As of early Friday morning, this week was shaping up to be a banner one for altcoins. Among many others, integration cryptocurrency Polkadot (DOT 2.63%) had advanced by 13% week to date by that point, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Meanwhile, a pair of alternates to the top two coins -- Ethereum Classic (ETC 5.85%) and Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC 1.47%) -- also came along for the ride, S&P Global Market Intelligence figures reveal. The former was up 16%, while the latter had advanced by 12%.
Many cryptos continued their sprint
Cryptocurrencies remain in the throes of a major and sustained rally. It just so happens that the dominant one, Bitcoin of course, seemed to be taking a pause by the end of the week. It dipped a little in price after hitting a recent peak of a hard-to-believe $45,000 on Wednesday afternoon.
That was like the lead runner in a race slowing a bit to conserve energy. As Bitcoin cooled (along with its cousin Wrapped Bitcoin, which sits on the Ethereum blockchain), investment money found its way into other coins and tokens and they surged ahead.
Ethereum was one beneficiary, hence the pop in its origin blockchain Ethereum Classic. Polkadot, which has won kudos for the blockchain interoperability it facilitates, was another.
There was little material reason for the Bitcoin pause; it's likely that profit-taking was among the factors. Yet optimism abounds. Recent employment statistics are heating up speculation that the Federal Reserve will have to cut rates before long, reversing its recent habit. This compounds steeper-than-expected declines in inflation data.
That is encouraging for cryptocurrency investors because the sunnier the economic future seems to be, the more adventurous the market gets. That being said, however, there wasn't any new development on the macroeconomic front. The cryptoverse continued to be buoyed by the not-so-fresh news of previous days.
The hope of spot crypto ETFs
One potentially strong market-pusher currently on hold is the future of spot cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Last month there were several pieces of news tilting in favor of these securities, which have been concocted by some top names in the finance industry (like BlackRock with its proposed Bitcoin ETF).
Alas, still none have yet been approved by the crypto-skeptical U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; the hot gossip is that this will occur very soon. But gossip isn't occurrence, and while the prospect of spot crypto ETFs is exciting, their future remains in limbo. Investors continue to hope for a slew of approvals, however, and that's helping to sustain the rally.
