Bitcoin Sets New All-Time High Above $69,000 As Institutionals Show FOMO

Bitcoin has set a new all-time high (ATH) above the $69,000 level as institutional investors have aggressively bought on Coinbase.

Bitcoin Has Set A New ATH Above $69,000

The moment that every Bitcoin investor had been looking forward to has finally arrived today. The cryptocurrency just smashed past the record set in November 2021 to create a brand new ATH beyond the $69,000 level.

Bitcoin All-Time High

This historical moment has come for the asset as institutional investors have been showing some strong buying pressure recently.

Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Index Spikes To Highest Levels For 2024

As an analyst in a CryptoQuant Quicktake post explained, US institutional investors appear to be scrambling to buy Bitcoin as they are starting to feel FOMO with the sharp bullish momentum the cryptocurrency has enjoyed.

The metric of interest here is the “Coinbase Premium Index,” which keeps track of the percentage difference between the Bitcoin prices listed on cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase (USD pair) and Binance (USDT pair).

The former exchange is the preferred platform for institutional traders based in the US, while the latter serves more global traffic. As such, the Coinbase Premium Index can provide hints about the differences in the buying and selling behaviors of the two groups.

When the indicator has a positive value, the price listed on Coinbase is higher than on Binance. Such a trend implies that the buying pressure is higher (or selling pressure is lower) from the US-based investors compared to Binance users.

On the other hand, the negative metric suggests that American institutional traders may be applying relatively high selling pressure on the market.

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Index over the past few months:

Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Index

As displayed in the graph, the Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Index has registered a large positive spike recently, implying the difference between the prices on Coinbase and Binance has widened.

The indicator had been floating inside the green territory for a while before this spike, and in this period of high buying pressure on Coinbase, the coin observed a sharp rally.

This recent buying pressure would probably include sources like the spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) approved this year. From the chart, it’s visible that the buying pressure has been even higher in the last couple of weeks, culminating in the latest spike.

Interest around the asset among these institutional entities had only been growing recently, but the latest spike suggests FOMO has gone up a level for these investors.

Given that institutional buying has been one of the main forces behind the latest rally in the cryptocurrency, it’s no wonder that its price has hit a fresh high off the back of the latest spike.

Crypto Seeks to Make Mark on U.S. Elections During ‘Super Tuesday’

The long list of primary elections Tuesday across 15 U.S. states will steer the fates of many seats in Congress and further solidifies the presidential showdown later this year, but Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said it’s also a “chance to send a message” to federal politicians who’ve declined to come up with crypto policies.

Analyst: OP Is Undervalued But Will Skyrocket Because Of Coinbase And Base

Adam Cochran, a partner and professor, is bullish about OP, the native token of Optimism, the layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum. 

Taking to X, Cochran is convinced OP is undervalued, pointing to the significance of Coinbase and the brand it has created over the years as a crypto exchange and investor in multiple products. In 2023, Coinbase backed the development of Base, a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum that uses Optimism infrastructure for its optimistic roll-up. 

OP Will Rocket Because Of CoinBase And Base

In coming up with this assessment, the investor highlights Coinbase’s vast user base and ability to drive retail adoption towards Base potentially. And, as aforementioned, since Base uses Optimism, the expected adoption spike will significantly boost OP from current spot levels. 

Cochran argues that the “power of discoverability” associated with Coinbase, a brand that facilitates billions of dollars in daily trading, will be crucial to Optimism’s success. This is particularly relevant when looking at OP prices when writing.

OP price trending upward on the daily chart | Source: OPUSDT on Binance, TradingView

When writing, OP is stable but up 220% from October lows. The token has been trending higher, benefiting from the broader crypto rally. Even so, though in an uptrend, OP has not reclaimed 2023 highs of around $4.2.

To drive the point home, Cochran compares how the BNB Chain blew up in the number of active users. In the last bull run, the chain had an active decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible token (NFT) ecosystem. The BNB Chain’s popularity and soft landing is because the smart contracts platform is associated with Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange. 

Further to the point, the success of Solana, the partner argues, lends its success to the now-defunct FTX. At its peak, FTX injected billions to fund the development of Solana. It was also actively involved in financing some of Solana’s active protocols. 

The Great Convergence Of Supportive Events

Presently, Coinbase is streamlining its operations, recently stopping support for Bitcoin, Litecoin, and other UTXO tokens via Coinbase Commerce. Their focus is on Ethereum-compatible tokens, which could provide hints that Coinbase Commerce might soon be integrated into Base.

From the protocol level, Ethereum plans to implement upgrades to make transacting on layer-2 platforms even cheaper. The Dencun Upgrade is scheduled for March and will see Ethereum enhance as part of its long-term scaling roadmap.

Optimism TVL | Source: L2Beat

L2Beat data on March 1 shows that Optimism has a total value locked (TVL) of $7.8 billion, roughly half that of Arbitrum. Meanwhile, Base has been rising up the rankings, commanding a TVL of approximately $1 billion.

Bitcoin Ascent To $64,000 Causes Coinbase To Crash – Here’s What Happened

Not long after the value of Bitcoin surpassed $62,000, its highest level since 2021, Coinbase had severe disruptions and issues on Wednesday afternoon, preventing some customers from signing in at all and causing some user accounts to reflect a $0 balance.

Crypto aficionados were furious on social media because they are unable to access their money on the biggest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States. Furthermore frustrating, some customers have reported errors when buying and selling.

The continuous demand for Bitcoin is seen as main the reason behind the sudden crash of the Coinbase app. The leading cryptocurrency had a 40% price increase this month as a result of US bitcoin spot ETFs. This was the biggest monthly gain the digital asset had seen since December 2020, according to reports.

Bitcoin Price Action Today

With a ferocious start to March, Bitcoin’s unprecedented activity has positioned it for its biggest monthly gain in over three years on Thursday. Bitcoin is currently very close to reaching a new high due to the money flooding into listed bitcoin funds, which is driving a significant increase.

The world’s leading cryptocurrency briefly touched $64,000 (the first rise above $60,000 since November 2021), before partially reversing the gains. According to Coingecko data, BTC was trading at $62,765. It was up 10% and 22% on a daily and weekly basis, respectively.

After plunging 64% in 2022, the value of bitcoin has more than tripled since the start of the year. That represents a remarkable comeback from a slew of scandals and bankruptcies that had raised concerns about the long-term viability of cryptocurrencies.

Are Coinbase Funds Safe?

Meanwhile, customers can now log back into the exchange, according to a statement from Coinbase, although users are still reporting issues with “certain payment methods” and issues with sending and receiving money.

While acknowledging that “some users may see a zero balance” on all of their Coinbase accounts and may run into problems while purchasing or selling, Coinbase reassured customers that their money was secure. Additionally, the exchange made it clear that there have been significant delays in money transfers via the Ethereum ERC-20 network.

There are rumors of similar crashes on other significant exchanges, such as KuCoin and Binance. But there is still no proof to support these allegations.

The situation comes at a difficult moment for Coinbase, as more inexperienced investors are returning to the market for cryptocurrency trading and discovering they appear to have no assets.

The disruption at Coinbase is not unprecedented; in every bull market, there are technical problems that arise when the platforms cannot handle the volume of buying and selling. As a result, the lack of technological safeguards on sites like Coinbase to handle such problems infuriates members of the cryptocurrency community.

Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView