Cryptoassets Extend Rally; Bitcoin Up 78% in 2021
Most top cryptocurrencies advanced Monday in late afternoon New York trading. File coin (FIL-USD), the 18th-largest cryptocurrency by market value according to Coindesk.com data, was the biggest gainer with a 9.5% rise to $40.85 over the past 24 hours.
Internet Computer (ICP-USD), the 13th digital currency by market value, rallied 8.7% to $29.14, while 6th-ranked Cardano (ADA-USD) rose nearly 6% to $1.55.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD), the most valuable and oldest cryptocurrency, swung between its intraday low of $49,596 and a high of $52,007 and was recently up 0.7% at $51,280. Monday’s gain left Bitcoin up nearly 78% in 2021, compared with a 27% rise so far this year for the S&P 500.
Ethereum (ETH-USD), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, was last changing hands at $4,085, up 0.5%, while Solana (SOL-USD), the third-largest, rose 1.2% to $200.98.
European Stocks Gain amid Omicron Curbs
In a related development, European stock markets ended higher Monday amid new restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of the highly infectious omicron variant of COVID-19.
France’s CAC was up 0.8%, Stoxx Europe 600 and the Swiss Market Index climbed 0.6% and Germany’s DAX closed up 0.5%. Markets in UK and Ireland are closed for holidays Monday and Tuesday.
While countries including Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands are launching new social distancing measures to stop the increase in COVID-19 infections, the UK government has opted not to impose additional restrictions before the New Year.
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron was expected to announce new rules after the country registered more than 100,000 new cases Saturday, a record.
The number of unemployed jobseekers in France fell 1.7% month over month to about 3.3 million in November, according to a release by the country’s Labor Ministry. The figure was 13.2% lower than a year ago, almost at pre-COVID-19 levels.
On the corporate front, shares of Swedish asset manager Storskogen (STOR-B.ST) rose 4.8% after it agreed to acquire Swiss machine tools peripherals supplier LNS Holding for 185 million Swiss francs ($201.3 million) on a cash- and debt-free basis.
# Cryptoassets Extend Rally; Bitcoin Up 78% in 2021 >>> Read Also: Top Cryptoassets with Biggest Market Capitalisation Growth
