The digital asset market has undergone a notable recovery over the last week following the slump at the end of September. Investor interest is resurfacing, fueled by an increased demand for safe-haven assets amid the uncertainty surrounding the US government’s first shutdown in six years.
This rising demand for safe-haven assets could see Bitcoin (BTC) mirror gold’s surge, potentially reaching a new all-time high of $150,000 by the end of the year, as suggested by Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards. Bitcoin surpassed the $120,000 level on Thursday for the first time since August 14, continuing to trade above $120,122 as of Friday’s update.
Additionally, the increasing financial deficit of France’s central bank may act as another catalyst for Bitcoin, possibly leading to “trillions of euros” in money printing by the European Central Bank (ECB), which could direct fresh liquidity towards Bitcoin, according to Arthur Hayes, co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX.
Bitcoin $120,000 breakout will lead to “very quick move” to $150,000: Charles Edwards
Bitcoin may soar to a new all-time high of $150,000 before year-end as investors flock to safe-haven assets alongside gold, according to Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards.
Edwards stated that Bitcoin’s recovery above the $120,000 psychological barrier could result in a “very quick” breakout to a $150,000 all-time high during an interview with Cointelegraph at Token2049 in Singapore. “I wouldn’t be shocked if we reached $150,000 in a relatively short time as we break out of the $120,000 range. This could happen in the upcoming days,” he commented.
Bitcoin witnessed over a 6% increase in the past week, recovering above the $118,500 mark for the first time since August 15, as per the available data.
Edwards’ forecast is more conservative than that of some other analysts, who envision the current cycle pushing Bitcoin beyond $200,000.
André Dragosch, head of European research at Bitwise Asset Management, informed Cointelegraph that integrating crypto into US 401(k) retirement plans could unleash $122 billion in new investments. Even a 1% allocation from retirement managers could potentially propel Bitcoin above $200,000 before year’s end.
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Cathie Wood: Hyperliquid “reminds me of Solana in the earlier days”
ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood likened Hyperliquid to Solana’s early-stage potential, referring to it as “the new kid on the block.”
“It’s thrilling. It reminds me of Solana in its early days, and Solana has proven its value and now competes with the major players,” Wood stated in a recent interview on the “Master Investor” podcast.
ARK Invest currently maintains three primary crypto assets in its public funds: Bitcoin, Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL). The company’s investment in Solana is through Breera Sports, which Wood clarified is associated with the Solana treasury and backed by investors from the Middle East. She also mentioned advisory connections to the project through economist Art Laffer.
Wood did not affirm any investment in Hyperliquid but described the protocol as noteworthy. Her comments come as competition between perpetual futures DEXs intensifies following Aster’s recent token launch, which saw trading volume and open interest surpass that of Hyperliquid.
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Roman Storm seeks acquittal of Tornado Cash money transmission charge
Roman Storm, co-founder of Tornado Cash, has requested a US federal judge to acquit him of his sole conviction for unlicensed money transmission and the hung jury’s counts for money laundering and sanctions violations, asserting that prosecutors lacked evidence to prove he intended to assist bad actors in misusing the crypto mixer.
Legal documents filed on September 30 with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, which were reviewed by Cointelegraph, show that Storm’s defense argues that prosecutors did not demonstrate his intent to facilitate misuse of Tornado Cash. This assertion is claimed by the defense to nullify the basis for his conviction based on negligence.
“The assertion that Storm and bad actors were connected implies that he knew they were utilizing Tornado Cash and failed to take proper measures to prevent their activities. This is a theory based on negligence,” the motion asserted.
The defense further contended that without concrete evidence affirming that Mr. Storm acted with the intent to aid malefactors, the government attempted to fulfill its burden of willfulness by claiming the defendant did not prevent misuse. “This is a claim that contradicts the willfulness standard and is unsupported by legal precedent,” the motion indicated.
A motion for acquittal requests the judge to dismiss the charges and verdict based on the prosecution’s evidence being legally insufficient, even if considered truthful.
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SEC’s tokenized stock push has unclear benefits for crypto: Dragonfly Exec
Tokenized stocks may greatly benefit traditional markets, but might not offer the advantages for the crypto sector that some have foreseen, according to Rob Hadick, general partner at crypto venture firm Dragonfly.
“There’s no doubt it has a significant impact on TradFi,” Hadick told Cointelegraph at the TOKEN 2049 conference in Singapore. “They desire 24/7 trading; it’s more economically viable for them.”
However, he finds the potential benefits for major crypto entities in the real-world asset tokenization space, like Ethereum, to be unclear.
Reports indicate that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is formulating a plan to permit blockchain versions of stocks to trade on crypto exchanges, following requests from numerous financial institutions for always-open markets.
Hadick mentioned that institutions “prefer not to be directly involved with these general-purpose chains,” citing Robinhood and Stripe as examples of companies constructing their own blockchains.
“They prefer not to share economic benefits. They also do not want to share block space with memecoins. They seek to control aspects such as privacy and the validator set, ensuring authority over their execution environment,” he stated.
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Centralized exchanges will be DeFi front ends in 5–10 years: 1inch co-founder
Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges could become obsolete in the next decade as decentralized finance (DeFi) aggregators rise, as predicted by 1inch co-founder Sergej Kunz.
In an interview with Cointelegraph at Token2049 in Singapore, Kunz forecasted that exchanges will gradually evolve into frontends for decentralized exchanges (DEXs). “I estimate it will take around five to ten years,” he explained.
Kunz argued that while centralized exchanges serve isolated markets, 1inch and its aggregator function as a global liquidity hub. His statements followed 1inch’s announcement of a partnership with major US crypto exchange Coinbase, integrating its services to provide DEX trading for its users.
Kunz asserted that centralized exchanges are investing in on-chain systems to acknowledge that the technology they depend on “will not last indefinitely due to the presence of decentralized exchanges and digitalized finance.”
“They do not wish to miss the opportunity and fall behind; hence, they are adopting our technology, which, in our perspective, will empower the entire financial industry,” he concluded.
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DeFi market overview
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicates that most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization ended the week positively.
The privacy-focused Zcash (ZEC) token saw a remarkable rise of over 157% as the week’s top gainer among the top 100, followed by the DeXe (DEXE) token, which climbed over 34% on the weekly chart.
Thank you for reviewing our summary of this week’s most significant DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, insights, and education regarding this dynamically evolving space.
