Bitcoin Surges 10% As Crypto Rallies Into The Weekend

Crypto markets rallied to close the week, with liquid staking provider Rocket Pool leading the charge among DeFi protocols.

Bitcoin was the biggest benefactor among the top 10 cryptocurrencies, gaining 10% since Monday. Just after 10pm New York time, Bitcoin is trading above $21,000 for the first time in two weeks.

BTC Price, Source: The Defiant Terminal

Rocket Pool’s governance token, RPL, has surged 35% since Wednesday, amid a favorable macroeconomic environment and news the protocol would begin offering incentives to promote liquidity of its rETH token.

The Cosmos network’s ATOM token is up 27% this week. Van Eck, an investment management firm with over $50B in assets, released a report last month outlining its bullish thesis on the network of interconnected blockchains 

Weakening Dollar

“Equity and crypto markets are rallying, coinciding with a reprieve in US dollar strength following yesterday’s ECB hike and comments from Japan’s top currency official that ‘all options’ are being considered to stem weakness in the yen,” crypto market maker GSR noted.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have posted gains of more than 3% this week, according to data from TradingView. 

Liquid Staking

Rocket Pool is a distant second among liquid staking protocols, with almost $600M in total value locked (TVL). Lido, the liquid staking leader, held just over $7.5B in TVL on Friday.

Liquid staking protocols allow users to contribute to the security of Ethereum and, at the same time, put otherwise illiquid tokens to use in the DeFi ecosystem. They do this by taking user deposits of Ether, which are then staked in Ethereum’s Beacon chain, and issuing derivative tokens redeemable 1:1 for the deposited ETH.

Liquidity incentives intended to promote widespread use of Rocket Pool’s rETH derivative token, went live Thursday. RPL, the protocol’s governance token and a reward for users who operate the distributed technology required to secure Ethereum, has enjoyed most of its weekly price jump since.

Marceau, a member of Rocket Pool’s liquidity incentives committee, told The Defiant it was difficult to attribute the rise in RPL price to the liquidity incentives alone.

“It could just be general Merge hype that’s pushing the price higher. … That’s a pretty big thing for staking protocols in general,” he said, referring to Ethereum’s upcoming transition to proof-of-stake consensus, currently scheduled for Sept. 14.

“Rocket pool has sort of hit critical mass in terms of just recognition and awareness … It’s turning the corner and growing really fast,” Marceau continued.