October Rebound Becomes Crypto Honeymoon Period, Prices Of Some Coins Soar Again

Bitcoin price on Wednesday October 6 jumped more than 9 percent. (photo: doc. unsplash)

JAKARTA – After losing ground last month, cryptocurrencies enjoyed a rebound in October, and now dog-themed coins are in high demand.

Bitcoin on Wednesday, October 6 jumped more than 9 percent and briefly hit a price of $55.000 per coin for the first time in nearly five months. The crypto was last seen swapping hands just below 55.000 on Wednesday afternoon. It is now up more than 34 percent over the past week.

Bitcoin's surge on Wednesday was driven by increased interest in crypto from banks, according to Anthony Denier, CEO of stock and crypto trading platform Webull. This week, US Bancorp has also launched a crypto trading platform and Bank of America has started crypto research coverage.

“More banks are jumping on the crypto bandwagon due to investor demand, which is fueling Bitcoin's rise,” Denier said.

The CEO also pointed to comments by Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Gary Gensler, who told Congress Tuesday, October 5 that he has no plans to ban cryptocurrencies — a possibility that has become a “major overhang” for bitcoin, according to Denier.

Meanwhile, the little-known Shiba Inu coin that is the mascot of Dogecoin skyrocketed by as much as 65 percent at one point on Wednesday. Now up to more than 230 percent this week, this possibility is supported by crypto enthusiasts and Tesla CEO Elon Musk's recent tweet about a Shiba Inu puppy named Floki.

Each Shiba Inu coin is still worth just a fraction of a penny, but the crypto market cap has now reached around $9.5 billion, placing it in the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap, according to Coinbase data.

Elsewhere, Flokinomics, a dogecoin clone named after Musk's dog that started trading on Sunday, jumped 2.400 percent over the past 24 hours to $0.000002254 per coin.

Garrick Hilleman, head of research at Blockchain.com and visiting fellow at the London School of Economics, said merchants should be wary of “meme coins” like Shiba Inu and Flokinomics that are fueled by online hype and celebrities.

“The risk on this meme coin is pretty high,” Hilleman told The Post. "There's a real risk that if the celebrity endorser loses interest or the meme's ability is overtaken by another coin, you're in trouble."

The rally was cheered by vocal supporters of the digital token, including the Winklevoss twins of Facebook fame. Despite bitcoin's recent rally, the coin remains nearly 18 percent below its all-time peak in April of nearly $65.000 per coin. Ether also jumped more than 5 percent higher on Wednesday, trading at more than $3.600 per coin.

SEC Chair Gensler also told US lawmakers earlier this week that reflected comments by Federal Reserve Chair, Jerome Powell, who said on Friday, October 1, that he would not ban cryptocurrencies.