According to Bloomberg, Bitcoin reached 50,379 USD on February 13. The coin has tripled in value since the beginning of last year after falling 64% in 2022.
Although the price is still lower than the all-time high of $68,982.20 recorded in November 2021, Bitcoin is gradually recovering from a series of crashes in the cryptocurrency market in 2022. Analysts say founder The fact that FTX Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) is awaiting sentencing for violating anti-money laundering laws has caused risks in the industry to decrease significantly.
The price increase shows that investors in the market are willing to accept risks with the expectation that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will loosen monetary policy and reduce interest rates
Bitcoin’s rise also helped shares of MicroStrategy rise 10%, exchange Coinbase Global increase 4.8% and miner Marathon Digital increase 12% on December 12.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s approval of the registration applications of 11 Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on January 10 has made Bitcoin more accessible to the public. Since their launch, new ETFs have attracted about $8 billion from investors.
In addition, the upcoming halving in April 2024 also pushes Bitcoin higher. Halving is a process where the reward for miners is reduced by half to control the inflation rate of Bitcoin, this event takes place about every 4 years.
According to Reuters, Bitcoin price often grows significantly after each halving. Just six months after the first halving event in 2012, the price of Bitcoin increased from $12 to $126. The second halving in 2016 saw Bitcoin increase from $654 to $1,000 within seven months. In 2020, Bitcoin price also increased from $8,570 to $18,040. The third halving in 2020 lowered the miner reward to 6.25 Bitcoin per block, so it will drop to 3,125 Bitcoin in April 2024.
Besides, sentiment towards Bitcoin is “generally positive” during the Lunar New Year period in Asia, according to Fundstrat Global Advisors