Bitcoin price edges closer to record highs after a successful Taproot upgrade
Bitcoin has continued to muster market support, with experts suggesting that a year-end price target of $87K may still be on the cards.
- The premier crypto is currently exhibiting weekly gains of over 4%.
- Bitcoin’s market dominance index (DI) currently stands at 41.3%.
- VanEck’s Bitcoin spot ETF application was recently rejected by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s largest cryptocurrency by total market capitalization, has shown visible signs of correction over the past week after Thursday’s record high price of $68,640. At press time, BTC is trading for $59,923.
In terms of the asset’s near-term outlook, popular crypto analyst Decentrader noted that Bitcoin’s technical indicators suggest that a new all-time high may be on the cards for the asset shortly. He added, “We remain bullish on high time frames and continue to expect the price to rally up to the $85,000–$90,000 region in the coming weeks.”
He also pointed out that as long as Bitcoin can maintain its value above the $59K threshold, it could garner more and more momentum, mirroring parabolic run-ups that have previously been witnessed after the 2013 and 2017 halvings.
Another reason BTC may witness positive price action over the coming few days is the currency’s recently concluded Taproot soft fork, which seeks to not only make the asset’s ecosystem more private and secure but also make it compatible with smart-contracts. This upgrade could potentially allow Bitcoin to become a more prominent member of the growing DeFi market.
On the significance of the upgrade, Decentrader commented: “The last time Bitcoin had such a major upgrade was the Segwit upgrade in August 2017. At that time, the price of Bitcoin was at $4000, it then went on to rally up to nearly $20,000 in the following four months.”
VanEck’s Bitcoin spot ETF application gets rejected
After two BTC-ETF applications managed to see the light of day over the last couple of months, many had expected the SEC to greenlight global investment manager VanEck’s application for the same. However, the regulatory body chose otherwise, sparking fears that Bitcoin may face a lot of volatility. And while the currency did dip to around the $59K support range, it bounced back almost immediately.
Following the news, many well-known members of the global finance industry took to Twitter to express their dissatisfaction with the SEC’s decision. Matias Dorta, vice president of marketing at asset manager Roundhill Investments, claimed that by keeping investors away from ETFs for nearly eight years, the government agency has done a major disservice to the market, even preventing many investors from accruing massive potential gains.
Interested in cryptocurrency? Learn more about the basics with our beginner’s guide to Bitcoin, dive deeper by learning about Ethereum and see what blockchain can do with our simple guide to DeFi.
Disclosure: The author owns a range of cryptocurrencies at the time of writing.
