Bitcoin Near $100,000: Historic Milestone Close at Hand
Bitcoin rose to about $99,502.92 in the last few hours.
Bitcoin rose to about $99,502.92 in the last few hours. At press time, Bitcoin was around $99,000. Breaking the $100,000 mark seems possible at any moment.
The hype around MicroStrategy's stock, however, took a hefty hit. The U.S. company's shares, led by Bitcoin bull Michael Saylor, fell about 16%. Investors are increasingly questioning the lofty valuation relative to its BTC stake. Saylor meanwhile announced that new bonds would be issued to buy even more Bitcoin.
Altcoins follow Bitcoin's rally
Ethereum performed even better than Bitcoin in the past 24 hours, rising almost 10%.
The ongoing strength of Ethereum relative to Bitcoin could point to an approaching altcoin season.
Solana hit a new all-time high, topping $260 for the first time. The rise is partly driven by speculation about a possible Solana ETF. ETF expert James Seyffart confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that Bitwise, among others, has filed an application.
Other altcoins also showed strong gains. XRP jumped 27% in the last 24 hours and XLM up 20%. Ripple's (XRP) rally appears largely tied to the announced stepping down of SEC chair Gary Gensler. The regulator had previously sued several crypto projects, including Coinbase, Kraken, Uniswap and Ripple.
Layer-2 tokens shine
Notably, Ethereum's Layer-2 tokens performed well, such as Optimism (OP) and Arbitrum (ARB). ARB rose 14% in the same period, while OP climbed 21%. Why Optimism could be a trump card for Ethereum is explored in our in-depth report.
Market sentiment hits a new high
The Fear & Greed Index reached a new high of 94 in this bull market. At the same time, Open Interest hit a record, with more than $64 billion in open positions across futures and options markets.
