Bitcoin (BTC) showed little signs of improvement on Jan. 27, but one major fund believes that it will benefit from new trends among investors. At the same time, all eyes have been on GameStop (GME) price volatility this week.
By comparison, GME has dwarfed BTC in gains so far this year, up over 3,000% percent with some analysts calling the jaw-dropping rally “dangerous.”
GameStop: Too many gains to handle?
Data from Cointelegraph Markets and Tradingview showed BTC/USD suffer from selling pressure over the 24 hours to Wednesday, trading at around $30,900 at the time of writing.
A classic consolidatory move for Bitcoin, the ranging price behavior followed a brief spurt of volatility in which the largest cryptocurrency broke $30,000 support, only to rise to then see rejection at $35,000.
While mainstream media narratives on its performance were as mixed as ever, attention had already focused on another asset that commentators decided was more concerning. GameStop, the penny stock which delivered almost 700% gains in two weeks, should be investigated by United States regulators.
Well-known investor Michael Burry, who himself took a position in GameStop, warned in a now deleted tweet quoted by Bloomberg on Tuesday:
“If I put $GME on your radar, and you did well, I’m genuinely happy for you. However, what is going on now – there should be legal and regulatory repercussions. This is unnatural, insane, and dangerous.”
Scaramucci: GameStop means Bitcoin will “work”
For Bitcoin proponents, however, it was the style, not substance behind the investment which was worth noting.
Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital, which has a $385 million BTC allocation, highlighted retail investor participation in the GameStop boom as well as its social media genesis as proof of the changing face of the market.
“The activity in GameStop is more proof of concept that Bitcoin is going to work,” he told Bloomberg.
“How are you going to beat that decentralized crowd? That to me is more affirmation about decentralized finance.”
Trading volumes for GameStop beat Bitcoin by a considerable margin over the past day, reaching $20 billion compared to $13 billion for BTC.
“It’s the age of the micro investor and you better take it seriously, otherwise you’ll get taken to the cleaners,” Scaramucci added.
As Cointelegraph reported, a lull in the Bitcoin bull market soon took the wind out of trading activity, which instead began to focus on altcoins on the back of Ether (ETH) setting new all-time highs this week.