The world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, surged above the US$50,000 mark for the first time in almost two years, helped by regulatory approval of US exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that follow its price last month and anticipation of interest rate reduction later this year.
This year, the cryptocurrency has increased by 16.3%, and on Monday, February 12, it reached its highest point since December 27, 2021. After bouncing around the US$50,000 mark, Bitcoin was up 4.96 percent for the day at US$49,899 at 12:56 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (5:56 p.m. GMT).
Ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency, was trading at $2,607.57, up 4.12%.
As traders searched for clues about when the U.S. Federal Reserve could start lowering interest rates, global market indices also crept up on Monday. May is seen by analysts and the financial markets as a possible starting point for rate decreases this year.
Performance of the Bitcoin ETF
Spot bitcoin ETFs saw a spike of more than 5.5% during trading on Friday, following a 4% increase on Friday.
Since the first bitcoin ETFs started on January 11, BlackRock’s (BLK) iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) has been by far the largest fund inflows, with around $3.75 billion in inflows as of the end of day on February 9, according to BitMEX Research data.
With $3 billion in inflows, the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) comes in second. In terms of inflows, the Bitwise Bitcoin ETF (BITB) was surpassed on Friday by the ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB). As of February 9, ARKB had received $918.5 million in total inflows, compared to $785.8 million for BITB.
A rise on Monday propelled cryptocurrency stocks higher. MicroStrategy, a bitcoin proxied, increased 11%, while cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase gained more than 3%. Numerous mining equities experienced double-digit gains. Iris Energy surged 16% while CleanSpark increased by almost 14%. Marathon Digital saw a 14% increase.
