Bitcoin
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and PEPE-affiliated Memecoin BRETT lead gains in crypto market
Bitcoin approached the $70,000 mark for the first time since early June in Asian afternoon trading hours, days after Republican candidate Donald Trump revealed plans to make the asset a strategic national asset if he is swept into power in November.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)and BRETT, a relatively new memecoin on the Base blockchain, led gains in the cryptocurrency market on Monday. Meanwhile, Solana’s SOL jumped 6%, leading gains among major tokens, while BNB Chain’s BNB, ether (ETH) and XRP all rose between 2-5%.
BCH surges over 10% as Mt. Gox finishes distributing tokens to its creditors, outperforming the CoinDesk 20a measure of the largest and most liquid digital assets, which rose 3.6%.
This steady rise in BTC price caused a $13.8 million short bet to be liquidated, while $11.4 million worth of ETH was wiped out. according to data from CoinGlass.
On a long awaited speech On Saturday, Trump said that if elected in November, he would fire current SEC Chairman Gensler, build a strategic bitcoin reserve and prevent the U.S. from selling its bitcoin holdings. He believes the asset could one day compete with gold and be “the steel industry of 100 years ago.”
Initially, some analysts believed that BCH would be the loser in the Mt. Gox trade, as bankruptcy redemptions would result in a disproportionately larger percentage of BCH entering the market compared to Bitcoin, but this fear appears to have been unfounded.
The market appears to be reacting favorably to BRETT, a memecoin ‘mascot’ on the already meme-heavy Base blockchain. BRETT is the roommate of Matt Furie’s Pepe the Frog, a comical and lazy character from the Boy’s Club.
BRETT is up 11% in the past 24 hours, while POPCAT, a cat-themed memecoin, is up 7%.
Meanwhile, Trump-themed tokens remain in the red, despite a recent address by the former president at the BTC 2024 conference in Nashville.