Tag: bitcoin

Bitcoin retreats after record-setting run that topped $69,000

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Bitcoin surged to a record for the first time in more than two years, yet the original cryptocurrency didn’t stay at its new all-time high very long as many traders appear to have taken the opportunity to book some profit.

The token jumped as much as 2.5% to $69,191.95 shortly after 10 a.m. in New York, then almost immediately reversed course in a plunge that at one point sent it 14% below the record to $59,317.16.

“Given that nearly everyone who has ever bought Bitcoin is now in profit, there are decent odds we see some amount of profit taking,” said Zaheer Ebtikar, founder of crypto fund Split Capital.

The volatile price swings on Tuesday were the latest example of the boom-or-bust nature of Bitcoin. Its recent gains had been amplified by bullish bets made in the derivatives market, where investors in the past could get leverage of as much as 100 times the size of their positions in products such as perpetual futures. With Bitcoin reversing its early gains, more than $800 million worth of bullish positions were quickly liquidated in the perpetual futures market, according to crypto data tracker Coinglass.

Bitcoin has experienced a breathtaking rebound this year amid strong demand from new US exchange-traded funds and a looming reduction in growth of the token’s supply. At its high on Tuesday, Bitcoin was up about 63% so far in 2024, outperforming global stocks and spreading optimism across the digital-asset market. ”

In an ironic twist, Bitcoin owes much of its resurgence to a regulator long-viewed as hostile to crypto: the US Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC approved spot-Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in early January after suffering a legal defeat last year in its attempt to reject them. The move has widened the mass-market accessibility of Bitcoin, helping the crypto sector to turn the page following a bear market in 2022 and a string of subsequent bankruptcies, including the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange.

A steady tide of money has poured into the ETFs issued by investment heavyweights including BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Investments. The net inflow of almost $8 billion in less than two months is colliding with a looming reduction in Bitcoin’s supply growth — known as the halving — that is also stoking bullish sentiment.

“Breaking all-time highs, with the current momentum in spot ETFs as well as the upcoming halving narrative, would likely awaken true FOMO — fear of missing out — among participants currently watching markets from the sidelines,” said Stefan von Haenisch, head of trading at OSL SG Pte.

The comeback in Bitcoin that started in early 2023 has lifted the overall market value of digital assets to about $2.6 trillion. Its revival from a low in November 2022 caps a bust-to-boom cycle that left the industry it spawned irrevocably changed.

Bitcoin hit its previous peak of $68,991.85 on Nov. 10, 2021, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, powered by the monetary and fiscal stimulus that governments around the world deployed to tackle the impact of Covid-19. The rally was driven partly by crypto purists known for their mantra of “HODL,” the result of a misspelling of “hold” that’s been adopted as an acronym for “hold on for dear life.”

Reckoning in 2022

What was hailed by some as crypto’s ultimate coming-of-age moment back then instead turned out to be the start of a brutal reckoning.

Soon after touching its high in 2021, Bitcoin — and wider crypto markets — began a precipitous descent as central banks turned hawkish to fight runaway inflation. By the end of 2021, Bitcoin’s price had tumbled by almost a third from its peak.

The bear market exposed widespread fraud and reckless risk-taking among many of crypto’s key players, embodied by the implosion of the TerraUSD stablecoin and the collapse of Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange and related companies. Binance, the largest digital-asset exchange, and its founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao also came under increased regulatory scrutiny.

Bankman-Fried and Zhao are now awaiting sentencing in the US on criminal charges. TerraUSD creator Do Kwon, who was imprisoned in Montenegro last year for traveling with a fake passport, is fighting extradition to the US, where he’s wanted on fraud charges.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

MicroStrategy to offer $600 million in convertible notes to buy more Bitcoin

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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MicroStrategy Inc., the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, proposed increasing its cache of the largest cryptocurrency through the sale of $600 million in convertible senior notes.

The value of Bitcoin holdings on the enterprise software maker’s balance sheet has increased to around $13 billion since the company started purchasing the digital asset in 2020 as part of the effort to hedge inflation. Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy’s co-founder, has become one of the most prominent advocates for the cryptocurrency by turning the software maker into a Bitcoin proxy for stock investors.

