As bitcoin smashes past $8,000 retail interest begins surging, new momentum?

As bitcoin initiated a powerful recovery to $8,000 over the weekend, the interest towards the dominant crypto asset on Google Trends spiked to April 2018 levels, demonstrating a noticeable increase in demand from retail or individual investors.

The rally of bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market in recent weeks has mainly been attributed to the increase in the inflow of capital from institutional investors as seen in the spike in the daily volumes of the CME bitcoin futures market and Grayscale's Bitcoin Investment Trust.

If retail interest in bitcoin rebounds in the weeks to come, it may establish the foundation for new momentum for the crypto market.

Will bitcoin rally lead to the recovery of alternative crypto assets?

Year-to-date, most major crypto assets such as litecoin, bitcoin cash, EOS, and BNB have recorded gains in the range of 140 percent to 400 percent against the U.S. dollar.

Against BTC, most crypto assets have also performed quite poorly in the past 16 months.

Previous bull cycles of bitcoin have occurred around a year before its scheduled block reward halving.

In May 2020, bitcoin is set to see its block reward halved, which would decrease the rate in which new BTC is produced.

One concern of investors is the rate in which bitcoin and the crypto market have been recovering and some have suggested that a gradual climb from the current point, having already recorded large gains, would be ideal.

Ethereum, XRP, and Others Up 8%+. On the day, Ethereum, XRP, and other major crypto assets have risen by at least eight percent against the U.S. dollar following bitcoin's strong nine percent rally.