Earlier today, Live Bitcoin News put out an article saying that Litecoin has been this year’s top-performing cryptocurrency. With over 300 percent in gains since the start of 2019, Litecoin is indeed carving out a new name for itself in the crypto space, but that doesn’t mean we should take anything away from bitcoin, the granddaddy of them all.

Bitcoin Is Still King in Many Ways

At press time, the currency is trading for over $8,800. It is once again well within reach of $9,000, which many analysts predict is likely to come soon. Recently, the asset did strike the $9,000 chord, only to see its price sink immediately after likely due to a massive selloff that occurred, though the fact that it could reach such a position is a positive step in the right direction.

Senior analyst at cryptocurrency exchange e-Toro commented that with Litecoin’s sudden rally, expecting a bitcoin rally for this week wouldn’t be out of the question, and thus far, he seems to be right. Just last week, the currency was trading in the $7,000 range, meaning bitcoin has added well over $1,000 to its price in a very short period.

Interestingly, some of the highest (though relatively indirect) praise for bitcoin is coming from JPMorgan, a financial institution headed by Jamie Dimon, who is a well-known bitcoin hater. In the past, Dimon has called bitcoin a “fraud” that was “worse than tulips.” However, he later surprised everyone with the announcement that JPMorgan would be launching JPM Coin, a stable currency that customers could use with the bank’s authorization.

This time, however, a new report is being issued by the financial establishment that claims the importance of bitcoin futures is far more important than anyone could imagine. The report was issued to rebuke information presented by Bitwise, which said that most of the bitcoin and cryptocurrency trading volumes reported by cryptocurrency exchanges are either incorrect or exaggerated. Authored by researchers like Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou, the rebuttal claims:

The importance of the listed futures market has been significantly understated. The report by Bitwise credits the traded futures as an important development in allowing short exposures that enabled arbitrageurs in properly engaging in arbitrage, and that the futures share of spot bitcoin volumes increased sharply in April and May.

The Importance of Futures Is Stronger Than We Think

JPMorgan later issued a follow-up statement to the report, saying:

The overstatement of trading volumes by cryptocurrency exchanges, and by implication the understatement of the importance of listed futures, suggests that market structure has likely changed considerably since the previous spike in bitcoin prices in end-2017 with a greater influence from institutional investors.

Indeed, institutional investors do appear to be making stronger appearances in the crypto space, and bitcoin has ultimately become more mature, which likely explains why it’s suddenly doing so well.

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