October saw Bitcoin hit its highest price to date, rising above $64,000 early on October 14 and wiping off almost $52 million in bets that it would decline.
Because to the recent spike in Bitcoin’s price, traders of cryptocurrency futures who had predicted that the market would decline have seen their bets liquidated for over $100 million.
Bitcoin (BTC) broke out of a tight range-bound weekend and surged past $64,000 early on October 14, adding 2.1% in the previous day.
According to TradingView, Bitcoin hit a top of $64,173, the highest level it has achieved thus far in October, reaching levels not seen since September 30.
According to statistics from CoinGlass, approximately $101.4 million in short positions were liquidated throughout the cryptocurrency market as a result of Bitcoin’s abrupt price surge.
54,649 traders were liquidated for a total of nearly $166 million; of the amount, shorts in Bitcoin accounted for $52.33 million, while shorts in Ethereum (ETH) accounted for $27.26 million.
According to TradingView, Bitcoin’s significant surge also caused its market domination to rise beyond 58% once again, which is nearly its highest level since April 2021.
Given that October has witnessed positive returns for Bitcoin in nine of the last eleven years, analysts have made predictions on when the infamous “Uptober” might start.
On October 14, bitcoiner Kyle Chassé informed his 219,000 followers on X that “the tides are shifting” and that the market is about to enter one of its most “exciting phases.”
“The next big rally isn’t just a possibility — it’s a reality waiting to unfold,” he added.
“Pray for the bears,” onchain analyst James Check chimed in.
Ether, on the other hand, recovered $2,500 and reached a two-week high of $2,540 after rising 2.9% over the previous day.
The previous day had seen a general increase in cryptocurrency altcoins, with Solana up 4.4%.
Over the course of the day, high-cap altcoins like as Dogecoin (DOGE), XRP (XRP), and BNB (BNB) had subdued increases of less than 1%.
Vitalik Buterin sells another $1.6M in memecoins promised for charity
Over the past ten days, Buterin has given $884,000 to charitable organizations as memecoiners have continued to deposit tokens to his wallet.
Co-creator of Ethereum Vitalik Buterin has exchanged an additional $1.6 million in memecoins for Ethereum (ETH), which he had already pledged to contribute to charitable organizations.
The blockchain analytics company Spot On Chain said in an Oct. 13 X post that the transaction comprised $982,800 worth of Moo Deng (MOODENG), $231,000 worth of Monsterra (MSTR), and $183,000 worth of ETHEREUM IS GOOD (EBULL).
Additionally, Buterin sold his shares in Vitalek Buteren (VITALIK), Fwog (FWOG), and Popcat (POPCAT).
According to Spot On Chain, on October 13, he has already exchanged $2.78 million worth of memecoins for ether and given $884,000 to charitable organizations in the previous nine days.
Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin) sold 8 more #memecoins for 651.6 $ETH ($1.62M) in the past hour!
They include:
• 10B #MOODENG ($982K) for 395.95 $ETH
• 200K $MSTR ($231K) for 93.23 $ETH
• 500M $EBULL ($183K) for 73.79 $ETH
• 15M $POPCAT ($67.2K) for 27.11 $ETH
• 31.4T… https://t.co/tuRpJiuDYP pic.twitter.com/Wtdy3gPYWU— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) October 13, 2024
Though he advised them to think about making a direct donation instead, Buterin thanked memecoin issuers for giving him coins to give.
Buterin said in an X post on October 7 that he was giving all 10 billion memecoin tokens he had been given to a company developing technologies to prevent airborne diseases.
I appreciate all the memecoins that donate portions of their supply directly to charity.
(eg. I saw ebull sent a bunch to various groups last month)
Anything that gets sent to me gets donated to charity too (thanks moodeng! The 10B from today is going to anti-airborne-disease…
— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) October 7, 2024
On August 15, Buterin gave the Animal Welfare Fund of Effective Altruism Funds all of the memecoins with animal themes that he had acquired throughout the previous 12 months.
