Bitcoin bounces back

After months in the doldrums, cryptocurrencies are finally back in the game as the total market capitalisation increases by $173bn to $418bn since the beginning of the month of April. Since the beginning of the week, Bitcoin’s price soared more than 5% and climbed above the $9,000 threshold as crypto’s outlook keeps improving.

Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency that enjoyed solid gains lately – it even underperforms most of other coins – as Ethereum rose 90% since April 1st, jumping from $358.4 to $684 this morning, while Bitcoin cash rose 140% to $1,570.

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One may wonder why the entire market has been surging lately as no major news was released. However, given the harsh first months of the year, a period of respite was inevitable – and more than welcomed – especially against the backdrop of improving outlook on the regulatory side. It is also worth mentioning that the Lightning Network is maturing as the number of channels increases exponentially. Indeed, data showed that there is around 7,000 active channels which process transactions without impacting systematically the blockchain. Even though the network is still very young (first physical purchase was done in January 2018), it is matching market’s expectations in term of transaction fees and transaction rate: Bitcoin will be able to compete with traditional (read non-decentralized) payment systems.

Given the relative underperformance of Bitcoin compared to the market, we believe there is still upside potential, with the $10,000 mark as next target.