of the fiat currencies of the main countries. According to a chart, the market capitalization of Bitcoin is close to USD 300,000 million at the time of publishing the study, compared to the money supply in different countries.

The analysts clarify that they use as “total circulation” the one known as M1, which includes the estimate of coins and banknotes in circulation and the instruments that people can immediately convert into cash. They express the amounts of M1 in billions of US dollars.

The market capitalization of Bitcoin is not only three times the total circulation of Brazilian reals (BRL) but also exceeds the money supply in Turkey and Denmark. However, the Bitcoin market in the South American country is less than a third of that of countries such as Canada, Australia, or South Korea.

Regarding the total circulation in the UK, it is 10 times higher than the market capitalization of Bitcoin. Meanwhile, the money supply in US dollars, estimated at USD 5.4 trillion, exceeds the market capitalization of the first cryptocurrency by a factor of 15.

In the eurozone, the countries accumulate the most extensive money supply, above China and Japan. All of them are at the top of the scale, marked by USD 10 trillion.

This cap is worth 30 times the market capitalization of Bitcoin and matches the capitalization of gold. Thanks to this separation, the authors of the study can claim that Bitcoin does not currently pose any danger to the global monetary system.

They compare the recent Bitcoin price boom with the 2017 bubble. Furthermore, they highlight that there are currently new circumstances that were not present three years ago.  Some of those circumstances are Bitcoin derivatives markets, more custody services for institutions, banks authorized to hold digital assets, companies that use Bitcoin as a reserve asset, and even PayPal’s adoption of BTC. These are factors that deter governments from banning it since this would profoundly affect the economy of many important players.

The study concludes that it will be more difficult to remove Bitcoin from the system if the abovementioned circumstances remain. “When Bitcoin reaches the size of the gold market, central banks may start to worry, but then it will be too late. There would already be too much integration, too much network effect, and too many investors”.

The Winklevoss brothers, founders of the Gemini exchange, have rated Bitcoin as being “better gold than gold” in a comprehensive comparison between the pioneering cryptocurrency and the precious metal. They find several advantages that favor that cryptocurrency. In their study, the brothers conclude that, with the current inflation scenario in the United States, the price of Bitcoin may reach USD 500 thousand.

By Willmen Blanco

The price of Bitcoin exceeds its all-time high in Chile, after doing so in Colombia, Argentina, and Brazil. Bitcoin is still 11% below its all-time high in US dollars.

The price of the pioneering cryptocurrency continues to climb to all-time highs dating back three years. However, there are countries like Chile, where it recently reached that milestone.

The value of the cryptocurrency exceeded its all-time high (ATH) in the South American country. On its Twitter account, the Buda exchange indicated that Bitcoin exceeded 14 million Chilean pesos (CLP).

This rise and the breaking of the all-time high in Chile coincided with Bitcoin surpassing the USD 18,000 barrier. The latter event had not occurred since the famous bullish run in 2017 when the price of BTC flirted with USD 20,000.

In Chile, the previous all-time high dates precisely from the end of 2017; this was when the price of Bitcoin approached CLP 14 million. The foremost cryptocurrency reaches those levels in the South American country when it is still 11% below its all-time high in US dollars; this shows how the Chilean fiat currency has been depreciating in recent years.

After hitting USD 18,000 recently, Bitcoin underwent a correction to around USD 17,500 at the time of writing this article. The current price of Bitcoin in Chile is below the new all-time high, around CLP 13.5 million.

Although Bitcoin has yet to reach its all-time high in US dollars, the bullish sentiment remains. According to various analysts, the price of the cryptocurrency is just starting a bullish run more prominent than that of 2017 and will soon break the levels of that year. Until now, its growth rate has been very fast, going from USD 11,800 to more than USD 17,500 in just one month, according to data from CoinGecko.

All-time High of Bitcoin in Latin American Countries

The all-time high for the price of Bitcoin in Chile comes before it occurs in US dollars. That shows the devaluation of the local fiat currency. However, it is not the first country in the region to have experienced this situation. The national fiat currency of Venezuela has been depreciating very rapidly for years and continuously breaking its all-time highs. On the other hand, other Latin American countries have recently reached their all-time highs for the price of Bitcoin.

A few weeks ago, its price in Colombia exceeded 56 million Colombian pesos (COP) per unit. In Argentina and Brazil, it had already exceeded its all-time highs in the local fiat currencies.

Unlike the cryptocurrency market of 2017, institutional investment and the entry of large companies has been decisive. Some examples of this adoption scenario are the investment of MicroStrategy, the adoption of Bitcoin by PayPal, and the appearance of one of the wealthiest entrepreneurs in Mexico.

The devaluation of the fiat currencies of the region has led the pioneering cryptocurrency to hit all-time highs higher than those in US dollars. In these countries, Bitcoin has become the store of value that people prefer to safeguard their funds.

By Willmen Blanco

Those who invested in assets months ago have already guaranteed a return of 150% on their capital. Analyst Willy Woo finds the current bullish rally more organic than the previous one.

Analyst Willy Woo showed data indicating that the inflow of capital into the Bitcoin market is at its highest rate. That is an organic movement that correlates with the price of the cryptocurrency. For that reason, it can suggest that the current bullish run is sustainable in the long term.

On his Twitter account, Woo recently commented that the capital inflow that Bitcoin is receiving is at its highest rate. It even exceeds the last bullish market that occurred in 2019 when the price of the cryptocurrency went from USD 4,000 to USD 14,000.

Woo bases his conclusions on the interpretation of the realized price indicator; this is a metric that data firm CoinMetrics created to calculate the circulating supply of coins available in the market. To do this, it uses as a basis the price of Bitcoin when the funds last moved.

The realized price of Bitcoin is an approximation of what the entire market paid for its coins. The metric excludes balances that have not moved for a long time. The intention is to provide a more reliable picture of the overall network by discounting the coins out of active circulation.

According to data from analysis firm Glassnode, the realized price of Bitcoin reached its all-time high on November 15^th, recording a value of USD 6,903 per unit. This would be the average price that most users paid when investing in Bitcoin during 2020.

Bitcoin’s price last reached USD 6,900 at the end of April, according to data from CoinMarketCap. In other words, users who decide to sell their assets at the moment would obtain a return of 150%, considering that the value of the cryptocurrency is around USD 17,800. To reach that profit margin, an investor had to wait a minimum of 7 months.

Bitcoin’s Long-Term Signals Are Good

The rate of return on stored capital that Bitcoin currently records is more organic than that of the 2019 bullish rally, according to Woo. He believes the indicative is optimistic as there is a tremendous inflow of capital into Bitcoin. This also means that the price rally is more sustainable in the long term.

The analyst added that Bitcoin is the world’s first risk haven since it rises during traditional boom cycles as its adoption curve demonstrates. The same is true when investors flock to the pioneering cryptocurrency seeking havens. This action is due to the technical design of digital scarcity that the pioneer cryptocurrency focuses on.

Woo believes that there are currently several reasons to be optimistic about the long-term price of the cryptocurrency. According to him, one cause is the increasing amount of Bitcoin that users are withdrawing from exchanges to store in their wallets. Another reason is the growth in the number of new users who remain active on the network.

Finally, it is relevant to mention the growing institutional involvement and the recent adoption of Bitcoin by billionaire investors, mutual fund managers like Grayscale, banking institutions, and prominent personalities.

By Willmen Blanco