Hello and welcome to this week's edition of Overbit News.
Bitcoin rose above $40,000 on Monday, 26 July, the highest level since mid-June, as investors reacted positively to a recent sell-off.
According to experts, the increases could be linked to several factors, including recent bullish comments from Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Elon Musk remarked on Wednesday at the Crypto Council for Innovation's "The B-Word" conference that Tesla will most likely resume accepting Bitcoin for vehicle purchases.
"It looks like Bitcoin is shifting a lot more toward renewables, and a bunch of the heavy-duty coal plants that were being used...have been shut down, especially in China," Musk said. With the above mentioned, it seems some of the concerns about Bitcoin mining's environmental impact, as well as China's governmental crackdown, have begun to wear thin, at least for Musk.
Dorsey, head of Twitter and Square, also reiterated his bullish stance on Bitcoin. According to TechCrunch, during Twitter's second-quarter results call on Thursday, Dorsey informed investors that Bitcoin would be a "big part" of the company's future.
Other cryptocurrencies also benefited from Bitcoin's gain, with ether up 5.9% to $2,299, according to CoinMarketCap. Even Litecoin, one of the significant laggards of this previous rally, shot up more than 8% alongside Bitcoin.
The rebound comes after Bitcoin recently dipped below $30,000 due to a global stock market sell-off, raising concerns that it could fall further lower. "I think we saw an accumulation period around 29-30K, indicating bullishness and a potential move towards $40K for Bitcoin," said Vijay Ayyar, head of business development at the cryptocurrency exchange Luno.
While it's impossible to know if this bullish price action is here to stay, it's certainly a good reminder of how one can never be too complacent, especially towards the downside, for an asset like Bitcoin.
To close out today's edition of Overbit News, we try to cover one of the biggest headlines that may have helped spur Bitcoin's run-up. Previously in this article, we mentioned how bullish sentiment from "The B Word" conference impacted this most recent price action. However, there's at least one more piece of news, from one even bigger name, that may have moved the price even more so.
Last Thursday, 22 July, the world's most prominent online merchant - Amazon - advertised a job position for a digital currency and blockchain product lead.
According to reports, Amazon (AMZN) says it's searching for someone with a "deep grasp" of the "cryptocurrency ecosystem and related technologies" in its job posting.
Though there are hundreds of places that blockchain and cryptocurrencies could fit into Amazon's business, reports state the job would be located within the 'payment acceptance and experience team,' indicating that the implementation will be directly related to cryptocurrency payment support.
The cryptocurrency has since cooled off a bit at the time of writing, with Bitcoin retracing from above $40,000 to just over $37,000, and the rest of the market falling inline.
Right now, it's hard to tell if this was just a classic short squeeze before more downside or if these combined catalysts provided enough momentum to kickstart the next bull trend. Only time will tell, and it's shaping up that August will be a pivotal month for deciding the next direction.
Thanks as always for reading Overbit News - See you next week.