Impressive gains since the U.S. Federal Reserve's mid-September rate cut have pushed bitcoin (BTC) out of its downtrend and the crypto is now targeting $70,000 and then new record highs, according to a new research report.
"Are you holding enough bitcoin and altcoins to ride the new wave," is the subtitle of 10X Research's Markus Thielen's latest analysis. "With bitcoin breaking above $65,000, we anticipate a swift move toward $70,000, followed by new all-time highs in the near term."
Thielen took note of a sharp increase in stablecoin minting following the Fed's July meeting, at which it left rates unchanged but indicated a September easing was likely. Nearly $10 billion in stablecoin minting ensued in the subsequent weeks, said Thielen, flooding the crypto markets with liquidity and sharply surpassing spot ETF flows.
Of particular interest, said Thielen, Circle's USDC accounted for 40% of recent stablecoin inflows, a far higher share versus Tether's USDT than is typical. It's important, he said, as while USDT minting on TRON is typically associated with capital preservation, USDC minting could indicate a rise in DeFi activity.
Noting that 55% of currently mined bitcoins are coming from Chinese mining pools, Thielen said that country's massive monetary and fiscal stimulus measures – announced just after the Fed rate cut – could trigger large capital outflows from China and into cryptos.
"The likelihood of a Q4 rally is exceptionally high, with gains likely front-loaded," Thielen concluded. "A major surge could be on the horizon, sparking even more FOMO across the crypto space."
Bitcoin currently is higher by 2.3% over the past 24 hours and nearly 12% month-over-month to $66,300, its highest level since late July.
Read more: Bitcoin Prices Show Positive 30-Day Correlation With China's Central Bank Balance Sheet
