Bitcoin has touched its highest since December 2021 at $50,383 and steadied above $50,000 for a second day running. The world’s largest cryptocurrency has risen nearly 18% this year, helped by last month’s regulatory nod for US-listed exchange traded funds (ETFs) designed to track its price. Analysts said that the latest boost to bitcoin comes ahead of its halving event, which will cut the reward for successfully mining a bitcoin block in half.
“It’s a really interesting move. The expectation of rate cuts certainly helps, but it doesn’t explain what’s really set fire to bitcoin over the past four, five sessions,” said IG’s Sycamore.
Cryptocurrency investors are expecting 2024 to be a watershed year for crypto trading with landmark events such as listing of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the upcoming Bitcoin halving day set to fuel an extended bull run.
What is Bitcoin halving
Bitcoin halving is a once-in-four-years event when the number of new coins awarded to its miners when they add a group of transactions, or a block, to the Bitcoin blockchain is cut by half. This helps reduce supply of the cryptocurrency, making it more valuable. The next halving is expected to occur in April 2024 when the reward for each BTC miner will be cut from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, thus halving the overall new currency supply.
Historically, there have been four halving cycles and each time BTC prices surged – by as much as six times in certain instances.
Green light to 11 spot ETFs
The US Securities and Exchange Commission in January gave a green light to 11 spot ETFs after almost a decade of rejecting applications. These ETFs combined have already breached $10 billion in AUM and the value of BTC has surged 12% since then. Going forward, the market is expecting similar approvals for Ethereum and other currencies as well.
“It’s a really interesting move. The expectation of rate cuts certainly helps, but it doesn’t explain what’s really set fire to bitcoin over the past four, five sessions,” said IG’s Sycamore.
Cryptocurrency investors are expecting 2024 to be a watershed year for crypto trading with landmark events such as listing of crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and the upcoming Bitcoin halving day set to fuel an extended bull run.
What is Bitcoin halving
Bitcoin halving is a once-in-four-years event when the number of new coins awarded to its miners when they add a group of transactions, or a block, to the Bitcoin blockchain is cut by half. This helps reduce supply of the cryptocurrency, making it more valuable. The next halving is expected to occur in April 2024 when the reward for each BTC miner will be cut from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, thus halving the overall new currency supply.
Historically, there have been four halving cycles and each time BTC prices surged – by as much as six times in certain instances.
Green light to 11 spot ETFs
The US Securities and Exchange Commission in January gave a green light to 11 spot ETFs after almost a decade of rejecting applications. These ETFs combined have already breached $10 billion in AUM and the value of BTC has surged 12% since then. Going forward, the market is expecting similar approvals for Ethereum and other currencies as well.