Bitcoin gained 6.8% to a session high of $67,645, after having declined 6% on Tuesday from an earlier record high above $69,000
Bitcoin rallied again on Wednesday in volatile trade, while ether climbed nearly 10% as crypto mania continued to sweep through the investment community.
Bitcoin gained 6.8% to a session high of $67,645, after having declined 6% on Tuesday from an earlier record high above $69,000. It was up 5.7% at $66,896.
Ether, meanwhile, soared 9.8% to its highest since January 2022. It was last up 8.6% at $3,827.
Bitcoin has already soared 55% this year so far, fuelled by investors pouring money into U.S. spot exchange-traded crypto products and the prospect that global interest rates may drop.
Billions of dollars have flowed into exchange-traded funds in the last few weeks and the market is getting extra support from an outlook that includes an ethereum upgrade and bitcoin “halving,” which slows the flow of bitcoin minting, according to Lennix Lai, global chief commercial officer at OKX.
The trend also indicates a higher level of mainstream acceptance of bitcoin, perhaps more than ever before, Lai added.
The approval of 11 spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds by the U.S. SEC in late January had marked a landmark moment for the industry, following an 18-month long crypto winter plagued by a series of high-profile corporate bankruptcies and scandals.
Even institutional investors who once rejected crypto due to its sharp and wild moves, have begun committing long-term money too, which experts say could help sustain the latest leg of this rally.
The recent optimism over bitcoin has also spilled over to other digital tokens, especially ether, which ranks second behind bitcoin in terms of total market value, up more than 60% since the beginning of the year.
Still, some say it is hard to shake off the speculative nature of these assets. After reaching the record high on Tuesday, bitcoin sharply reversed course and dropped more than 10% back below the $60,000 level.
That looks like classic bitcoin behaviour – it chews you up then spits you back out, according to Matt Simpson, senior market analyst at City Index.
Simpson added: A pump and dump to earlier record highs wiped out some weaker hands, and I suspect we are now in the volatile and erratic phase we usually see when it reaches a record high.