Yahoo Finance Bitcoin rallies as new South Korean president vows crypto push
Bitcoin shot up above $40,000 today, rallying on the news that the incoming South Korean president is bullish on crypto.
The cryptocurrency market capitalisation shot up 2% today on the back of several positive factors, such as the EU abandoning critical legislation that would have led to an effective ban on bitcoin mining in the bloc.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD) has rallied up 3.6% today, breaking through the $40,000 mark in the early hours of the morning UK-time. Ethereum (ETH-USD) is also up 5%, to $2,644, with recent data showing that Ethereum increased its transaction volume throughout 2021 to peak above VISA. Ethereum moved $11.6 trillion in 2021, with VISA falling behind at $10.4 trillion in payments volume.
With the onset of inflation of major fiat currencies, more and more investors are looking for an alternative to the dollar.
Read more: Crypto live exchange rates
The inflation rate has caused US investor and fund manager Bill Gross to pledge his allegiance to bitcoin.
Speaking this week to CNBC he said: "I do think we need an alternative to the dollar as we’ve seen in the last week or two and that you know, there will be several survivors and I’m invested to a small extent in bitcoin.”
Read more: Club for women in crypto promises to close gender funding gap
Then a major bullish signal appeared in Asia, with the election of a pro-crypto president in South Korea on March 14.
Conservative South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol is now set to move into the Blue House in Seoul in May.
The leader of the People Power Party has not been shy in issuing contentious views on feminism, North Korea, and also cryptocurrencies.
Read more: Bitcoin: EU votes against crypto ban
He plans to make a u-turn for crypto in South Korea, an industrial powerhouse that has for many years has been a hostile environment for the burgeoning industry.
Yoon has vowed to deregulate the cryptocurrency industry and introduce favourable tax laws for crypto investors.
Watch: Can you live exclusively off bitcoin?
According to Yonhap news, he said: “To realise the unlimited potential of the virtual asset market, we must overhaul regulations that are far from reality and unreasonable."
His view is that cryptocurrencies should be allowed to operate within South Korea without regulations.
He added: “We must shift to a negative regulation system to ensure at least the virtual asset market has no worries."
The president, who is popular among male South Korean voters in their 20s and 30s, said he would "create an environment where virtual asset investors can invest with confidence".
Analysts believe market conditions for bitcoin show signs of entering an accumulation territory.
Will Hamilton, Head of Trading and Research and Trovio Capital Management spoke to Yahoo Finance and said: "Despite negative macro sentiment Bitcoin’s supply dynamics have shown some bullish accumulation activity this week.
"Notable exchange outflows occurred during the latter half of the week as ~40,700 Bitcoins were removed from exchanges, the most notable movement was a ~31,000 outflow recorded on Coinbase last Friday.
"These large outflows provide further support for the Bitcoin Holder net position change chart below, which recently flipped into accumulation territory."
Watch: Economist Steve Hanke: 'Cryptocurrencies are fiat money on steroids'
