Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies rally, are they headed to $23,000 and $25,000?

As for ETH, the second coin by market capitalization has continued to rise above $1,200 and brings its advance to almost 20% in the last week, with investors encouraged by the good news coming from the developments of the event called 'The Merge'. The various proof-of-stake networks are successfully merging as the shift from proof-of-work to proof-of-participation protocol for the Ethereum blockchain approaches.

However, experts indicate that the boom in cryptoassets, that is also seen in the Solana, Cardano, Polkadot or Dogecoin, is due to investors welcoming the minutes of the last US Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting last month. Released on Wednesday, they allayed at least some fears about the US central bank's commitment to tighten monetary policy. Stocks rose for a fourth straight day and so did cryptocurrencies, which have become increasingly correlated with major stock indexes over the past year.

Other analysts also point out that while many cryptocurrency-related businesses are collapsing due to the damaging liquidity crisis, there is some renewed optimism in the market.

Sam Bankman-Fried, or Sam Bankman-Fed as some call him, has provided lifelines to companies in this sector that are struggling to stay afloat. In a recent interview he stated that his company FTX still has "a few billion" available to support struggling cryptocurrency companies that have the potential to destabilize the market. In recent weeks, SBF firms Alameda Research and FTX extended lines of credit to Voyager Digital and BlockFi to protect clients' assets and prevent the situation from affecting the rest.

Bankman-Fried explained, "We are starting to get a few more companies coming to us. In general, those companies are not in dire situations, although some smaller cryptocurrency exchanges may still fail," and that the industry has left behind other pieces of the falling dominoes. The billionaire entrepreneur also stated that he thought the worst of the liquidity crisis was over.

However, "Bitcoin miners could be the next to fall," according to Marcus Sotiriou, an analyst at GlobalBlock. As a result of market turbulence and rising energy costs, cryptocurrency miner Core Scientific sold about $165 million worth of Bitcoins in June. The publicly traded company sold 7,202 BTC in June at an average price of $23,000, leaving it with just 1,959 BTC. Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain also sold 637 BTC at an average of $24,500 to pay for operating costs and a loan from Galaxy Digital. The firm also hired a full-time trader to enhance its "capabilities within risk and treasury management."

Other experts, such as Teeka Tiwari, director of Palm Beach Research explained that while the first stage of the liquidity crisis is behind us, a second phase is expected that could be as tough as the first.

As for miners, these businesses "have been using derivatives to limit downside risk since the fourth quarter of 2021. Cryptocurrency miners have been selling Bitcoins, due to their falling revenues along with the bear market. CleanSpark also sold almost all of the 339 Bitcoins it mined in June. However, oil prices have plummeted in recent days, which could be a sign that energy costs are falling for cryptocurrency miners," Sotiriou noted.