World’s biggest currency Bitcoin price rise has broken above $40,000 for the first time this year. The Bitcoin price rise rides on a wave of momentum on broad enthusiasm about U.S. interest rate cuts and as traders anticipate the imminent approval of U.S. stock market traded bitcoin funds.
The world’s biggest currency Bitcoin’s price rise hit as high as $40,210 in Sunday trade, its highest since April 2022. It was steady at $40,011 in thin trade early in the Asia day on Monday.
Bitcoin’s bull run
“We’ll see if it sticks throughout the day, but bitcoin loves a break of big psychological levels, so it excites the bit-bugs again and adds to this momentum,” said Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda.
For the year, bitcoin’s price rise has been big, it has more than doubled as it has thrown off the doldrums of the so-called “crypto winter” that followed scandals including the collapse of exchange FTX last year.
Bitcoin has rallied more than 120% this year, with many optimistic about the surge continuing into 2024.
“It feels that [2023]was a year to get ready for the bull run that is yet to come. But the sentiment is very hopeful for [2024] and 25,” Pascal Gauthier, CEO of Ledger, said in an interview.
The digital currency’s last record high of nearly $65,000 was hit in November 2021.
Other Assets rally
Riskier investments and other interest-rate sensitive assets, such as gold, have also rallied hard over the last few weeks as markets wager that the U.S. Federal Reserve has finished hiking rates and will start cutting early in 2023.
Reports in October that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission won’t appeal a court ruling that found the agency had been wrong to reject an exchange-traded fund application from crypto firm Grayscale Investments have also driven bets that an eventual approval is nigh.
A spot bitcoin ETF, the argument goes, would allow previously wary investors access to crypto via the stock market, ushering a new wave of capital into the sector.
Ether, the coin linked to the Ethereum blockchain network, also made a 1-1/2 year high on Sunday, hitting $2,218 and steadying at $2,197 in Asia on Monday.
Both bitcoin and ether of the Ethereum blockchain network remain well below their 2021 record highs that were above $60,000 and $4,000 respectively.
Future of bitcoin
Crypto execs say the bull run is underway and could lead to $100,000 bitcoin in 2024
Executives in the cryptocurrency industry called the start of a new bull run with a growing number of voices calling for fresh all-time highs for bitcoin in 2024 above $100,000. Excitement around a bitcoin ETF being approved in the U.S. next year as well as the bitcoin halving is fueling a rally in cryptocurrencies.
Many commentators also see the conclusion of the FTX case and the Binance settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice as the resolution of two outstanding issues that were plaguing the market.
Executives in the cryptocurrency industry called the start of a new bull run with a growing number of voices calling for fresh all-time highs for bitcoin in 2024 above $100,000.
