The second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum (ETH) extended its bullish leg higher on Thursday, notching a new all-time high of $1,699. Although, Ethereum faced significant resistance at this level, the largest Altcoin is up 24% weekly buoyed by the DeFi Boom. Data from DeFiPulse puts the total value locked in DeFi at a recent figure of $28.87 billion. Ethereum presently trades at $1,653.
The GameStop saga in the prior week placed a bright spotlight on the strongpoints of decentralized finance. DeFi tokens have benefited from this attention, alongside the Ethereum rally.
The extra attention helped boost AAVE to new all-time highs of $547 before a minor retreat. Currently, Aave is the second-ranked DeFi platform by total value locked (TVL) with a recent figure of $4.96 billion as the protocol continues to gain users and outperform its competitors.
Courtesy: DeFiPulseAAVE rose from $268 on Feb. 1 to an all-time high of $547 gaining nearly 80% within the said period. AAVE rally kicked off on Jan. 28 when the platform announced the release of the Aave v2 migration tool which allows users to easily migrate all account information, including staked tokens and borrowed positions, to the updated protocol.
Also, one of several Altcoins to reach record highs this week is Binance Coin (BNB). The native token of cryptocurrency exchange Binance notched a new all-time high of $58.78, flipping Bitcoin Cash (BCH) by market capitalization to rank 9th largest.
Polkadot (DOT) also reached a new all-time high of $22.19 on Binance ahead of the first DOT-based exchange-traded product (ETP) Feb 4 launch.
The trend of frequent hitting of new all-time highs as seen in various crypto assets begun with Bitcoin (BTC) which rose to new all-time highs of $41,986 on Jan 9. However, three positive signs may indicate that there is a lot more to watch out for in 2021.
First, data from TheTIE, a social analytics firm, noted that Google searches for “buy crypto” had recently hit record highs. The firm also noted that there’s been a 135% jump in cryptocurrency social media activity in the last 3 months.
Second, payments giant, Visa announced that it is aggressively pursuing cryptocurrency partnerships, including debit cards and digital banks.
Lastly, Grayscale influx and Coinbase outflows with a recent 15,200 BTC ($515 million) outflow are regarded as a ‘bullish signal’. Analysts at CryptoQuant opined that outflow indicates an “OTC deal from institutional investors” who are possibly accumulating BTC into cold wallets.
Meanwhile, Grayscale keeps extending its tentacles further, set to move into the decentralized finance space after new trust filings for Aave (AAVE), Polkadot (DOT), and Cosmos (ATOM) were filed on Jan 27. On the same day, Grayscale also registered trusts for Cardano (ADA), as well as the privacy coin Monero (XMR).
Grayscale’s decision to expand its cryptocurrency horizons could have been spurred by the previous year 2020 price performances of the digital assets in question. Aave recorded 483% growth in the Q4 2020, to rank 14th largest by market cap. The project was a forerunner of the decentralized finance phase in 2020, focusing on lending, borrowing, and flash loans. Cosmos recorded similar growth of 489% as the value of its ATOM coin climbed from the $1.50 range to above $9. The project is now ranked 29th by market cap.
The interoperable blockchain platform, Polkadot also recorded nearly 540% growth between inception in Aug 2020 and Feb 2021.
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