Unfazed by the market correction! Major KOLs optimistic about Bitcoin and Ethereum, BitMEX CEO: This is the bull market!

Bitcoin has been on a vertical rise since reaching $9,162 on July 20, approaching the $10,000 mark and even briefly touching last year's August high of $11,983. This surge has left those who missed the opportunity or were on the sidelines wondering whether this marks the beginning of a bull market or just a fleeting moment. As Bitcoin currently experiences a slight pullback, let's take a look at the opinions of influential figures in the cryptocurrency market.

Bitcoin Slightly Retracts

Bitcoin reached near-term highs on July 31 and August 1, resulting in a July closing price of $11,351, marking the best monthly closing price in two and a half years, second only to the historical high of $13,933 in January 2018.

Despite the current retracement in Bitcoin price, prominent analyst Josh Rager on Twitter is not concerned, stating:

Bitcoin's last retracement was only about 15%, and during the previous Bitcoin bull market trend, there were at least six or more retracements of 30% or more. Don't worry, everything will only get better.

In response to this tweet, users cited the 2017 bull market as an example, where Bitcoin experienced retracements of 41%, 40%, and 30% from July onwards before reaching a historical high near $20,000.

Furthermore, BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes recently exclaimed on Twitter vocally:

This is a f***ing bull market; are you ready?

However, echoing the sentiment of the aforementioned retracement view, Hayes also mentioned in a tweet on the 3rd that Bitcoin is expected to rise again after the decline.

Ethereum Leading the Bull Market?

In addition to his bullish Bitcoin calls, Hayes believes that Ethereum, which recently touched $400, will surpass $500. Moreover, Su Zhu, founder of the well-known hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, not only firmly supports the current bull market but also sees a rising trend in Ethereum.

Su Zhu's investment focus in the DeFi sector has been precise, with projects like Aave, Synthetix, mStable, and Kyber being part of his investment portfolio. This optimism towards DeFi and Ethereum is due to the high on-chain usage of Ethereum, which has consistently outperformed Bitcoin post-halving. He stated:

While the public is bullish on Bitcoin and stablecoins, they are not as optimistic about Ethereum. This is why Ethereum continues to outperform Bitcoin post-halving in a scenario where on-chain usage is very high. I predict that holding stablecoins and Bitcoin while being bearish on Ethereum will be seen as a very strange investment strategy when we look back from the future.

Indeed, Ethereum has surged over 200% since the beginning of the year, compared to Bitcoin's approximately 60% increase.

The strong performance of Ethereum inevitably draws parallels to 2017 when the demand for Ethereum was driven by ICOs, leading to a bull market. This year, DeFi has replaced ICOs in that position.