Digital Assets Weekly: August 18th
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Market Analysis
After bumping up against its $12,000 resistance level for the greater part of the week, Bitcoin broke above $12,000 on Monday August 17th and finished the 7D period up 3.8% at $12,316.
Open interest on CME Bitcoin Futures hit an all-time high on Friday ($846M vs last week’s record of $840M) and Bitcoin’s hashrate hit an all-time high over the weekend rising a record 129 TH/s.
Bitcoin has continued its dominance in terms of its YTD performance compared to other asset classes. Notably, gold continues to perform well alongside Bitcoin as the dollar suffers, pointing to Bitcoin’s growing role as a global store of value.
Litecoin, which had lagged all other major crypto assets on YTD basis, led by 6% - 12% this week. Outperformance was primarily driven by bullishness regarding the protocol’s impending privacy upgrade. Referred to as Mimblewimble, the upgrade is expected to help shield the identities of holders of senders while also improving the network’s scalability. It is scheduled for testnet launch in September.
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