Bitcoin (BTC) surged 8.26% at the start of Friday to break the psychological $20,000 level and lead the recovery of the broader crypto market.
The industry’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap fell to $18,644 on Wednesday and was mostly trading between $19,200 and $19,300 yesterday.
However, today’s breakout pushed the price of bitcoin to $20,808 at press time, a level not seen since August 26, data from CoinMarketCap showed.
The bullish price action helped push the cumulative market cap of all cryptocurrencies back above $1 trillion, with Bitcoin currently dominating 38.5% of the market.
Ethereum (ETH) meanwhile is up 5.2% over the past 24 hours and is currently changing hands at $1,706 per CoinMarketCap.
Similar to bitcoin, this is a two-week high for the second-largest cryptocurrency by market, which is now in the final stages of preparation for the historic merge event that will see the network transition from its current one. proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm for a less energy-intensive proof-of-stake (POS) model.
Solana, Polkadot make solid gains
elsewhere in the market, solana (SOL) has been the best-performing asset among the top ten cryptocurrencies as the coin’s price surged 9.3% to reach a daily high of $35.66 over the past 24 hours.
polka dot (DOT) is on an equally impressive run—the 10th largest asset is up 9.6% on the day, changing hands at $7.80.
outside the top ten universe (atom) and chain link (Link) Both have posted double-digit gains – 22.9% and 12.5% on the day.
Today’s market recovery is heating up on the heels of the European Central Bank’s decision to raise eurozone interest rates by a record 75 basis points, the second straight rate hike since July.
Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Thursday that he is “strongly committed” to fighting inflation, meaning there will likely be more interest hikes on the horizon.
In line with Powell’s remarks, the ECB’s moves saw the euro rise sharply to $1.0070, from $0.9960 at yesterday’s close. Asian stock exchanges also did well on Friday morning as the US dollar weakened, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index up 2.69% as of this writing.