As the fourth quarter of the year kicks off, cryptocurrencies are enjoying a mini-boom, with Bitcoin leading the charge.
At the time of writing, the prices of the top ten largest digital assets (with the exception of stablecoins) have surged by between 7% and 13% over the past 24 hours, according to crypto metrics platform CoinGecko.
The price of Bitcoin, the largest crypto with a market capitalization of $897 billion, jumped by 10.2% on the day, reaching about $47,760. Ethereum was close behind, gaining 9.3% all the way up to $3,266.
Other top coins are also keeping up. Cardano (+7.3%, $2.25), Binance Coin (+11%, $417.03), Ripple’s XRP (+8.4%, $1.03), Solana (+12.6%, $155.13), Polkadot (+11.6%, $31.36), and Dogecoin (+7.3%, $0.217) are all in the green zone.
Among the top decentralized finance (DeFi) coins, Terra (+12%, $39.73), Uniswap (11%, $25.64), Avalanche (+5.3%, $69.23), Chainlink (+9.2%, $26.19), and Tezos (+12.9%, $6.72) are similarly showing substantial growth.
The Fed has ‘no intention’ to ban crypto
Apart from the start of a new quarter, the latest boost might have also been catalyzed by the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, who stated that he has no intention of banning cryptocurrencies.
During a House Financial Services Committee meeting yesterday, Powell was asked whether he intends to “ban or limit the use of cryptocurrencies”—and many crypto enthusiasts probably breathed a sigh of relief atfer hearing his answer.
“No intention to ban them,” Powell replied. However, he did single out stablecoins as coming under regulatory scrutiny.
“But stablecoins are like money market funds, they’re like bank deposits, but they’re to some extent outside of the regulatory perimeter. And it’s appropriate that they be regulated. Same activity, same regulation,” he added.
