Bitcoin Hits $39K as Bullish ETF Optimism Boosts Crypto Market

Bitcoin today hit $39,000 per coin for the first time April 2022.

The biggest digital coin by market capitalization was last sitting at that level before crypto project Terra collapsed in May 2022—which subsequently brought chaos to the digital asset ecosystem by plunging the price of every cryptocurrency and leading to a number of high-profile bankruptcies.

According to figures from America's biggest crypto exchange Coinbase, Bitcoin hit $39,000 per coin at 11.30am Eastern Time.

It has since dipped and is now trading for $38,777, the same data shows.

The coin is up nearly 3% in the past 24 hours. Over the month, it has risen by more than 12%.

Bitcoin has attracted renewed interest from investors because a number high-profile Wall Street firms have applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to release a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Such an investment vehicle would give traditional investors exposure to the cryptocurrency in a safe and regulated way. Because of this, some analysts expect a capital to flood the digital asset market.

Bloomberg Intelligence analysts have said they expect the top regulator to approve one of the applications by January 10.

Also, this week, Federal Reserve governor Christopher J. Waller said that he was "increasingly confident that policy is currently well positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2 percent"—leading investors with an appetite for risk-on assets to feel bullish.

At the start of the year, Bitcoin was trading for less that $17,000 per coin.

But it is still well below its November 2021 all-time high of $69,044 per coin.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.