Cryptocurrency market update: Bitcoin dashes past $9,000, altcoins catch up with the pace

BTC/USD has smashed through to the $9,000 level growing by 3.54% on the day. The losses recorded earlier this week are gradually being faced out with the bulls stamping their feet confidently on the ground. Markets' intraday volatility remains high while the trend is bullish. A break above $9,100 is a sure way of restarting the recovery and relaunching the journey back to $10,000.

ETH/USD is swiftly following in the footsteps of the granddaddy of cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin (BTC). While it has achieved an intraday high of $230, the bulls lack the mojo to sustain the gains. Instead, Ethereum price has corrected to $228 (market value). It is holding on to the 1.5% gains accrued on the day. Just like Bitcoin, its volatility remains high and the bulls are in the driver seat.

XRP/USD, on the other hand, is lagging behind the top two cryptocurrencies but not by a large margin. The crypto is valued at $0.2773 after correcting from $0.2390 (intraday high). An increase of 1% has been made on the day. The expanding volatility coupled with the strong bullish trend suggests that Ripple will soon catch up with BTC and ETH.

Tezos rally of 12% has placed it at the helm of the best-performing cryptocurrencies. Tezos is trading at $3.23 at the time of writing. It has a market capitalization of $2.27 billion and in the last 24 hours, it has posted a trading volume of $238 million.

Chart of the day: BTC/USD 4-hour chart

Incoming Bank of England governor: Bitcoin has no intrinsic value

The incoming Bank of England (BoE) Governor, Andrew Bailey, has been straightforward regarding Bitcoin and digital assets at large. He takes over the leadership of the bank on March 16. Bailey was once at the helm of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). In a meeting on Wednesday, Bailey said:

There’s no guarantee of the value of Bitcoin. I've said publicly because we were concerned about it…if you want to buy Bitcoin, be prepared to lose all your money.

If you want to buy it, fine, but understand that what you've got has no intrinsic value. It might have extrinsic value, but it has no intrinsic value... it hasn't caught on much...

BitGo new Bitcoin lending service records $150 million in open loans

BitGo, a renowned cryptoasset custodian is making a grand entrance into the rapidly growing crypto lending business. The company said on Thursday that it has started lending to institutional clients. Since the trial began, $150 million has been booked in open loans. The assets offered for borrowing include Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and several stablecoins. The firm said that it will extend loans in fiat to investors who stake crypto as collateral.