Cardano (ADA) has had an impressive start to the year as it broke through the psychological $1 barrier and made an all-time high at $1.50. The impressive 590% year-to-date gain took place as the network transformed into a multi-asset network, similar to Ethereum, and this could bode well for Cardano's future. The rally's final leg seems to be related to the Coinbase Pro listing, announced on March 16, and this resulted in a renewed push to $1.47 on March 18. As Cardano's price increased, so did its spot trading volume and on-chain transfers, which surpassed Litecoin (LTC). The increased interest …

Chainlink (LINK) has had a pretty rough month, dropping as much as 45% after marking a $37 all-time high on Feb. 20. While the recent losses may look surprising when compared against other altcoins' gains, LINK still managed to rally 640% over the past nine months. Therefore, there should be no reason to interpret the failure to sustain above $32 as a trend reversal. On-chain indicators like daily active addresses and transactions, along with the open interest on futures contracts, continue to display strength. Chainlink was also very well positioned to benefit from the decentralized finance (DeFi) boom. Many of …

Institutional investors have continued to pump money into cryptocurrency investment products in Q1 of this year, according to a report by CoinShares. The inflows of $4.2 billion in the first quarter have broken the previous record of $3.9 billion made in the fourth quarter of 2020. NYDIG CEO Robby Gutmann recently told listeners of the “On the Brink” podcast to brace for a slew of announcements by the firm’s strategic partners. Gutmann said the announcements could bring new levels of “Bitcoin adoption, Bitcoin availability, Bitcoin products and services within the existing traditional financial landscape.” While new products and services that …

The 2017 Bitcoin (BTC) bull run was led by retail traders, long-term crypto believers and Bitcoin whales. However, the tide turned in 2020 as institutional investors became the catalyst for the latest crypto bull run. However, data compiled by JPMorgan Chase shows that retail traders have made a strong comeback in the first quarter of this year. JPMorgan analysts used data from Square and Paypal to determine that retail investors bought 187,426 BTC for Q1 2021, which is more than the institutional purchase of 172,684 BTC during the same period. While this data may not be bulletproof, it gives a …

Bitcoin (BTC) missed hitting a new all-time high on March 11 by just a whisker as Oracle Corporation denied rumors that it had purchased about 72,000 Bitcoin. This suggests that traders could be looking for signs of greater institutional adoption to boost Bitcoin’s price further. One of the main factors that may have kept several institutional investors at bay is the lack of regulatory clarity but this could be on the verge of changing. In a recent interview on the Thinking Crypto podcast, Hester Peirce, a commissioner at the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, said that Gary Gensler’s nomination …

Long-term investors use dips in a strong uptrend to buy while short-term investors are fixated on calling a top. In the past few days, data from Glassnode has shown significantly sized Bitcoin (BTC) outflows from Coinbase exchange, which is a sign of accumulation according to analysts. It is encouraging to note that the demand is not limited to one exchange and data from Material Indicators shows buy orders of $100,000 and higher are reaching an all-time high. This shows that the influx of institutional investors and large corporations entering the crypto sector continues to accelerate. Proof of this comes as …

Data from Glassnode shows that Bitcoin (BTC) held on centralized exchanges has dropped by about 20% in the past 12 months. This suggests that investors are withdrawing their Bitcoin to the cold storage with a view of possibly holding them for the long term. This has reduced the available supply while the demand has continued to increase. The arrival of exchange-traded funds could increase the supply crunch further. After the success of the TSX Purpose Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, Canada could launch the second Bitcoin ETF by Galaxy Digital Capital Management, a subsidiary of Galaxy Digital. The approval of Bitcoin ETFs …

Analysts expect the U.S. economy to stage a strong recovery in the second half of this year as coronavirus vaccines are distributed and economic activity begins to increase. As growth picks up, inflation concerns are also on the rise. Speculation is rife that the U.S. Federal Reserve may have to adjust its dovish stance to hold down interest rates. In anticipation, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield has jumped from about 1% at the start of the year to 1.626%. This has resulted in profit-booking in assets considered as risky and as equities pullback, a temporary pause may be put on …

Polkadot (DOT) has been raising eyebrows for the past couple of months as the interoperability-focused altcoins has gained 625% in the past three months. The promise that interoperability between blockchains will be a viable solution to the high Ethereum gas fees plaguing the crypto market has made Polkadot’s development of parachains attractive and the number of projects choosing to build on DOT continues to grow alongside it’s popularity as a staking platform. Polkadot parachains operate similarly to the Ethereum 2.0 sharding proposal, which creates independent blockchains built for a particular purpose. Many projects building on Polkadot, like Moonbeam, Equilibrium, and …

Bitcoin’s (BTC) resilience in the face of global market uncertainty continues to attract new institutional investors. Dan Loeb, the CEO of New York-based asset management firm Third Point, said that he has been “doing a deep dive into crypto.” To strengthen the venture investments team, Third Point hired former pro-crypto Goldman Sachs analyst Heath Terry, according to Reuters. Loeb’s move into crypto seems to have prodded 'Shark Tank' star Kevin O'Leary to allocate a portion of his portfolio to Bitcoin. Additionally, O'Leary hinted that every operating company that he had invested in was considering investing in Bitcoin. Billionaire Tim Draper …

Shares in Grayscale Investments' Grayscale Litecoin Trust, or LTCN, have been trading at a whopping 1,800% premium over the market rate of their underlying asset, Litecoin (LTC). $319 per Litecoin? This difference is primarily due to retail investors' inability to purchase shares directly from Grayscale Investments, whose funds are aimed exclusively at accredited investors. It costs $319 to buy a share in Grayscale Litecoin Trust. However, its LTC holdings per share are currently worth just $16.42. That means it's almost 20 times more expensive to buy Litecoin via the trust than regular spot exchanges. LTCN shares have recently traded for …

The U.S. bond yields have softened and this has ignited investor's appetite for risk-on assets. After a negative closing last week, the S&P 500 has started the current week on a positive note. Thi bullish sentiment has also rubbed on to the crypto sector, which is surging higher, led by Bitcoin (BTC). After Tesla and Mastercard’s foray into Bitcoin, analysts at Citigroup believe that Bitcoin is at a “tipping point,” which could either take it mainstream and make it the preferred currency for world trade or result in a “speculative implosion.” Citi’s analysts expect the central bank digital currencies and …