The proposed private offer comes as Bitcoin approaches its all-time high of nearly $69,000 reached in late 2021. The Tysons Corner, Virginia-based company held around 193,000 Bitcoin as of February 25.

New demand from spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds along with elevated trading in the crypto derivatives market have been driving the latest rally. Another big purchase by MicroStrategy could further fuel the momentum.

The offering of the convertible senior notes due 2030 will be to qualified institutional buyers, according to its statement on Monday.

It also “expects to grant to the initial purchasers of the notes an option to purchase, within a 13-day period beginning on, and including, the date on which the notes are first issued, up to an additional $90 million aggregate principal amount of the notes,” the company said.

Shares of MicroStrategy jumped 24% to $1,334 on Monday. The stock has more than doubled this year, outpacing the roughly 60% increase in Bitcoin during the same period.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bitcoin breaches $64,000 briefly as ETF demand lures traders

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Bitcoin rose for the second straight day and marched closer to its all-time high, driven by expectations of exchange-traded funds’ robust demand at the week’s start.

The most liquid cryptocurrency rose to as much as $64,279 – its first move above $64,000 since November 2021 — before trimming back to $63,622 as of 9:20 AM in Singapore.

At the heart of this frenzy lies seemingly insatiable demand for the largest crypto token from the US-listed Bitcoin ETFs, which began trading on January 11. Bitcoin has jumped about 186% in the last 12 months.

“Given the low liquidity over the weekend, markets are moving north in anticipation that tonight’s ETF inflows will continue and prices will continue to rally,” said Hayden Hughes, co-founder of social-trading platform Alpha Impact.

Net inflows of $7.35 billion have been invested since the debut of the US Bitcoin ETFs, offered by a batch of funds including BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Investments.

Traders are betting on the price to soon cross the record of almost $69,000, reached during the Covid pandemic, given the ETFs’ strong demand and concern of missing out ahead of Bitcoin halving, which is expected later this year. After halving — when the reward for mining is cut in half — the supply growth of the coin could come down, adding to the demand squeeze.

“Crossing the psychological threshold of Bitcoin’s previous all-time high may take time, but it should only be considered a matter of time until we cross that level given the halving and positive sentiment,” Hughes said.

Other relatively small tokens, including Ether and Solana, also were up Monday 0.15% and 1.82% respectively.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bitcoin surpasses $60,000 as demand from ETFs triggers bull run

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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At the heart of the rally that is pushing Bitcoin toward a record high is a simple tenet of economics: Supply and demand.

The surge in demand for the cryptocurrency that’s resulting from new exchange-traded funds is vastly outstripping the amount of Bitcoin that long-time holders are willing to sell. That’s what lit the match that has set the crypto market on fire, with fuel being added from traders chasing the upward momentum, covering short positions and loading up on leveraged bets that the bull run will continue.

It all culminated in a wild session for the cryptocurrency market on Wednesday, with Bitcoin jumping as much as 13% to $63,968 — its first trip above $60,000 since November 2021 — before it pared gains as a surge in traffic triggered trading outages and displays of $0 balances for users of Coinbase, the largest US digital-asset exchange.

Bitcoin has jumped about 40% already this year, triggered mostly by the successful launch of US exchange-traded funds holding the coins which have attracted more than $6 billion since they began trading on January 11. Bitcoin last traded at $60,000 in November 2021, after reaching an all-time high of almost $69,000 earlier that same month.

“It’s pretty nuts,” said Ryan Kim, head of derivatives at digital-asset prime brokerage FalconX.

At the heart of the rally that is pushing Bitcoin toward a record high is a simple tenet of economics: Supply and demand.
The surge in demand for the cryptocurrency that’s resulting from new exchange-traded funds is vastly outstripping the amount of Bitcoin that long-time holders are willing to sell. That’s what lit the match that has set the crypto market on fire, with fuel being added from traders chasing the upward momentum, covering short positions and loading up on leveraged bets that the bull run will continue.

