U.S. jobs data led Bitcoin and Ethereum over $70,000 and $4,000 respectively.
The pair of cryptocurrencies dominating the market – Bitcoin and Ethereum – hit highs on March 8. U.S. jobs data for February came in hot and January’s figures were revised upward. Equities markets reacted to the news by rising, as did crypto, as investors saw increasing recessionary pressure raising the probability of an interest rate cut in 2024. Bitcoin hit a new all time high of over $70,000, and Ethereum hit $4,000 for the first time since 2021.
Macro boost of sorts
The U.S. Department of Labor announced that the country had added 275,000 jobs in February, which is 75,000 jobs more than expected. However, the January jobless figures were revised upward, which raised the unemployment figure to 3.9% despite the February numbers.
Investors had been looking for a reason to expect a rate cut ever since the January Consumer Price Index came in at 3.1% instead of 2.9%.
Bitcoin breaks $70,000, and retreats
Bitcoin briefly broached the $70,000 mark, before retracing on Friday. At the time of writing, BTC was trading at over $68,000. The moves triggered the liquidation of leveraged derivatives trading positions for the second time this week, though the drop was $240 million, compared to over $1 billion on Tuesday.
Ethereum hits $4,000
Altcoin heavyweight Ethereum hit $4,000 for the first time since December 2021 on March 8. While Bitcoin investors are waiting for the halving, or the cutting of mining rewards in half, Ethereum has processes of its own that are of interest to its own watchers. In the case of Ethereum, it is a system upgrade called Dencun. This will be the network’s most significant improvement since the Merge on September 15, 2022. The Dencun upgrade includes the introduction to “proto-danksharding.”
Altcoin heavyweight Ethereum hit $4,000 for the first time since December 2021 on March 8. While Bitcoin investors are waiting for the halving, or the cutting of mining rewards in half, Ethereum has processes of its own that are of interest to its own watchers. In the case of Ethereum, it is a system upgrade called Dencun. This will be the network’s most significant improvement since the Merge on September 15, 2022. The Dencun upgrade includes the introduction to “proto-danksharding.”
Proto-danksharding will enable the use of blobs, thereby simplifying the transaction process via storing some data off the blockchain. This will hasten transactions and cut costs for layer-2 chains and rollups who depend on Ethereum.
