Cryptocurrency asset markets are on fire this morning with by far their largest gains of the year. This is good news for all but the Bitcoin maximalists that are perplexed by the price pumps of their adversarial hard forks
Over 50% of the top-twenty cryptocurrencies have made double-digit gains yesterday. This has resulted in an epic pump of $20 billion back into cryptocurrency markets over the past 24 hours.
Altcoin bag holders are over the digital moon but Bitcoin advocates are wondering what all the FOMO is really about.
Bitcoin Hard Forks on Fire
The two altcoins that are grabbing all the attention at the moment are Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV). This is much to the chagrin of BTC supporters;
At the time of writing, Roger Ver’s BCH had cranked 30% on the day from $266 to top out at $350. Since the beginning of the year, Bitcoin Cash has gained 66% and has outperformed its big brother by a clear margin.
If this wasn’t bad enough for Bitcoiners, Craig Wright’s Bitcoin SV has surged a whopping 144% over the 24-hour period. This has enabled the much-maligned altcoin to flip BCH for fourth place with a market capitalization that now exceeds $7 billion.
In a since-deleted tweet, The Block CEO Mike Dudas stated:
“Good people of the normal world. I can understand why you’re having a hard time taking cryptocurrencies seriously. This is the performance of #Faketoshi’s shitcoin over the past week.”
The reason for the epic pump is clear. As recently reported by Beincrypto, rumors have surfaced regarding the missing keys to a ‘Tulip Trust’ owned by Wright which purportedly contains millions in BTC.
The FOMO stems from the notion that the claimant will liquidate all of this in favor of his own Bitcoin SV ‘Satoshi’s Vision.’ In an ongoing court case, Wright stands accused of stealing over half a million BTC mined in the early days of the digital asset’s existence.
Onchain Capital CEO Ran NeuNer couldn’t resist a dig;
So according to this , Craig’s courier arrived and he has the keys to the Bitcoin that are locked up! New target price for BSV $8700!?? pic.twitter.com/XOw1tQBhED
— Ran NeuNer (@cryptomanran) January 14, 2020
Altcoins Beating Big Brother
BCH and BSV are not the only high flying altcoins, but they do appear to be driving market momentum.
Ethereum has finally lifted out of its lethargy and surged 15% to top $165 and XRP is up 10% as its market cap tops $10 billion again.
Litecoin, EOS, Monero, Tron, Cardano, Stellar, Ethereum Classic, and NEO are also all getting double-digit gains but Dash appears to leading the pack at the moment surging up the charts with a 70% pump.
Images courtesy of Shutterstock, Trading View and Twitter.
