Bitcoin, Ethereum hold steady over weekend, record monthly gains

Bitcoin held steady over the weekend and closed July trading at US$23,737 in Asia, posting monthly gains of nearly 24% — its highest since October last year, where it gained 40% in a calendar month.

Fast facts

• Bitcoin and Ethereum both fell roughly 1% just before Asian business hours on Monday morning to trade at US$23,301 and US$1,678.
• Most other major tokens largely followed the same trajectory, though XRP briefly gained roughly 10% on Sunday before retreating just before business hours to change hands at US$0.38.
• Polkadot, which sits just outside CoinMarketCap’s top 10, gained over 10% early Monday morning to reach its highest price in over a month before retreating slightly to US$8.64.
• Ethereum Classic (ETC), the network from which the current Ethereum network is hardforked, maintained most of the roughly 50% gains it made late last week where its price of US$44.97 was the highest since early January.
• Though it retreated close to 6% on Monday morning to US$36.63, interest remains in the network ahead of Ethereum’s transition to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism as part of “The Merge.”
• This transition will render equipment currently used to mine the proof-of-work Ethereum network largely useless and so miners may be looking to ETC as an alternative use for this equipment.

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