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Ether Surges 8%, Bitcoin Nears $106K as Crypto Bulls Take Charge
The crypto market's resilience contrasts with the decline in equities and gold following Moody's U.S. credit downgrade.
May 20, 2025, 6:42 a.m.
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What to know:
- Bitcoin and ether rose significantly despite a broader risk-off sentiment, with bitcoin nearing $106,000 and ether surging past $2,900.
- The crypto market's resilience contrasts with the decline in equities and gold following Moody's U.S. credit downgrade.
- Aave's AAVE tokens jumped over 25%, driven by speculative interest rather than any new announcements.
Crypto markets extended their climb with ether jumping 8% and bitcoin inching back toward the $106,000 mark in the past 24 hours, despite broader risk-off sentiment in equities and gold.
The resilience is in contrast to Friday’s surprise credit downgrade of the U.S. by Moody’s, which cited persistent fiscal deficits and political gridlock. Yet while equities sagged and gold extended its recent decline, falling nearly 7% from May highs, bitcoin held ground and even rallied briefly to $107,000 late Sunday before retracing.
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“Bitcoin’s ability to rally over the weekend despite a risk-off tone in equities following the Moody’s downgrade reinforces its positioning as a legitimate store of value,” QCP Capital said in a Telegram broadcast late Monday.
The firm pointed to consistent inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs and institutional demand as catalysts, even as derivatives markets saw some leveraged long liquidations.
Ether was among the standout movers, surging past $2,900 in a strong follow-through move from last week’s breakout. The token’s recent strength has been tied to renewed interest in Ethereum staking flows and positive sentiment following the Pectra upgrade — though no new headline catalyst emerged on Monday.
Solana’s SOL, XRP, BNB Chain’s BNB and rose between 2-4%, with the broad-based CoinDesk 20 (CD20) adding just under 2% in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, Aave’s AAVE tokens soared over 25% in the past 24 hours, though the move appeared largely speculative. No protocol-level announcement or governance proposal was immediately tied to the jump. The token is still down over 60% from its 2021 highs.
Traders say the decoupling between bitcoin and traditional “hard assets” like gold is worth watching.
“Unlike in previous months where BTC and gold went up in unison, bitcoin has been rising against a drop in spot gold, which is also reflected in ETF flows,” Augustine Fan of SignalPlus said in a message to CoinDesk.
“Gold ETFs saw a notable drop in flows against a small rise in BTC ETFs, with a similar pattern in gold vs BTC futures on CME. We should assume more of these micro-correlation breaks and relative value opportunities to take hold,” Fan ended.
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