Investing.com – Bitcoin traded roughly unchanged on Monday amid a lack of significant news to sway sentiment in either direction.
Bitcoin fell 0.85% to $8,848 on the Bitfinex exchange after rising above $9,000 before paring gains as investors awaited further catalysts to determine direction.
Despite the lack of the significant crypto-related news, investors cheered ongoing signs of improvement in sentiment on cryptos after Goldman Sachs was reported to have appointed its first head of digital assets markets as it explores ways for its clients to invest in cryptocurrencies.
The recent turn in sentiment on cryptocurrencies has been characterized by a renewed investor demand as the total cryptomarket cap continued to edge higher.
The total market cap of cryptocurrencies rose to about $397 billion, at the time of writing, from about $378 billion last week.
Ripple XRP fell 2.04% to $0.86000 on the Poloniex exchange, while Ethereum fell 1% to $636.01.
BItcoin cash, meanwhile, rose 10.93% to $1,379.60, in part because mining group Antpool reduced the supply of bitcoin cash in circulation by “burning” a portion of the coins it receives as part of mining reward, according to Bloomberg.
For the uninitiated, bitcoin cash miners are users who help maintain the network by validating transactions stored in “blocks” on the network.
Using powerful computer hardware, miners validate blocks by solving a complex “puzzle” – the more powerful the computer the faster its ability to solve the puzzle. Every time a "puzzle" is solved, a portion of bitcoin cash– roughly at current prices –is distributed to the "puzzle solver" or miner.