Bitcoin (BTC) Rollercoaster, Ripple (XRP) Price Predictions, Solana (SOL) Developments: Bits Recap Dec 14

TL;DR

Bitcoin (BTC) reached over $44,000, a 20-month high, before falling below $41,000, but recently surged again to $43,000, influenced by the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged and hint at future rate cuts.
Ripple (XRP) also saw significant fluctuations, moving from around $60 to almost $70, then back to $60, with recent bullish trends suggesting potential further increases.
Solana (SOL) made news with its price surge and NFT sales volume, outperforming Ethereum in weekly NFT sales with a recent 53% increase to nearly $68 million, while Ethereum saw a 5% drop.

Bitcoin (BTC) Flashes Green Again

The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization – Bitcoin (BTC) – has experienced enhanced volatility in the past few weeks. Its price stood at around $38,000 at the start of December, but in the following days, it took the offensive, reaching a 20-month high of over $44,000. However, the asset could not keep up with the momentum, dropping below $41,000 earlier this week. 

And while bears started envisioning a more severe plunge in the near future, BTC launched another uptrend a few hours ago, soaring to $43,000 (per CoinGecko’s data). The latest surge could be attributed to the FOMC meeting held on December 13. 

Recall that the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, hinting about three rate cuts next year. Such a pivot has been touted as a bullish factor for the cryptocurrency industry, particularly Bitcoin, as it would make borrowing money cheaper and thus allow more investors to deal with risk-on assets.

Those willing to see what other factors could trigger a BTC rally in the near future could take a look at our latest dedicated video below:

Is Ripple (XRP) Ready for a Final 2023 Sprint?

Ripple’s native token – XRP – is another digital asset that experienced severe price swings since the beginning of the month. Its valuation was hovering around $60 on December 1, while approximately a week later, it spiked to almost $70. However, the subsequent market correction suppressed its price back to $60.

XRP headed north once again today (December 14), following the bullish trend in the entire sector. Numerous analysts, including the X (Twitter) users EGRAG CRYPTO and JD, believe the token’s price might climb even higher in the short term. The former claimed XRP could surpass $1.20 by New Year’s Eve, whereas the latter envisioned substantial gains should the coin bounce off on weekly close.

Those curious to check how Ripple’s token might perform in the remaining weeks of the ongoing year could take a look at our video below:

How is Solana (SOL) Doing?

Last but not least, we will focus on Solana and the recent developments surrounding the blockchain protocol. Apart from making the headlines with SOL’s massive price surge in the past several months, many other advancements are worth noting.

As CryptoPotato reported, Solana’s non-fungible token (NFT) sales volume has marked a bigger increase on a weekly basis than Ethereum. The figure with the former has reached almost $68 million, 53% higher than the observed data a week before, while the latter recorded a 5% drop. 

Solana’s NFT sales volume for the last 24 hours currently stands at over $10 million (a 27% increase on a daily basis), while Ethereum has comprised around $14 million.