“Increased Interest in Decentralized Finance”

Bitcoin was stuck at the $28,000 resistance during the week. However, the BTC price increased by 18% in March. Citi, one of the largest banking institutions in the USA, drew attention to the banking crisis in its note published this week, claiming that interest in decentralized finance has increased.

“Cryptocurrency has outperformed other risky assets, while stress on the traditional financial system has fueled increased interest in decentralized finance. Decentralized exchange volumes, BTC spot and futures volumes increased, along with an increase in Google queries. Interest in crypto is likely to continue as the FOMC dove this week and the Fed questions whether it can contain inflation. Bitcoin specifically leverages the ‘digital gold’ narrative.”

Citi analyst Allkesh Shah pointed out that Bitcoin flows to exchanges were 8.2 times higher than last week, and stated that this month’s rally was realized by the purchases of individual investors.

“A strong increase in daily trading volume in addition to Bitcoin flows indicates profits being taken, but selling by miners, mid-term Bitcoin investors and holdings of 10 or more BTC could mean that the rally with individual investors is weakening.“

On the other hand, Will Tamplin, senior analyst at market research firm Fairlead Strategies, said that a second weekly close above the $25,200 level closely watched by analysts would confirm the upside break.

“This will be a positive long-term development, showing that a more lasting turnaround is on the way. In the short term, we expect Bitcoin to continue digesting its recent gains. For this, resistance at $28,200 would be a natural place for the rally to pause and short-term overbought conditions to disappear.“