Bitcoin Surpasses $30 Billion Market Cap – The Merkle

The past few days Bitcoin has been reaching and breaking past all time highs seemingly every hour. Last night, after a short pullback of 2%, massive buy orders appeared on exchanges pushing the price to new heights. Today, the market reached yet another all time high of $1892 per coin.

Given the current price increase, Bitcoins market cap has risen over $3 billion since Monday only, putting it at a current record high market cap of just over $30 billion. To put that in perspective, according to NASDAQ, PayPals stock market cap is at $59.87 billion. While Bitcoin is still nowhere near the amount of transactions compared to PayPal, it is interesting to see how the two payment solutions compare against each other. In comparison, VISAs market cap is a whopping $212.88 billion, and MasterCards is at $124.82 billion.

We speculated earlier that the market might have been forming a head and shoulders pattern, however that theory has been proven wrong as Bitcoins price launched an extra $100. Looking at the increased trading volume, it looks like this rally still has fuel left.

As the May 15th deadline approaches for the SEC to make a decision on the appealed Bitcoin ETF application, the market is eagerly awaiting. Take a look at this chart reflecting Bitcoins price when the SEC first denied the application on March 10th:

As you can see, the price tanked over 30% from a high of $1350 to a low of $980.Up until that point, the price has been on a steady climb from January. While it is true that basing trade decision on past market action is not reliable, it is important to understand that unregulated cryptocurrency markets are more prone to manipulation.

Another interesting development to keep an eye on is MtGoxs possible rise from the ashes. We all remember MtGox as the exchange which went down and was responsible for the collapse of Bitcoins first bubble.However, due to Bitcoins recent price hike it is possible the exchange couldreimburse creditors after all and avoid liquidation and bankruptcy.

According to our calculations, Bitcoins price would have to rise to approximately $2900 to allow MtGox to repay its customers. In the event that MtGox is able to repay its customers, that will undoubtedly create positive pressure in the market and may send Bitcoin price to even higher astronomical levels.

Speaking of Japan, while there was a dip in volume last night which created a roughly 2% pullback, that volume is back. Japan has been leading this rally as volume on their exchanges has increased drastically. Furthermore, the CEO of one of Japans largest Bitcoin exchange has released a statement claiming the volume coming from the exchanges in the country is real. Unlike Chinese exchanges such asBTCC, OkCoin, and Huobithat didnt charge fees for trading, Japan is extremely careful with compliance and regulation. Since legislature outlining Bitcoin exchange protocols has only recently been passed, the platforms have been treading with caution.Mike Kayamori, CEO of QUOINE said:

We are charging fees on all trades other than spot trading of BTC/JPY. Every other currency pair, as well as margin trading, there is a fee. And our spreads are quite large, hence our volume is actually lower in April/May than it was March.

Last but not least, China may soon resume withdrawals from their exchanges, as the PBoC is looking to finish drafting the final pieces of AML and KYC regulations for Bitcoin exchanges by June of this year. This is another factor which is most likely responsible for the recent rally.

Combine the upcoming ETF reconsideration, Japans extreme adoption, and Chinas possible resume of withdrawals and you get a $1892 Bitcoin.

Dislaimer: This is not trading advice, this article is for educational purposes only. If you liked this article, follow us on Twitter @themerklenews and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to receive the latest bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and technology news.

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Bitcoin Surpasses $30 Billion Market Cap - The Merkle