The crypto market is back in the game, with the entire market surging in value. Meanwhile, the bitcoin network continues to be stronger than ever.
On March 1st, 2020, the hash rate of the bitcoin network hit its new all-time high (ATH) at 136.2 Th/s as per Blockchain.com, recording a spike of over 27%. This peak broke the last record observed on Jan. 29 at 123 Th/s.
Bitcoin network’s hash rate has been climbing ever since Dec. 2018, when it bottomed along with the BTC price. Now, for the past year and two months, the hash rate has been only trending up despite the digital asset’s price performance.
The mean hash rate (one day MA) meanwhile, is at 138,224,890,922,504,601,600 which broke the previous ATH observed on Jan. 17, according to crypto data provider, Glassnode.
“What exactly this might mean for the price is unclear to say the least. Perhaps some new rigs have come online, or perhaps miners are running their machines extra hot going into the halving. It could also be a factor of block-times. As we’ve seen recently, short term hash data can be fairly unpredictable,” said analyst Mati Greenspan. “In any case, it does make for a nice narrative for a rally.”
Bitcoin Rebounds
Just a day after this sizable spike in the hash rate came the jump in bitcoin price which is up 4% in the past 24 hours while trading at $8,880, going as high $8,920 today after losing 16% of its value last week.
However, bitcoin wasn’t the only one that suffered along with the stock market. The traditional safe haven asset gold also plunged 4.5% on Friday. This has been the bullion’s largest daily decline since June 2013. As we reported, this has been leveraged money trying to get hold of cash.
“Investors are selling anything with a bid and running for cover, and that includes typical hedges like gold,” said Brien Lundin, Gold Newsletter editor.
Gold registered similar behavior during the 2008 financial crisis but as soon as central banks started injecting money into the market, investors started buying gold leading its prices to more than double.
Central banks from around the world; Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, IMF, the World Bank, and the Fed, all have come forward and said that they will use all the tools in their arsenal to combat the negative impact of the coronavirus on the economy.
As such, not just the stock market and bitcoin rebounded today but also spot gold which is up 0.8% at $1,596.94 an ounce and US gold futures that rose 2%.
