First Mover: PayPal Rushes In and Bitcoin Breaches $12K, While USDC Gains on Tether

While tether, with a market cap surpassing $16 billion, continues to hold the lion's share of stablecoins in circulation, two smaller rivals are trouncing it in crypto's hottest market this year, decentralized finance.

Unlike on centralized exchanges, where tether is the go-to stablecoin in dollar-based crypto trades, USDC and DAI seem to have found their niche as the preferred stablecoins in decentralized trades.

In late September the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency published its first regulatory guidance for stablecoins, clarifying that national banks can provide services to stablecoin issuers in the U.S."Having guidelines creates more certainty, which makes mainstream market participants ready and willing to engage in it," Allaire told CoinDesk.

Bitcoin's price has jumped to two-month highs, and data from the options market shows traders are positioning for a continued rally.

The top cryptocurrency by market value rose to $12,303 early today - the highest level since Aug. 18 - and was last seen trading near $12,250, representing a 2% gain on the day.

The market sentiment has turned quite bullish, with firms like Square, Microstrategy and Stone Ridge disclosing their bitcoin holdings and bolstering the digital asset's popularity as a store of value.

"Bitcoin is breaking out, and the options market is preparing for a bigger rally," Skew's CEO Emmanuel Goh told CoinDesk in a Telegram chat.

Funding rates for bitcoin perpetual futures have stayed flat or turned negative as spot prices shot past $12K, suggesting futures traders aren't as bullish in latest rally.

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor says bitcoin markets data are "Garbage" and that liquidity is far more limited than reported, based on his own experience; he says it's tough to buy more than $35M of bitcoin "Without people knowing."

Crypto-friendly Signature Bank raked In $4B in deposits in Q3 2020.Peer-to-peer bitcoin trading in North America now exceeds volumes during bull run of 2017.