The week is still young, but new milestones have already been made: the total market cap for all digital currencies has increased by a staggering $10 Billion in one week, now standing at the all time high of $38.1 Billion.
Bitcoin still has a market dominance of 60.1% but sports a new, all-time high of 1458 USD. The recent announcement of the SEC revisiting their decision on the Winklevoss’ ETF, along with Japan’s legalisation of Bitcoin and Russia’s tentative acceptance have all generated excitement in the market. The more world-wide acceptance Bitcoin receives – whether it’s through government announcements or tabloid magazines – the higher the price will rise.
Ethereum is also testing the waters, pushing past an all time high and crowning at 85 USD. This is almost certainly tied to the announcement of the SEC beginning their assessment of the ‘EtherIndex Ether Trust’ – an ETF for Ethereum. Ethereum is meeting some resistance, but should stay well above 75 USD for a few months to come – especially in the wake of the Proof-of-Stake switch, which should arrive at the end of 2017. Proof-of-Stake ensures that you can no longer ‘mine’ coins, only being able to mint new ones through a staking system. Consider it a form of lottery – the more Ethereum you have, the bigger your reward. We’ll post more details about this as soon as they’re available!
The ETF isn’t the only reason for Ethereum’s popularity boost – Spotify announced their acquisition of Mediachain Labs, a project heavily entwined into Ethereum’s ecosystem. Mediachain Labs have been working on an efficient way to store metadata for creative content; Spotify’s acquisition could hint at a new strategic move to ensure that not only do they step into the Ethereum ecosystem ahead of time, but begin experimentation with the blockchain before their competitors. A smart move for the savvy investor, and an even smarter move for the media conglomerate.