“Should Have Bought” is a news podcast featuring the ForkLog editorial team and friends, covering the week’s major industry events and the hottest tokens.
In the latest episode: Bitcoin flirts with the $52,000 level, experts revise forecasts, ERC-404 competitors emerge, and interest in Ethereum staking grows.
Participants: ForkLog authors Lena Jess, Alex K., Vasily Smirnov.
Special guest: Allbridge founder Andrey Veliky.
Bitcoin Rally Continues
On February 14th, the price of digital gold surpassed $51,000 for the first time since December 2021. The asset’s market capitalization reached $1 trillion, while the overall market exceeded $2 trillion.
Soon after, the cryptocurrency’s price tested $52,000 but failed to hold above this mark for long.
QCP Capital analysts cited increased inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs as a key factor in the rally’s continuation. Experts anticipate a return to historical highs by March.
Experts Revise Forecasts
Renowned market analysts have improved their Bitcoin outlook for 2024. For instance, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes has abandoned his previous forecast of Bitcoin falling below $35,000 and now expects a new all-time high this year. The expert no longer anticipates a significant correction in the near future.
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju is confident that digital gold will rise to $104,000-112,000 this year, driven by strong interest in spot Bitcoin ETFs. In the worst-case scenario, the analyst expects the first cryptocurrency’s price to rise to $55,000-59,000.
SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci urged investors not to hesitate in opening a long position on Bitcoin, despite the price holding above $50,000.
However, experts from Lookonchain and Glassnode warn that many market participants are tempted to lock in profits at current levels.
Growing Demand for Ethereum Staking
Ahead of the major Dencun upgrade, the Ethereum validator queue increased to 7045 — the highest since October 6th.
FalconX Head of Research David Lawant stated that this surge in activity indicates “early signs of a recovery in viability” for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The trend is noteworthy given the low reward size of just 3% per annum.
Competition Emerges in the ‘404 Segment’
Interest in ERC-404 remains strong, despite the correction of Pandora and other tokens in the nascent segment.
A group of developers released an alternative implementation of the experimental ERC-404 token standard called DN-404. The creators employed a dual-contract approach — “base” (ERC-20) and “mirror” (ERC-721) — instead of the original single implementation.
However, the smart contract of the MINER token, based on the experimental ERC-X standard, was exploited. Following the attack, the crypto asset plummeted by 60%.
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