The price of Bitcoin pumped Monday morning, rising above the $53,000 mark for the first time since late 2021 following a recent lull in the leading cryptocurrency’s ascent.
Bitcoin rose as high as $53,482 on Monday, and remains above the $53K milestone at a current price of $53,409. The price briefly neared $53,000 last week, but then fell back under the $51,000 mark within a day.
BTC took off in early February following the launch of spot Bitcoin ETF products in the U.S. market in mid-January. Major Wall Street financial firms like BlackRock and Fidelity now offer their clients a way to gain exposure to Bitcoin through ETFs, which trade similarly to stocks. The demand for Bitcoin ETFs has been massive, and ETF issuers have collectively purchased billions in Bitcoin to meet that demand.
Bitcoin started the month at a price just above $42,000 and consistently gaining price until it topped $50,000 on February 12. It was the first time that Bitcoin had broken the $50,000 barrier since December 2021.
Since then, however, Bitcoin hasn’t made as substantial of moves. It’s remained above the $50,000 mark for nearly two weeks now, but has mostly been floating between the $51,000 and $52,000 barriers lately before jumping Monday morning.
As of today, however, the Bitcoin pump appears to be back on. Bitcoin is up nearly 4% on the day, pushing its 30-day climb to 27%. The price of the coin has more than doubled since this time last year, up 129% in that span.
Bitcoin’s latest rise also comes ahead of the next halving, which is expected to take place around April 20. The halving cuts the BTC rewards given to miners by half to fight inflation, and programmatically happens every four years or so. As a result, less new Bitcoin will be created going forward, slowing the supply expansion. Analysts expect that the increased demand for BTC following the launch of Bitcoin ETFs combined with the upcoming supply crunch resulting from the halving could have a significant impact on the price of Bitcoin in the second half of 2024.
Other top cryptocurrencies by market cap are following Bitcoin’s rise today with similar gains around 4% over the past day, including Ethereum, Solana, and Binance Coin. Ethereum is now trading above $3,100, the highest point seen for the second-largest coin since April 2022.
Editor's note: This article was updated after publication to include additional details regarding the Bitcoin ETF market.
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The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.