Following Elon Musk and Ray Dalio, Who’s the Next KOL to Support for Bitcoin?

Focus of January:

• Bitcoin surpasses $50,000, extending massive 2021 rally
• Bitcoin Surges Past $47,000 for First Time After Tesla Purchase
• Elon Musk tweeted. Dogecoin surged more than 50%
• Ray Dalio—What I Think of Bitcoin
• Decentralized Exchanges Volume Explodes to Over $43 Billion as DeFi Boom Breaks the $27 Billion Milestone By January 2021

Bitcoin spiked 18% after Elon Musk added the hashtag #bitcoin to his Twitter bio on January 29. In early February, Tesla (TSLA) announced they had invested $1.5bn in Bitcoin, which sent shockwaves through financial markets and drove up the prices to a dizzying new all-time-high. Over the past month, Musk has tweeted his support for GameStop. He even endorsed the use of Signal, a private messaging app that is currently developing cryptocurrency payments, and professed his long-lasting love for Dogecoin! As his flurry of tweets continued sending cryptocurrency to new record highs, investors are looking to see what more surprises Musk will bring to the markets.

Aside from Musk, Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates, also weighed in with his fundamental analysis and views on Bitcoin at the end of January. In his post, Dalio first calls Bitcoin “one hell of an invention” that has created a new type of monetary system. He also indicates that, rather than shorter-term speculative trading, holding Bitcoin is a value investing strategy. Further, Dalio offers an analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of Bitcoin as a storehold of wealth. Compared with traditional currencies and gold, Bitcoin is limited in supply and easily portable by personal investors. However, investors should pay closer attention to issues such as cybersecurity, privacy, and regulatory risks.

From January to early February, the DeFi markets continued to boom. First, ETH reached new highs again. DeFi projects, such as Uniswap, AAVE, and Synthetix (S.N.X.), also delivered their highest market cap. The total value locked in the DeFi economy sat at $40.1bn, with a 65.8% MoM increase. January trading volume on decentralized exchanges far eclipsed records of previous months. Various platforms have seen new developments as well. For example, SushiSwap released projects, including Mirin and BentoBox; Taiwan-based DeFi aggregator Furucombo also received investment from Binance. All projects continue to evolve, jostling for a slice of the lucrative DeFi market. The application period for Steaker’s second DeFi project closed last weekend, setting a new high for investment amounts. The project has begun to check into investment portfolios this week.

More and more celebrities and institutions have publicly expressed their support for Bitcoin. What impact will this exert on future market trends? How will the cryptocurrency market develop this year? Let’s keep a close eye on it.