Is This Why Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin And Other Cryptocurrencies Have Suddenly Shot

Bitcoin has continued its huge December rally over the last few days, climbing to a total value of around half a trillion dollars ($500 billion).

The bitcoin price, breaking $28,000 per bitcoin for the first time ever over the Christmas weekend, has added more than 50% this month—with other major tokens ethereum and litecoin surging along with it.

The December Santa rally, pushing bitcoin well beyond its 2017 all-time highs and helping ethereum and litecoin reach triple-digit percentage point gains for the year, may have been helped by the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock
BLK
, posting a job ad for a crypto and blockchain-focused executive.

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BlackRock is looking to hire a blockchain vice president “to create and implement strategies designed to drive demand for the firm’s offerings,” according to a job ad that appears to have been posted on Christmas day, December 25.

BlackRock’s New York-based VP of blockchain will help with the valuation of crypto-assets and “enhance the value proposition to clients of the firm’s investments and technology offerings.”

Potential candidates should be able to “devise and articulate fundamental valuation methodologies for crypto-assets; evaluate game theory and decentralizing governance models associated with blockchain technology,” according to the job post.

The bitcoin price has added over 10% since Christmas day, with ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by value after bitcoin, climbing almost 15% to over $700 per ether token—it’s highest since May 2018.

Litecoin, the fifth most valuable cryptocurrency after the embattled XRP and sometimes called the silver to bitcoin’s gold, has also added around 15%, reaching $130.

BlackRock, which manages around $8 trillion worth of assets, sent shockwaves through bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets in recent weeks after its chief investment officer said bitcoin is “here to stay” and Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chief executive, warned the growing popularity of bitcoin and digital currencies is having a “real impact” on the U.S. dollar.

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Meanwhile, bitcoin and cryptocurrency traders are frantically readjusting to bitcoin’s new bullish paradigm.

“The key bitcoin levels the market has in sight short-term are $30,000 and $36,000,” crypto trader Alex Krüger, who’s confident more institutional investors and Wall Street giants will soon be wading into bitcoin and crypto but warned…