It all culminated in a wild session for the cryptocurrency market on Wednesday, with Bitcoin jumping as much as 13% to $63,968 — its first trip above $60,000 since November 2021 — before it pared gains as a surge in traffic triggered trading outages and displays of $0 balances for users of Coinbase, the largest US digital-asset exchange.

Bitcoin has jumped about 40% already this year, triggered mostly by the successful launch of US exchange-traded funds holding the coins which have attracted more than $6 billion since they began trading Jan. 11. Bitcoin last traded at $60,000 in November 2021, after reaching an all-time high of almost $69,000 earlier that same month.

“It’s pretty nuts,” said Ryan Kim, head of derivatives at digital-asset prime brokerage FalconX.

“We are starting to see a pretty clear FOMO kind of rally,” said Zaheer Ebtikar, founder of crypto fund Split Capital. “More and more people are just convinced to buy.”

Bitcoin’s trading volume surged to more than $79 billion, or by almost 60% in the past 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com. As the original cryptocurrency went higher and higher, Coinbase Global Inc. began experiencing what CEO Brian Armstrong referred to on the social-media platform X as a “LARGE surge of traffic.” The exchange reported that some users were experiencing errors when attempting to buy or sell and that some may see a zero balance in their accounts. “Your assets are safe,” Coinbase said on its website, later adding that activity had begun to normalize.

The intense rally has Bitcoin on pace for its biggest monthly gain since December 2020, when the digital token jumped 50% to around $9,600.

Bitcoin has more than tripled in value since the start of last year, climbing back from a 64% plunge in 2022, in a remarkable comeback from a series of crypto-industry scandals and bankruptcies that had raised questions about the viability of digital assets.

Digital tokens are jumping even though investors have pared back expectations for looser monetary policy this year, evidenced by a rise in US Treasury yields. Bitcoin has outperformed traditional assets like stocks and gold in 2024.

“This reversal is all the more impressive in the light of central banks signaling they intend to keep rates high a while longer, eroding the theory that the next crypto bull would be driven by dropping interest rates,” said Michael Safai, co-founder at quantitative trading firm Dexterity Capital.

The massive inflows into Bitcoin ETFs have prompted some industry watchers to warn of a looming supply squeeze as new coins from miners can’t keep up with demand. Some 80% of Bitcoin’s supply hasn’t changed hands in the past six months, potentially exacerbating the squeeze and adding to the upward price pressure, analysts have said.

The nine new spot ETFs have more than 300,000 Bitcoin, or seven times the amount of new coins mined since Jan. 11. After the halving, expected in late April, the number of new coins mined daily will decline to 450 from 900 currently. If this demand stays constant, with supply of new coins cut in half, advocates are predicting that the price has room to rally.

“All of this combined makes for a supply and demand imbalance,” said Dan Slavin, founder of Chainview Capital, a crypto hedge fund. “More demand than supply means price higher, and with BTC price volatility, price higher doesn’t mean 10%, it means a whole lot more.”

The speed of the rally has some observers warning that it leaves investors susceptible to the boom and bust cycles that have become emblematic of crypto.

“This move has been very sharp, leverage is very high at the moment, as implied by derivatives basis and funding rates, so I would not be surprised by a sharp correction” or 20% or more, said Jaime Baeza, founder at crypto hedge fund AnB Investments. “Nonetheless I would not be shorting into this rally while it continues to move at this pace.”

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bitcoin scorches past $57,000 as big buyers flock in

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Bitcoin hit a two-year high on Tuesday, on track for its biggest two-day rally this year, on signs large players were buying the cryptocurrency, while smaller rival ether topped $3,200 for the first time since 2022.

Bitcoin has rallied more than 10% in two sessions, helped by Monday’s disclosure from crypto investor and software firm MicroStrategy, that it had recently purchased about 3,000 bitcoins for an outlay of $155 million.

The original and largest cryptocurrency by market value has also been buoyed recently by the approval of bitcoin-owning exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. On Monday, trading volumes in several of the funds spiked and crypto-linked firms rallied too, in contrast to nervous broader markets.

