Bitcoin gives up 5-week high on profit-taking

Bitcoin fell in spot trading on Monday, for the first time in 4 days, to abandon a 5-week high on profit-taking, after it posted the biggest weekly gain in four months following the Chinese president Xi Jinping for the country to accelerate its adoption of blockchain technologies to boost industrial innovation.

At Bitstamp exchange, Bitcoin fell by 2.7% or $259 to $9,288, after it opened at $9,547, with a session-high of $9,950.  

Bitcoin rose by 3.3% on Sunday, its third straight daily loss after it posted a 5-week high of $10,350 in the previous day, on massive demand activity after the Chinese president's comments.

During the last week, Bitcoin gained 16%, its second weekly gain in the last 3 weeks, and the largest weekly gain since mid-June.

The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies rose $3 billion today, to a total of $249 billion, on a corrective bounce in Bitcoin and most other major cryptos.

The crypto market cap fell on Thursday to lowest level since last May at $203 billion, to recover quickly on Saturday and reach the highest level since September 23 of $262 billion.

The market capitalization jumped in less than 72 hours by about $60 billion, or 30%, as bears rushed to cover their short positions, and bulls increased their positions. 

The Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for accelerating the adoption of blockchain technologies to boost innovation and industrial transformation.

The Chinese president said that his country will become a supporter of the crypto industry and will implement it in the economy.

Reuters also reported on Monday that the head of technology at the  People's Bank of China has urged local banks to increase their application of blockchain in digital finance.

While the president's remarks comes for increasing the blockchain adoption, but not Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as the Chinese authorities' aversion to these cryptos are still existing.

But the comments reflect a positive shift towards the crypto industry, as the PBOC is still working on launching its cryptocurrency, which may come to light very soon alongside with many other digital currencies releases in 2020.