Bitcoin, The 7th Largest Asset in the World, Inches Close to $100K—Here is What Driving the BTC Price Higher

Bitcoin has marked itself as one of the strongest assets in terms of growth, as the token enters the top 10 assets by market capitalisation. Surpassing the leading giants like Facebook and Saudi Aramco and traditional assets like silver, Bitcoin reached the 7th spot with nearly $2 trillion in market capitalization. Besides, the token recorded the highest gains compared to the other assets, suggesting Bitcoin may have just begun to thrive. 

Currently, the BTC price has surged above $97,000, recording a nearly 5% jump since the early trading hours, but the crypto markets remain largely calm. majority of the altcoins are either dying or are maintaining a close consolidation. This suggests the traders and the whales have been concentrating solely on Bitcoin, which may further help the price to maintain a steep ascending trend even after hitting the $100K milestone. 

Tether Mints 9B New USDT Tokens

Apart from this, one of the major catalysts that might have triggered the BTC price rally could be the minting of Tether (USDT). The creation of new USDT is done usually to meet the demand and also to ensure sufficient liquidity within the ecosystem. As per the data from Lookonchain, the Treasury is constantly minting new USDT tokens and flushing them into the markets, which has helped the BTC price to escalate to these levels. 

The data suggests the Treasury minted 1B USDT tokens a few hours ago and nearly 9B tokens since November 8, 2024. This was after the BTC price rebounded from the monthly lows below $67,000 and was hovering between $75,000 and $76,000. Since then, the BTC price has scaled by over 27% with a huge rise in volume, which has raised close to $90 billion. This proves that the Treasury is a major player in providing liquidity and facilitating transactions. 

Whales Constantly Accumulate BTC

Yet another major catalyst that has driven the BTC price higher is the whale activity. The traders tend to follow the whales, as their activity directly influences market sentiments and eventually the price. Whales have been constantly accumulating BTC, and as per the data from Lookonchain, this whale has over 25,000 BTC. 

This whale accumulated over 3200 BTC in the past 2 days and is currently holding over 25,000 BTC worth over $2.13 billion. Quiet accumulation of whales is usually considered to be the most bullish signal than any other technicals on the chart. 

If these catalysts have fueled the Bitcoin price rally, then it may fade soon as it is not backed by the retail traders who are responsible for maintaining the volatility of the token. Therefore, if this is a true breakout, then one can expect a pullback below $94,000 for a retest, resulting in an extended run to $115K before the end of 2024.