From CoinDesk · By Shaurya Malwa
Bitcoin rose 1.3 percent to about $82,700 as strong technology earnings lifted Asian stocks and revived enthusiasm for the artificial intelligence trade.
Zcash surged 11 percent after developers set the activation height for NU7, an upgrade designed to cut block times to 25 seconds and make payments confirm three times faster.
Analysts at Hashdex said Bitcoin’s nearly yearlong bear phase may be nearing an end, though the cryptocurrency must reclaim $84,000 before the Federal Reserve’s Oct. 27-28 meeting to signal renewed strength.
Bitcoin rose 1.3% to just above $82,700 as of Wednesday Asian morning hours, hovering around the $83,000 mark after strong earnings from SpaceX and Super Micro Computer revived the AI trade and sent tech stocks across Asia higher.
ZEC led the majors, jumping 11% to about $1,260, after Zcash developers set the mainnet activation height for NU7, the network’s next upgrade. The activation height is the block number at which every node switches to the new rules.
NU7 cuts the time between blocks from 75 seconds to 25 seconds, so payments confirm three times faster, and sends 60% of transaction fees into a reserve that’s paid out over time. It’s been running on Zcash’s test network since early October.
Read More: Record Zcash Coinholder Vote Keeps Halvings as Zakura Tests 25-Second Blocks
The rest of the market followed. HYPE and DOGE each gained more than 3%, XRP added nearly 3% to $1.33, and ether rose 2% to about $2,450. BNB and SOL gained between 1% and 2%, while TRX was flat, according to CoinDesk data.
Asia had a big day. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 3.7% and Taiwan’s Taiex gained 1.4%. SpaceX rose 8% in extended trading and Super Micro jumped 16%, and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 1%.
It wasn’t all good news for the AI buildout, however, as Australian data-center developer Nextdc crashed 40% after it cut its outlook.
Oil kept climbing. Brent rose above $110 a barrel as attacks on ships around the Strait of Hormuz threatened shipments and U.S. industry data pointed to another drop in stockpiles. The dollar firmed a touch, and Treasuries gave back some of Tuesday’s gains.
Meanwhile, some analysts think the worst of bitcoin’s slide may be close.
Hashdex noted in an email to CoinDesk that bitcoin’s bear phase had lasted 359 days as of Sept. 30, against 361, 377 and 411 days for the previous three since 2011. Short-term holders, the most likely sellers on a dip, now own just 16% of bitcoin’s supply, the lowest share since January 2023.
The Fed meets on Oct. 27 and 28. Bitcoin would need to climb back above $84,000 before then to show it’s ready for that test.