A third tranche of USDT leaves a wallet thought to hold funds earmarked to purchase at least $3 billion of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin (BTC) returned to $43,000 on March 24 as new purchases by Blockchain protocol Terra fuelled optimism.
The BTC buys keep coming
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD attempting to crack and secure its highest levels in weeks Thursday.
The pair had consolidated day before, the sideways action on lower timeframes giving way to a “grind” upwards, which took Bitcoin to $43,492 — a price last seen March 3.
Terra, which had become a focus of attention over plans for a giant $10 billion BTC allocation, had sent Tether (USDT) from its alleged wallet worth almost $750 million at the time of writing.
Terra co-founder, Do Kwon, had at first given a $10 billion target for backing the firm’s new U.S. dollar stablecoin, followed by $3 billion in an interview at the weekend, but on Tuesday reconfirmed that the ultimate goal was $10 billion.
It’s not 10B today – as UST money supply grows a portion of the seigniorage will go to build BTC reserves bridged to the Terra chain
We have 3B funds ready to seed this reserve, but technical infrastructure (bridges etc) is still not ready yet.
— Do Kwon (@stablekwon) March 22, 2022
With liquidity seemingly pouring in, however, the mood among traders was edging towards confidence along with spot price.
Popular Twitter account Credible Crypto in particular took aim at those hoping to buy in at levels below $40,000.
Sub 40k $BTC sellers sweating right now as $125 million dollar chunks of fiat are being deployed into BTC 10% higher than where they sold. https://t.co/rQVNMoV6Yb pic.twitter.com/dDa0brpiWs
— Credible Crypto (@CredibleCrypto) March 24, 2022
“2.5-3k $BTC per day of supply removed over a long period of time = huge impact,” trader Pentoshi added about the Terra buy-ins versus Bitcoin’s fixed supply.
Pentoshi continued that such a move could reawaken attention among would-be investors in an atmosphere where mainstream consumer interest in Bitcoin is at macro lows. He summarized:
“Those who are short have to cover higher at some point as supply itself dissipates. What is scarce, becomes more so. This clip can bring back the apes, in which (Kwon) is the lord of the Apes.”
El Salvador president comes out fighting amid U.S. threat
Elsewhere, news that El Salvador had reportedly pushed back the release of its so-called “Volcano bonds” with Bitfinex to September did not seem to sour the mood.
Related: Here’s why Bitcoin bulls will defend $42K ahead of Friday’s $3.3B BTC options expiry
With $1.5 billion of interest rumored to be vying for the $1 billion ten-year bond offering, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele remained vocal on social media as U.S. lawmakers escalated measures to investigate the country’s Bitcoin adoption.
The US Government DOES NOT stand for freedom and that is a proven fact.
So we will stand for freedom.
Game on!#Bitcoin is FU money! https://t.co/1lwSM8s6OX
— Nayib Bukele (@nayibbukele) March 24, 2022
Previous estimates had put the bond release timeline as beginning at some point in mid-March.
