LONDON: A rush of cash into new US spot bitcoin exchange-traded products drove a 42% price increase in February, which would be the cryptocurrency’s greatest monthly gain since December 2020. As a result, Bitcoin exceeded $60,000 on Wednesday for the first time in more than two years.
The price of bitcoin has increased by 6% to $60,131, the highest level since November 2021, when it reached a record slightly under $70,000. A year’s biggest weekly increase was also anticipated for bitcoin, which had gained 18.5 percent since February 21.
Ahead of the April halving event, which is intended to halt the creation of the cryptocurrency, traders have flocked into bitcoin. Additionally, investors’ thirst for riskier or higher-yielding assets has been fueled by the possibility that the Federal Reserve could lower interest rates multiple times this year.
There has been a noticeable increase in interest this week in the larger bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Ben Laidler, global markets strategist at retail investing platform eToro, stated that “Bitcoin is being driven by the backing of consistent influx into the new spot ETFs and outlook for April’s halving event and June’s Fed interest rate cuts.”
According to cryptocurrency platform CoinGecko, the total value of bitcoin in circulation surpassed $2 trillion this month for the first time in two years, and the token’s price has doubled in only four months.
Trading volumes have surged for the three most popular, operated by Fidelity, BlackRock, and Grayscale.
Approximately 110 million shares of the top three moved on Monday and Tuesday, accounting for 51 percent of the 215 million shares traded in the three most valued companies on the market: Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia, according to LSEG statistics.
This figure was closer to 15 percent three weeks ago.
The Ethereum blockchain network is powered by Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency in the world, which saw a 3.2 percent increase to $3,353 earlier in the day after reaching a two-year high. February saw the largest monthly gain in the price since a 70pc surge in July 2022, up 47pc.
