Here’s What Happened On-Chain Before Bitcoin Pumped 6% to $61K Today, XRP 8% to $0.61

The crypto market is experiencing increased bullish sentiment after several days of subdued price action. 

Over the past week, Bitcoin hovered around $58K with little momentum to drive significant volatility. However, Bitcoin recently reached an intraday high of $61,400, marking a 6.1% increase from the day’s low of $57,864.

 At press time, the leading cryptocurrency continues to hold its ground above $60K. Meanwhile, the bullish sentiment extends beyond Bitcoin, with the altcoin market also experiencing significant gains. 

XRP, for instance, posted an 8% increase today, reclaiming the $0.61 level. BNB saw a similar percentage gain. In the meme coin sector, Solana’s meme token, Dogwifhat (WIF), delivered the best performance, recording over 12% growth.

Tether Latest $1B Liquidity Fuels Bull Sentiment

Notably, this thriving market follows the minting of a staggering $1 billion USDT stablecoin on the Tron network at the Tether Treasury earlier today. This influx of stablecoins, which are typically used to purchase other crypto assets, suggests a fresh injection of liquidity into the market.

💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 💵 1,000,000,000 #USDT (1,001,600,000 USD) minted at Tether Treasuryhttps://t.co/uTUz1XNdHa

— Whale Alert (@whale_alert) August 20, 2024

The development has sparked considerable attention within the crypto community, with many humorously commenting that “the printer has come.” Arkham Intelligence expressed amazement at the large crypto funds minted with $0.00 fees. 

Analyst Ali Martinez likened Tether to a Federal Reserve of crypto, noting that each time more USDT is minted, the market responds with bullish price actions. Martinez humorously added that the USDT printers were “working overtime” during the recent Bitcoin correction.

Tether Minted $33B USDT in A Year

Notably, the last time the crypto market witnessed the minting of $1 billion USDT was on August 13, when Bitcoin similarly reclaimed the $61K level before losing it in the following days. Prior to that, Tether last minted $1 billion five weeks ago.

Prominent crypto surveillance firm Lookonchain highlighted that following the latest minting of $1 billion USDT, Tether has issued over $33 billion in stablecoins over the past year. 

Of this amount, Tron received the largest share, with $19 billion USDT minted on the network, solidifying its position as the leading stablecoin network. Ethereum saw $14 billion USDT minted on its network during the same period.

Notably, Tether’s closest rival, Circle, has also been minting USD stablecoins. Last Thursday, Circle minted $250 million in USDC, followed by another $100 million in two transactions the next day.