Bitcoin reaches its highest peak in five months - Simon Peters Cryptocurrency Corner

Bitcoin has hit a five-month high, returning to price levels last seen in August 2022, as the 2023 cryptocurrency bull market continues. Bitcoin started last week around $22 and rose steadily throughout the week, peaking at over $500 over the weekend on the eToro platform. Currently, its price oscillates around $ 23.

Ethereum had a more mixed week, with the price starting around $1 before dropping below $625 midweek. It recouped those losses within a few days and is currently trading around $1.

Goldman Sachs stubbornly focused on bitcoin

One of the world's largest investment banks, Goldman Sachs, published positive news about bitcoin, naming it as one of the best-performing assets of 2023 so far.

Market Performance Sheet, posted on Twitter, shows bitcoin surpassing all other major asset classes such as gold, real estate, emerging markets, and more. Goldman Sachs, for its part, did not say whether it was increasing its exposure to the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has done exceptionally well so far in 2023, growing by almost 43 percent. from January 1 on the eToro platform. From last year's low of $9 on November 15, it has risen just over 523 percent.

Why is it performing so well relative to other asset classes? It's hard to say and we're still a long way from a completely new bull market. However, with inflation and interest rate expectations shifting, most asset classes have halted the declines seen in 2022 as investors begin to consider what to do with their portfolios after the rate hike crash hits.

Ethereum on-chain activity sends positive signals

Amid high-profile 2023 ether price spikes, Ethereum sends other signals that the network is in top shape, according to a Beincrypto report. Metrics such as the number of addresses on the network have reached record highs, while the number of daily tokens sold continues to grow - back to levels last seen in July 2021.

So what's next for ETH? Last year the highly anticipated The Merge ran smoothly, but in a particularly volatile market, the benefits of network upgrades were not clearly visible in the price of ETH. However, in 2023, that began to change, and vital metrics such as the token turning deflationary are now starting to emerge.

According to the Ultra Sound Money simulation, Ethereum supply growth is currently deflationary and the number of tokens in circulation is slowly decreasing. This is supportive for the price, especially when the mentioned usage stats are all ticking up. This means that fewer tokens do more work on the network, and this drives demand (and therefore price).

Amazon launches digital asset services, NFT

E-commerce giant Amazon may be considering launching your own digital asset enterprise, including NFT initiatives, according to a report in Blockworks. According to the report, Amazon's efforts could include blockchain first layers, blockchain-based gaming, digital asset exchanges, and NFT applications.

While Amazon isn't quite "late to the party," this development has been spearheaded in the last two years by the cryptocurrency market. But the digital retail giant would prove well-placed to capitalize on ideas already in play, having suffered during a year of volatile markets that have hampered development efforts.

A company like Amazon has the resources to move into an area where it sees potential for profitability. People commonly associate the company with online shopping, but one of the most lucrative parts of its business is its Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosting platform. From this perspective, the move to the Web3 space makes total sense and will allow the company to explore new areas and keep its skin on the game as it evolves over the next few years.