Bitcoin Soars Above $25K but US Regulatory Scrutiny Intensifies: This Week’s Crypto Recap

The past seven days saw Bitcoin’s price increase by a whopping 10% in a few violent green candles that took place in the span of a couple of days. This brought a lot of positivity to the industry, and the total capitalization is also up by about $100 billion.

At the time of this writing, BTC trades at around $24K, but it managed to paint a fresh high of above $25K for the first time since the summer of 2022. This has also had an impact on the entire market, as most of the altcoins are also charting massive gains. Ethereum is up 8.3%, ADA – 10.4%, MATIC – 20.3%, OKB – 37.4%, SOL – 11%, and so forth.

This has also raised hopes for many that the bear market is finally over and that the next stop for BTC is $30K. One of those who support this idea is no other than Mike Novogratz – former Wall Street tycoon and a crypto permabull.

However, the week was not without turbulence, especially on the regulatory front. The US continues with its offensive stance, pushing yet another major blockchain firm into the corner and forcing it to halt certain services. The company in question is Paxos, which will stop issuing Binance USD (BUSD) stablecoin on February 21st.

In any case, the broader increase in the market has also had positive effects outside of the industry. Robinhood – the popular retail trading platform, reported an increase of a whopping 95% in its crypto-related trading volumes in January, showcasing that the interest in the industry is starting to come back.

It’s very interesting to see how the market will turn in the following weeks.

Market Data

Market Cap: $1152B | 24H Vol: $103B | BTC Dominance: 40.4%

BTC: $24,136 (+10.7%) | ETH: $1,674 (+8.3%) | BNB: $311 (+1.8%)

This Week’s Crypto Headlines You Can’t Miss

Venture Capitalist Mike Novogratz Predicts $30K Bitcoin This Quarter. Well-known permabull and crypto proponent Mike Novogratz has made yet another bold prediction about Bitcoin’s price. He believes that it will reach $30,000 by the end of next month.

The Mystery Whales or Why Bitcoin Exploded By More Than $2K in Hours. A few mysterious whales have been pouring money into the cryptocurrency market. This happened right before the most recent price explosion when Bitcoin reached a high not seen since the summer of last year.

Why Bitcoin? Nigeria Faces Violent Protests Amid Cash Scarcity. The shortage of available cash in Nigeria has led to violent protests, leaving many injured and a few even dead. Although tragic, the failure of Nigeria’s payment system highlights the benefits of Bitcoin’s censorship-resistant infrastructure.

Here’s When Paxos Will Stop Minting Binance USD (BUSD). Paxos – the US-based blockchain infrastructure firm that’s known for issuing a number of stablecoins, including BUSD, will cease the issuance of the latter from February 21st. This comes following mounting regulatory pressure.

Robinhood Crypto Trading Volume Shot Up 95% in January. Popular retail trading platform Robinhood saw a whopping increase of about 95% in its crypto trading volume in January. This comes on the back of a considerable rally where most cryptocurrencies are up double and triple-digits.

The Reasons FLOKI Is Up Over 400% Monthly. The popular memecoin Floki Inu (FLOKI) named after Elon Musk’s dog, is up 400% in the past month. There are multiple reasons for that, so have a closer look at the most important ones.

Charts

This week we have a chart analysis of Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Polygon (MATIC), and OKB – click here for the complete price analysis.