The week in review: Bitcoin’s record-breaking streak ?

by Team Luno
· 4 minute read

It’s been another thrilling week in cryptoville, with bitcoin surpassing $18K and continuing to break records across the board. Sharing the spotlight, Ethereum has also breached the $500 resistance level – where to from here?

Let’s take a look back at what happened in one of the most exciting weeks the crypto community’s seen in a long time.

Bitcoin’s record-breaking streak

On Wednesday, Bitcoin’s market capitalisation broke its previous all-time high, according to data from Coin Metrics. Its market cap exceeded the $328.89 billion seen on 16 December 2017 and is currently sitting at $337,800,149,459, with a price of $18,211 per BTC. The total circulating supply is now at
18,548,843 BTC.

But that’s not all. Bitcoin mining revenue also hit a yearly high topping $20m per day. This means mining revenue has now returned to pre-halving levels.

Glassnode data suggests the revenue from bitcoin mining is now back at the same levels as when block rewards were double what they are now. The most recent halving took place in mid-May this year, when the price sat around $9,000. Now at over $18,000 – effectively double what it was – we see a correlation between miners needing to sell enough of the asset to cover expenses while their operations remain profitable.

The daily revenue figure, which includes block rewards and transaction fees, was $21.2 million for 18 November, which is its highest for a year. The previous peak came close at $20.6 million just after the halving event on 6 May. This is a significant increase considering post-halving revenue plummeted to just over $7 million per day.

Another indication of a healthy bitcoin network comes in the form of the hash rate, which is now just 10% away from its highest-ever level, at 143.3 EH/s. This is important considering the slump that followed the end of China’s rainy season, where the majority of bitcoin mining takes place.

73% of surveyed millionaires are hungry for a piece of the crypto pie

In a deVere Group survey of over 700 high-net-worth individuals, 73% of millionaire respondents either already own or are looking to invest in cryptocurrencies before the end of 2022. This marks an increase from 68% in 2019’s survey.

The responders are individuals who have more than ￡1 million (~$1.32 million) from a variety of regions including the United States, the United Kingdom, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and more.

DeVere Group founder and CEO Nigel Green said: “As the survey shows, this impressive performance is drawing the attention of wealthy investors who increasingly understand that digital currencies are the future of money and they don’t want to be left in the past.”

He attributed their bullish attitudes as likely a result of increased adoption we’ve seen from prominent firms like PayPal and Square.

“Many of these HNWs who were polled have seen that a major driver of the price surge is the growing interest being expressed by institutional investors who are capitalising on the high returns that the digital asset class is currently offering.”

No doubt the nods of approval from renowned investors are contributing to the general shift in narrative for bitcoin, too.

A bull has no name: Maisie Williams bets on bitcoin

It’s not only institutional investors looking to get in on the action – Game of Thrones actress Maisie Williams, best known for her role as Arya Stark, indicated her interest in bitcoin via a Twitter poll.

Williams asked her 2.7 million followers if she should “go long on bitcoin” and the results were pretty equally divided, with just 7% more responding that she shouldn’t. But when has Arya Stark ever played by the rules or followed the crowd?

Digital Coin Group (DCG) founder and CEO Barry Silbert joined the chat, suggesting she check out “the other” type of Grayscale, in reference to the fatal “Greyscale” disease found in the Game of Thrones universe.

Stateside, now-retired rapper commonly known by his alias, Logic, also made headlines as he took to his Instagram Stories to announce he, too, bought bitcoin – $6m worth, in fact. He’s also since changed his Twitter handle to “Bobby Bitcoin”, and we’ve got to commend the commitment to the cause here.

Welcome to the community, fellow bitcoiners!

Jamie Dimon on bitcoin: “Not my cup of tea”

But not everyone’s convinced. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon spoke at the New York Times’ DealBook Conference on Wednesday, and despite reiterating JPMorgan’s support for blockchain technology, remarked that bitcoin’s “just not my cup of tea.”

He noted that “The blockchain itself will be critical to letting people move money around the world cheaper.” And that “We [JPMorgan Chase] will always support blockchain technology.”

While Dimon may be bullish on blockchain, he’s certainly not on bitcoin. He repeated his remarks that governments will heavily regulate the system and that oversight is inevitable for something so large. He did, however, acknowledge that “very smart people” are buying into crypto but ended off saying “Let them do that. It‘s just not my cup of tea.”

It’s probably worth mentioning here that the bank caused a stir recently upon announcing the launch of its very own JPM Coin.

Oh well, more bitcoin for us then. What do you make of it? Let us know on Twitter.

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