American Premium: US Whales Reportedly Fueled Bitcoin's $73K Joyride

Bitcoin kicked the weekend off with a vengeance after weaker-than-expected US inflation data dropped. But here's the twist – one analyst is pointing to a very specific group of buyers: our friends across the pond (well, specifically the pond between the US and everyone else).

Crypto analyst Burak Kesmeci dropped some alpha on X, highlighting the Coinbase Premium Index as the secret sauce behind Bitcoin's recent moves. For the uninitiated, this on-chain metric tracks the spread between Bitcoin's price on Coinbase (USD pair) versus Binance (USDT pair). When the premium goes positive, it means US investors are willing to pay more than the rest of the world – a classic sign of strong stateside demand.

According to Kesmeci, this isn't just noise – it's been a direct relationship with Bitcoin's price action over the past two years. When the index stayed positive, BTC mooned from $41K to $126K. When it went negative? Bitcoin tumbled from $126K down to the $60K range.

The recent action? The index flipped positive, and Bitcoin followed suit, climbing from the $66K zone to above $73,000. Kesmeci put it plainly: the data confirms US investors – particularly the whales – were the locomotive behind this run.

At time of writing, Bitcoin is sitting pretty around $73,330, up over 1% in the last 24 hours.