Today, December 8th, the world of cryptocurrencies is looking good, or ‘in the green,’ which means prices are generally going up. Bitcoin (BTC), the most well-known cryptocurrency, is back above $92,000.
Many other digital currencies, called ‘altcoins’ (which are all cryptocurrencies that aren’t Bitcoin), have done even better. For example, Zcash (ZEC) went up by about 17% in just one day!
Bitcoin Goes Up
Bitcoin has been quite unpredictable recently, showing a lot of ‘volatility,’ meaning its price has gone up and down quickly. Towards the end of last week, it was going up a lot and even went over $94,000 for a short time.
But the weekend was tough for ‘bulls’ (people who expect prices to rise), and Bitcoin dropped below $88,000 on December 7th. Now, at the start of this week, it’s making a comeback. Right now, Bitcoin is trading around $92,000. That’s a 3% increase just today.
This recent back-and-forth movement happens just days before a big meeting. The Federal Reserve, which is the central bank of the United States, will decide if it will raise, lower, or keep ‘interest rates’ the same. Interest rates are basically the cost of borrowing money or the reward for saving it.
Many people think interest rates might drop by 0.25%. We’ll have to see how this news affects the crypto market. When interest rates are lower, it usually means traditional investments (like bank savings accounts) don’t pay as much. This can make people more interested in putting their money into ‘digital assets’ like cryptocurrencies.
However, sometimes, even good news can cause prices to drop. This is called the ‘sell the news’ effect. It means people might buy before the good news is announced, then sell their assets once the news is out, causing prices to fall.
After Bitcoin’s latest price jump, its total value, known as ‘market capitalization,’ has reached about $1.83 trillion. Bitcoin also makes up about 57.37% of the entire crypto market, showing its ‘dominance’ over other altcoins.
Zcash Leads Other Cryptocurrencies
Many other popular cryptocurrencies (altcoins) have seen even bigger increases than Bitcoin in the past 24 hours. Zcash (ZEC) is leading the way among the top 100 cryptocurrencies. Its price jumped by 17% to reach $390.
Other coins like Canton (CC) went up by 13%. Bittensor (TAO), Ethena (ENA), Pepe (PEPE), and Cardano (ADA) also saw good gains, going up by 6-7%. Only a few, like MemeCore (M) and Pi Network (PI), saw small drops.
Overall, the total value of all cryptocurrencies combined (the total market capitalization) has jumped by 3% to approximately $3.22 trillion.