Cryptocurrencies, including Movement, Bitget Token and Zcash, celebrated massive gains as Santa’s gifts showed in significant price rallies on Dec. 25.

With Bitcoin (BTC) reclaiming some footing after trading to near $92,000 on Dec. 23, the gains to above $98k also cascaded to some altcoins.

Buoyed by various factors and catalysts, some alts recorded more than 30% spikes.

Among the top coins, Movement (MOVE), Bitget Token (BGB) and Zcash (ZEC) surged by more than 31%, 18% and 9% respectively.

The altcoins led the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap. Gains for most altcoins saw the overall market cap hold above $3.5 trillion — despite a 2% dip in 24 hours.

Crypto’s daily trading volume stood at $156 billion, BTC dominance at 54.5% and the crypto greed & fear index at 62. This latter metric points to overall sentiment remaining bullish amid a potential return to greater risk appetite.

Bitcoin bull and mastermind of the MicroStrategy plan Michael Saylor shared his optimism.

BounceBit, the native Bitcoin restaking blockchain, is one of the cryptocurrency projects enjoying a bumper Santa rally as its token jumps over 16%.

On Dec. 24, the price of BounceBit (BB) rose to above $0.43, and this came after the token’s dip in the past week, which saw bears push it to under $0.32.

As Bitcoin’s (BTC) price recovered to above $97,000 amid a fresh holiday-driven bounce, BB reached a new seven-day high.

These gains came a day after the BTC restaking platform announced a major partnership agreement with cloud computing giant Google Cloud.

In their announcement, BounceBit and the Google cloud computing provider said they teaming up to revolutionize the real-world asset market.

Specifically, the collaboration targets RWA digitization in Southeast Asia. Binance Labs and Blockchain Capital-backed BounceBit will leverage Google Cloud’s architecture to bolster its traction in the CeDeFi ecosystem.

Key to this will be Google Cloud’s Vertex AI technology, which will enhance the restaking platform’s performance and security.

In a comment, BounceBit co-founder Jack Lu said:

“Verifying transactions on our platform is very important, and incidents must be solved immediately. With Compute Engine, we’ve seen an improvement in response time by 50% not only for our chain, but also for the CeDeFi infrastructure.”

The BB token’s price has increased by 33% in the past month. However, it remains more than 50% off its all-time high above $0.86, reached in June 2024.

Japan-based early-stage investment firm Metaplanet continues its Bitcoin (BTC) buying spree. The company announced today that it has purchased 619.7 BTC for $61 million – including fees and other expenses – making it the firm’s largest Bitcoin acquisition to date.

Metaplanet Increases BTC Holdings To 1,762

The recent crypto market downturn from its all-time highs (ATH) does not appear to bother Metaplanet, as the Tokyo-listed firm made its largest BTC purchase to date, buying 619.7 BTC worth $ 61 million at an average price of around $96,000.

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To recall, Metaplanet started buying BTC earlier this year in May with a purchase of 97.9 BTC. Since then, the company has purchased BTC every month, barring September, and crossed the 1,000 BTC milestone in November. The latest acquisition has pushed Metaplanet’s total Bitcoin holdings to 1,762, bought at an average price of $75,600 per BTC.

Notably, this $61 million purchase is nearly double the value of Metaplanet’s previous largest acquisition, which occurred in November and was worth close to $30 million. The company’s consistent BTC accumulation has earned it the nickname “Asia’s MicroStrategy,” in reference to the US-based business intelligence firm known for its aggressive Bitcoin buying strategy.

It is worth highlighting that today’s BTC purchase comes a week after Metaplanet raised $60.6 million through two tranches of bond issuance for the purpose of “accelerating BTC purchases.” Metaplanet’s latest purchase also makes its BTC reserves the 12th-largest among publicly listed firms globally.

According to Metaplanet’s official announcement, its BTC Yield – a proprietary metric used to measure the performance of its Bitcoin acquisition strategy – stood at 310% from October 1 to December 23. The firm emphasized that this strategy is designed to be “accretive to shareholders.”

Despite today’s significant BTC purchase, Metaplanet’s stock price saw little movement, closing at $22.5, down 0.98% for the day. However, on a year-to-date basis, the company’s stock has surged by an astounding 1,982%, reflecting the long-term benefits of its Bitcoin-centric strategy.

Bitcoin Supply Crunch To Hasten Adoption?

With Bitcoin’s total maximum supply capped at 21 million, the digital asset has solidified its reputation as an inflation-resistant store of value. A recent report highlights that BTC supply on crypto exchanges has hit multi-year lows, indicating that holders are increasingly withdrawing BTC from exchanges, reducing circulating supply and potentially driving prices higher.

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Bitcoin’s scarcity has triggered an unofficial race among corporations – and possibly even governments. For instance, Bitcoin mining firm Hut 8 recently purchased 990 BTC for $100 million, increasing its total holdings to over 10,000 BTC. Similarly, MARA, another Bitcoin mining company, acquired 703 BTC earlier this month, bringing its total holdings to 34,794 BTC.

Speculations surrounding a potential US strategic Bitcoin reserve are further strengthening BTC’s supply crunch narrative, which may fast-track its adoption. At press time, BTC trades at $94,003, down 1.5% in the past 24 hours.

Featured image from Unsplash, charts from Yahoo! Finance and Tradingview.com