Bitcoin is back, today setting a new all-time high price above $69,000, as investors and traders rush back into the cryptocurrency market.
The digital asset is now trading for $69,324.58, according to price data on Coinbase. That’s a 4% 24-hour rise. Over the past 30 days, the asset has soared by more than 58%. Its previous all-time high of $69,044 was set on November 2021, over two years ago.
Since the start of 2023, BTC is up by more than 300%. Prior to that, and following a brutal bear market, it was trading for less than $17,000 per coin. So what changed?
The most significant catalyst is the approval and successful launch of 10 spot Bitcoin ETFs. After a decade of denials from the SEC, the tide turned in June of last year when BlackRock—the world’s largest asset manager—submitted its own application for a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.
The renewed interest from big investors and other major Wall Street firms that followed kickstarted a bullish Bitcoin rally, and the asset began to climb back up the price charts.
By the end of the year, Bitcoin was trading comfortably above $42,000.
When the Securities and Exchange Commission finally approved Bitcoin ETFs in January, the price of Bitcoin got a modest bump, but then dipped as crypto traders appeared to “sell the news” and took their profits. Since late January, however, the price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed as interest in ETF products increased and retail investors came back into the fold.
Over the last month, billions have flowed into Bitcoin ETFs, which trade like stocks on brokerages and traditional exchanges. Buying shares in a Bitcoin ETF gives investors exposure to BTC without the need to buy and store digital coins directly. The investor buys a share in the ETF, and the issuer—such as BlackRock—buys the Bitcoin and stores it on their behalf with a custodian, like Coinbase.
And just as market analysts had predicted for years, Bitcoin ETFs have resulted in a rush of fresh capital flooding the crypto market. BlackRock alone now holds over $10 billion in Bitcoin.
Back during the bull run of 2021, the market was supported by retail investors throwing cash at crypto during a time of “easy money” following the pandemic and near zero interest rates.
This time, though, more seasoned investors are involved, with the likes of BlackRock and Fidelity in the mix. It begs the question: how long will this bull run last? Analysts are split, but with the supply crunch of the Bitcoin halving still over a month away, things could get very interesting indeed.