Asserting that the anticipation over the Ethereum Merge was the main driver behind the rally in the cryptocurrency market over the last few weeks, financial services firm JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: NYSE:JPM) says that the markets have found a bottom, despite subdued trading volumes.
BTC, ETH up 36% and 102% respectively from mid-July lows
Even as the world’s largest digital currency Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) fell as much as 75% from its all-time high made in November last year, crypto prices, notably that of BTC and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) have rebounded considerably in July with both gaining 36% and 102% respectively from their mid-June lows.
With BTC crossing the psychologically important level of the $24,000 mark, the crypto market has reclaimed the $1 trillion level, led by the rising prices of bluechip tokens.
Limited contagion from Terra collapse
“What has helped, we think, has been more limited new contagion from the collapse of Terra/Luna (CRYPTO: LUNA). However, we think the real driver has been the Ethereum merge and positive data following the launch of the Sapolia testnet in early July and Ropsten testnet in June, indicating the merge is viable in 2022,” Worthington said in a client note.
ETH merge expected in the week of Sep. 19
The second-largest digital asset will transition from the energy-intensive proof-of-work consensus to a more energy-efficient proof-of-stake mechanism, known as the Ethereum Merge, in the week of September 19, after completing two testnets in advance of the event.
Worthington said, “it appears that the crypto-markets have found a floor” despite trading volumes still being depressed.
In this context, he noted that Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN) lost ground to FTX in July.
Over $30 billion raised in 2022
Meanwhile, according to a recent report by crypto market intelligence firm Messari, about 1,199 rounds have raised more funds in six months in 2022 than in all of 2021.
Over $30.3 billion have been raised in these rounds in 2022 so far.
According to the report, funds have been raised for Web3, centralized finance (CeFi), decentralized finance (DeFi), infrastructure, and NFTs.
CeFi has raised over one-third of the funds at $10.2 billion, followed by Web3, infrastructure, and NFTs, the report notes.
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