Buterin could be donating more money soon.
According to statistics from Spot On Chain, his $700 million cryptocurrency portfolio still includes $2.4 million in MOODENG tokens, $144,000 in Neiro (NEIRO), $117,000 in MSTR, and $80,000 in Degen (DEGEN).
Buterin has long maintained that memecoins may benefit society by helping to finance significant government initiatives or even by providing a means of subsistence for those in lower-income nations.
Buterin, meantime, has attacked memecoins with a celebrity theme that aim to benefit the star and early backers.
Economists Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok have put Buterin’s name forward to win the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2024.
In an Oct. 8 episode of the two-person podcast Marginal Revolution, Cowen stated, “Vitalik built a platform, created a currency, you could say, refuted Mises’ regression theorem in the process, obviously following in the footsteps of Satoshi, but my goodness, what does someone have to do to get a Nobel Prize.”
“Not only that, but Vitalik has continued to contribute toward the mechanism design of Ethereum by going to proof-of-stake,” Tabarrok said, expressing his agreement.
Grayscale reveals 35 Altcoins under consideration for investment product
A list of cryptocurrencies that Grayscale may soon include in its investing products was released recently.
Grayscale’s candidates are frequently used as a benchmark by the investing world when constructing their portfolios.
Grayscale’s potential candicates for Q4
Grayscale is evaluating 35 cryptocurrencies for potential inclusion in its next investing products, according to an official release. The five groups that these altcoins fall under are Utilities & Services, Financials, Consumer & Culture, Smart Contract Platforms, and Currencies.
“Assets Under Consideration lists digital assets not currently included in a Grayscale investment product but identified by our team as possible candidates for inclusion in a future product,” Grayscale explained.
| Grayscale Crypto Sector | Assets Under Consideration |
|---|---|
| Currencies | Kaspa (KAS) |
| Smart Contract Platforms | Aptos (APT) |
| Arbitrum (ARB) | |
| Celestia (TIA) | |
| Celo (CELO) | |
| Core (CORE) | |
| Cosmos (ATOM) | |
| Internet Computer (ICP) | |
| Mantle (MNT) | |
| Metis (METIS) | |
| Neon (NEON)* | |
| Optimism (OP) | |
| Polygon (POL ex. MATIC) | |
| Sei (SEI) | |
| Starknet (STRK) | |
| Toncoin (TON) | |
| TRON (TRX) | |
| Financials | Aerodrome (AERO) |
| Ethena (ENA) | |
| Injective Protocol (INJ) | |
| Jupiter (JUP) | |
| Mantra (OM) | |
| Ondo Finance (ONDO) | |
| Pendle (PENDLE) | |
| THORChain (RUNE) | |
| Consumer & Culture | Dogecoin (DOGE) |
| Immutable (IMX) | |
| Utilities & Services | Akash (AKT) |
| Arweave (AR) | |
| Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) | |
| Helium (HNT) | |
| Pyth (PYTH) | |
| UMA Project (UMA) | |
| VeChain (VET) | |
| Worldcoin (WLD) |
Grayscale added that the reevaluation of these initiatives may cause this ranking to alter every quarter.
Grayscale has unveiled a list of 20 cryptocurrencies that have a lot of promise for Q4 2024. Six new names—Optimism (OP), Sui (SUI), Bittensor (TAO), Celo (CELO), UMA Protocol (UMA), and Helium (HNT)—have been added to this list in comparison to Q3. The acquisition of these new brands is indicative of Grayscale’s concentration on prediction markets, DePin, and artificial intelligence.
Grayscale SUI Trust was introduced by the asset management in August. Since then, this cryptocurrency has increased by about 300%, rising by 46% in October, and most recently reaching a new high of $2.36.
Since its founding in 2013, Grayscale Investments has managed digital assets valued at over $20 billion.
