Bitcoin prices rose around 1% and traded slightly above the $23,000 mark, amid renewed investor confidence, a rise in equities, and an upcoming Ethereum merger. The latest rally took Bitcoin out of a one-month-old trading range and prompted big jumps in smaller tokens commonly referred to as altcoins. 

Bitcoin topped the $23,000 level, whereas Ethereum fell marginally after a super strong rally. The merge in Ethereum will shift the protocol from its energy-sapping proof-of-work model to a more environmentally friendly proof-of-stake one.

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The world’s largest cryptocurrency has struggled to come out of a $19,000 to $22,000 range as investors lick their wounds from a rout sparked by tightening monetary policy and exacerbated by the toppling of crypto lenders and the TerraUSD stablecoin. The digital token is down over 56% so far this year, and trading over 70% below its record high of $69,000 it had hit in November 2021.

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The global cryptocurrency market cap was at $1.07 trillion, up 6.24% in the last 24 hours. However, the total cryptocurrency 24 hours trading volume is $103.25 billion.

The Bitcoin fear and greed index on Wednesday, July 20, 2022, went from the fear level of 30 to the level of 31 as per the alternative. me. The Fear and Greed index is a technique for assessing investors’ emotions toward the market.      

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Bitcoin is currently trading at $23,679.68, up by 0.61%. In the last 24 hours, the highest it touched was $23,783.56 and the lowest was $21,988.75. Bitcoin has a current market cap of $452,803,644,419. It has a circulating supply of 19,098,400.00. BTC coins have a maximum supply of 21,000,000 coins.

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French banking major BNP Paribas forays into Crypto study space

French Bank BNP Paribas (BNP) is entering the crypto custody space via a partnership with Swiss digital asset safekeeping company Metaco, reported MoneyControl. Many big banks are edging towards crypto custody, but what makes this deal particularly significant is BNP Paribas Securities Services’ position as a major global custodian with nearly $13 trillion in assets under custody. BNP Paribas did not respond to requests for comment. 

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Bitcoin can still reach $500,000 in the next 5 years says billionaire Mike Novogratz

Billionaire investor Mike Novogratz said the recent turbulence in the cryptocurrency industry is a full-fledged credit crisis and has predicted that Bitcoin will eventually reach $500,000 in the next five years or so. He once called himself the ‘Forrest Gump of Bitcoin’.

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“What I don’t think people expected was the magnitude of losses that would show up in professional institutions’ balance sheets and that caused the daisy chain of events,” Novogratz said at the Bloomberg Crypto Summit on Tuesday. “It turned into a full-fledged credit crisis with complete liquidation and huge damage on confidence in the space,” he added.