Update (0950ET): Bitcoin price just accelerated higher, soaring above last week’s highs and the record intraday high from Dec 2017…

It appears the headlines of Biden’s economic team was the catalysts for the latest run above last week’s highs.

*  *  *

Bitcoin’s recent tumble cleared some speculative “froth” but further declines remain possible, according to JPMorgan, and that appears to have been confirmed as Bitcoin roars back to $19,000 this morning…

And Ethereum is pushing back towards $600 (after plunging to $480 last week)…

Momentum traders such as commodity trading advisors and other quantitative funds likely played a big role in the slide by unwinding long Bitcoin futures positions, strategists led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou wrote in a Nov. 27 note.

“The previous froth in momentum traders’ positioning has been cleared to a large extent,” they wrote, while adding momentum signals will continue to deteriorate unless Bitcoin recovers quickly.

Amid last week’s Black-Friday special slump in Bitcoin prices, cryptocurrency traders seemed beset on all sides by fear, uncertainty, and doubt. However, as CoinTelegraph’s Andrew Thurman reports, Dermot McGrath, head of research at blockchain investment firm Sino Global Capital, said the firm prefers taking a long term view. 

Shortly after a Thanksgiving Bitcoin dip to $16,200, news broke that the Chinese government had seized $4.2 billion in cryptocurrencies as part of the Plustoken Ponzi scheme court proceedings. Rumors swirled that those tokens were poised to be dumped on the open market, crashing prices further.

However, Sino Global CEO Matthew Graham wrote on Twitter that he believed the majority of the Plustoken Bitcoin had been sold:

Additionally, whether the tokens have been sold or not, in an interview with Cointelegraph McGrath recommended that traders learn to look beyond immediate headlines. 

“In the crypto and blockchain ecosystems it is important to be able to ‘cut through the noise,’” he said. “We are long term bullish on Bitcoin and we continue to see the industry professionalize and mature as an asset class.”

McGrath also weighed in on a common boogeyman for Western crypto traders — Chinese cryptocurrency miners. Many have speculated that Chinese miners could conduct a 51% attack on the network, and they’ve long been derided by some for controlling vast swaths of the BTC supply:

McGrath, however, rejects both notions.

“Some of the reason that “Chinese miners” have been a “boogeyman” to western traders is simply a lack of understanding,” he said. “In theory, of course we know that 51% attacks can occur, but the level of centralization/coordination and incentives simply does not exist among the Chinese miner community for top cryptos.”

“As far as dumping of mined coins, etc. It is possible that Chinese miners are impacted by external factors that would cause them to manage mined coins differently. This is to be expected across different geographies,” he added.

When asked about price targets, McGrath declined to make moonshot calls. He did, however, shed some light on Sino’s investment philosophy.

“Pick projects and teams in which you share a vision and have conviction. Invest for the long-term and don’t get caught up in day to day market fluctuations,” he said. “We invest in teams and projects where we share a vision and have conviction. If we can find, support, and incubate these projects – we’ve done our job.”

As cryptoasset prices resume their uptrend and we continue on into a new bull market, perhaps McGrath’s wisdom is worth considering.

*  *  *

Despite last week’s drop, the gold-to-bitcoin rotation appears to be continuing…

The infamous Winklevoss twins were on CNBC this morning reiterating their view that Bitcoin will disrupt gold:

“Bitcoin is going to disrupt gold, but it will also disrupt any volatile emerging market that doesn’t put the welfare of its citizens first and foremost.”

“Amazon was e-commerce, and now it’s just commerce. Today, Bitcoin is ‘digital gold’ but tomorrow it will be just Bitcoin. It won’t need to be analogized or require any qualifiers.”

…and as the following table shows, Bitcoin has a long way to go to equilibrate to Gold’s ‘market cap’…

As Bloomberg’s Eddie van der Walt noted this morning, what doesn’t kill Bitcoin, appears to make it stronger.