Bitcoin briefly rose to an all-time high in volatile trading on Friday as crypto mania continued to spread through the investment community.
The leading cryptocurrency breached the $70,000 level for the first time, boosted by investor demand for spot-traded crypto products in the U.S. and expectations for lower global interest rates.
After rising to $70,105, it quickly fell back and last traded at $68,317.72.
Billions of dollars have flowed into ETFs in the past few weeks, with the market weighing heavily on factors such as upgrades to the Ethereum blockchain platform, home to Bitcoin rival Ether, and Bitcoin’s “halving” event that could slow flows. is receiving additional support from prospects. April of Bitcoin minting.
Still, some say the speculative nature of these assets is difficult to shake off. After hitting an all-time high on Tuesday, Bitcoin sharply reversed course, dropping more than 10% below the $60,000 level.
“Past highs are notoriously difficult to overcome, and Bitcoin dams don’t tend to burst on the first demand,” said Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of crypto lending platform Nexo. “Volatility has defined the Bitcoin bull market, and 2024 will see a sudden and exasperating 10% to 20% drop.”
After an 18-month crypto winter marred by a series of high-profile corporate bankruptcies and scandals, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of 11 Spot Bitcoin ETFs in late January marked a turning point for the industry.
Even institutional investors who once shied away from cryptocurrencies due to their sharp and erratic movements are starting to put long-term capital into them, which analysts say could help sustain this bull run. Looking.
Net inflows into 10 U.S. spot Bitcoin funds reached $2.2 billion in the week ending March 1, with more than $2 billion of that coming to BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, according to LSEG data. It is said that there was an inflow into
The recent optimism surrounding Bitcoin has spilled over into other digital tokens, including Ether, which ranks second in market capitalization behind Bitcoin and is up more than 60% since the beginning of the year.
Ether was last up 1.62% at $3,939.84.
Cryptocurrency stocks also rose on Friday, with Coinbase shares up 8.2% and crypto miners Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital up 5.1% and 9.6%, respectively.
