Bitcoin Inches Back Towards 10K

The price of Bitcoin had climbed to just over $9600 by mid afternoon Sunday Eastern Time in what has been an epic weekend for the cryptocurrency.

Over the past 24 hours, that move represents a 5.9% increase. 

Over the past week, Bitcoin has witnessed a nearly 18% increase, up from $7200.

So what's pushing the price on such a dramatic upwards trajectory?

China's President Xi Jinping just announced his country should "seize the opportunity" of Bitcoin's blockchain technology.

China banned Bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges in 2017 and it appears the country is ready to relax its grip over this sector....maybe.

"We must take the blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies," Xi reportedly said, speaking at the 18th collective study of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee in Beijing.

"[We must] clarify the main direction, increase investment, focus on a number of key core technologies, and accelerate the development of blockchain technology and industrial innovation."

Xi’s comments seemed only to apply to blockchain technology.

decrypt.co writes:

Of course, it’s possible that Bitcoin traders might have become excited by Xi’s announcement. The pump took place around 1pm UTC, just as traders in Asia began to awaken. And Chinese investor Dovey Wan pointed out on Twitter that searches for “blockchain” on WeChat, the immensely popular Chinese messaging app, spiked by several orders of magnitude prior to the rally. Could Xi’s sort-of vote of confidence for blockchain technology sent traders into a bullish frenzy?

“It’s probably traders reacting to it to some degree,” speculated Carter. “But the size of the move was shocking. We’d need something cataclysmic to explain a move that significant.”

Carter reckons the pump was due to a minor fund liquidating—or newly joining the thinly traded bitcoin market—causing a brief influx of money that would have triggered the wider rally. And over on derivatives exchange BitMEX, scores of short-sellers—traders betting against bitcoin —did indeed have their positions liquidated. That means they had to scramble to cover their bets, which drove up the price of BTC.

Bitcoin accounts for around 70% of all online gambling transactions in more restrictive markets.  That represents better than half the world market.

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com