Bitcoin shoots up while Tether gets into Venezuelan trouble

Bitcoin is soaring higher this week, trading around $95,000 again. The news that ETFs are once again strong net buyers was particularly bullish. Privacy coins like Monero and Dash are also performing very well. Meanwhile, Tether is struggling due to the news from Venezuela.

ETFs

Blackrock and Vanguard ETFs seem to be driving the Bitcoin price. After the major Bitcoin ETFs announced they’d seen a large influx of buyers this week, the price of the largest digital currency rose sharply. We’re now approaching $100,000 again, after trading around $80,000 a month ago.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $96,700.

Venezuela

Tether, the issuer of the world’s largest stablecoin, is seeking legitimacy in the United States to eventually launch a US IPO (just as Circle successfully did last year). Previously vilified as the stablecoin of choice for criminals, the company has been working to build its reputation in recent years. The news from Venezuela is now changing that.

Last week, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright announced that the US would sell Venezuelan oil. The proceeds from the sale, Wright said, would be deposited into accounts managed by the US government and ultimately transferred to the Latin American country to benefit the Venezuelan people.

However, while the Americans had expected that the Venezuelan government had been making payments in dollars (as their own currency had been severely devalued by skyrocketing inflation), press investigations revealed that virtually everything in the country was done in Tether.

The largest digital stablecoin was fully integrated into Venezuelan economic life. The cryptocurrency was used across all levels of society, and some 80% of the country’s oil revenues were also paid in Tether.

Traditional financial institutions in the US (which are not exactly thrilled with this discovery) are now wondering what this means for the future of their business.