The crypto currency has gained 16.3% so far in 2024, on Monday hitting its highest since December 27, 2021

Bitcoin touched the $50,000 level for the first time in more than two years as the world’s largest crypto currency was buoyed by expectations of interest rate cuts later this year and last month’s regulatory approval for U.S. ETFs designed to track its price.

The crypto currency has gained 16.3% so far in 2024, on Monday hitting its highest since December 27, 2021. At 1756 GMT, bitcoin was 4.96% higher on the day at $49,899, having oscillated near the $50,000 level.

$50,000 is a significant milestone for the biggest crypto currency after the launch of spot exchange traded funds last month not only failed to elicit a move above this key psychological level but led to a 20% sell-off, said Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of Nexo.

Crypto stocks also enjoyed a jump on Monday, with crypto exchange Coinbase, up 4.9% and crypto miners Riot Platforms, and Marathon Digital, up 10.8% and 11.9%, respectively. Shares of software firm MicroStrategy  – a notable buyer of bitcoin – were up 10.2%.

The price of ether, the second-biggest crypto currency, was up 4.12% at $2,607.57.

The primary driver behind bitcoin’s recent price appreciation “can be attributed to the increased inflow into BTC spot ETFs,” said Matteo Greco, a research analyst at Fineqia International, in a note.

The U.S. securities regulator on January 10 approved the first U.S. spot bitcoin exchange traded funds, a watershed for the world’s biggest crypto currency and the wider crypto industry, which had been trying to bring such a product to market for more than a decade.

Greco in particular noted that outflows from Grayscale Investment’s Grayscale Bitcoin Trust – which received approval from the U.S. SEC in January to convert to an ETF – have begun to slow.