Bitcoin, Ethereum Move Higher; Axie Infinity, THORChain Among Top Gainers

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) traded higher, with the cryptocurrency prices trading above the $26,600 level on Friday. Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), also moved higher, trading above the key $1,600 mark this morning.

Timeline of Axie-infinity, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Thorchain

A closely followed crypto trader says Bitcoin (BTC) is showing significant strength despite concerning developments in digital assets. Pseudonymous trader Altcoin Sherpa tells his 196,300 followers on the social media platform X that Bitcoin could reach $28,000 and beyond on its current rally despite what could be considered negative news for crypto.

On Sept. 15 last year, Ethereum implemented the historic Merge upgrade, which ushered in the transition from the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to the proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism.

In a significant move amid the global expansion of cryptocurrency companies, Bull Bitcoin, a Canadian Bitcoin exchange, has announced its entry into the Costa Rican market. Bull Bitcoin has achieved a milestone by becoming the first Bitcoin enterprise to leverage SINPE Movil, the primary payment provider in Costa Rica, to offer a Bitcoin on-and-off-ramp service.

The debut of the testing system – designed to be twice as big as the main network so developers can simulate massive scaling, comes a year after Ethereum completed its historic "Merge" shift to a "proof-of-stake" model from the original "proof-of-work" setup that Bitcoin uses.

In a recent YouTube interview with TechnicalRoundup, crypto Analyst DonAlt revealed he had purchased Bitcoin after the asset fell below the $25,000 level. According to the analyst also predicted the crypto market bottom in 2022, he had two choices before opening the new BTC position DonAlt Shares Insights On Bitcoin's Next Price Moves Explaining the reasoning behind his decision to purchase Bitcoin, DonAlt told TechnicalRoundup: We're at the point where you could make an argument for buying here [around $26,000].

Bitcoin hit a weekly high of US$26,750 after Deutsche Bank announced plans to offer crypto custody services for institutional investors, days after Standard Chartered launched its own institutional crypto wing.

The world's largest crypto exchange Binance's decision to move away from BUSD and TUSD stablecoins due to regulatory hurdles has sparked positive sentiment from traders. Tether (USDT) market share on Binance is again increasing and hints at the possible start of Bitcoin and crypto market rally, according to Kaiko data.

There has been a lot of talk, in the community lately about the possibility of BlackRock, the world's asset manager with over $9 trillion in assets under management reconsidering its stance on Bitcoin (BTC) and exploring XRP as an alternative.

Bitcoin's (CRYPTO: BTC) renewable energy usage for mining purposes has reportedly crossed the 50% mark, meeting the criteria set by Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) for reconsidering Bitcoin payments. What Happened: According to a report by Bloomberg analyst Jamie Coutts, the use of clean energy for Bitcoin mining has now exceeded 50%.

South Korean Bitcoin lender Delio is gearing up to file an administrative lawsuit against the country's Financial Service Committee (FSC). The firm contends that the FSC's allegations of fraud and embezzlement are unfounded and stem from a flawed interpretation of existing laws.