Bitcoin rose by as much 4.3% to $57,036, its highest since late 2021. It was last up 3.6% at $56,636, while ether rose by as much as 2.7% to $3,273, its highest since April 2022.

“There’s only so much supply … but the demand unleashed by the US spot ETFs seems to be relentless,” said Justin d’Anethan, head of partnerships in Asia at Keyrock, a digital asset market maker.

A major incentive right now is the bitcoin halving event in April. This process is designed to slow the release of Bitcoin, whose supply is capped at 21 million – of which 19 million have already been mined – by cutting the reward for producing the tokens in half.

Bitcoin has gained 32% in value so far in February, heading for its largest one-month gain since January 2023, and momentum is building beyond the investment community.

Social media platform Reddit, which on February 22 filed to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, said it had invested a small portion of its excess cash reserves in bitcoin, opened a new tab, ether and matic, the native token of the Polygon network, as a form of payment for sales of certain virtual goods.

Ether has risen at an even faster pace this month, heading for a 41% gain. Anticipation is growing among market participants over the possible regulatory approval of spot ether ETFs, which has helped this latest rise in price.

“The prospect of a spot Ethereum ETF is a further development for traders and investors alike after the recent launch of a variety of bitcoin ETFs,” DailyFX senior strategist Nick Crawley said in a note.

“It represents a further maturation of the cryptocurrency market and a recognition of Ethereum’s role in the future of cryptocurrencies within the financial system.”

Shares of crypto exchange Coinbase rose 5.2% in US premarket trading, while bitcoin miners Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms climbed 8.3% and 4.5%, respectively.

The largest bitcoin ETF Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, opens new tab rose 4.3%.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Grayscale’s Bitcoin ETF exodus reaches $7.4 billion in first 30 trading days

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The world’s biggest Bitcoin ETF has reached an inauspicious milestone: an entire month of consecutive outflows.

The $22.8 billion Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (ticker GBTC) has seen $7.4 billion exit across 30 trading days as of Friday, Bloomberg data show. GBTC has yet to post a single inflow since it converted into an ETF in mid-January.

That stands in contrast to the other nine freshly launched spot Bitcoin ETFs, all of which are sitting on net inflows since trading began. A few different factors explain the dichotomy: while GBTC is by far the largest and most actively traded of its peers, its 1.5% management fee means that it’s also the most expensive offering, with the bulk of its peers charging below 0.3%. Additionally, bankrupt estates such as Genesis Global Holdco LLC have been looking to offload their holdings.

But even with those caveats — including that GBTC didn’t allow for redemptions in its prior structure — it’s surprisingly to see how consistent the outflows have been, according to Vident Asset Management.

“Most of us in the industry expected to see outflows, we all knew it was coming — these long-term holders that were waiting for the fund to finally convert to get out,” said Amrita Nandakumar, president of Vident Asset Management. “Does it go to 60 days? I don’t think so, but then again, I’m surprised to see it got to thirty.”

To be sure, outflows have slowed in recent days, with just $44 million leaving the fund on Friday versus as much as $640 million in January. But even still, GBTC’s $7.4 billion year-to-date outflow is the second largest among more than 3,400 US-listed ETFs.

“The Grayscale team anticipated GBTC’s diverse shareholder base would engage in profit-taking and deploy investment strategies that would impact the Trust’s flows, and we are pleased that outflows have continued to stabilize – especially against forced selling from estate bankruptcies,” a Grayscale spokesperson said in an email. “With market-leading liquidity, strong trading volume, and an unparalleled track record, we expect GBTC will continue to be a primary capital markets risk transfer tool for Bitcoin.”

While GBTC continues to shed assets, the other nine spot Bitcoin ETFs that launched in January are pulling in billions amid the cryptocurrency’s rally. BlackRock and Fidelity are leading the way, attracting nearly $6 billion and $4 billion a piece, followed by the likes of Ark Invest and Bitwise.

Still, GBTC has a loyal following among a population of cryptocurrency advocates for triumphing over the Securities and Exchange Commission. A judge’s ruling in August that the agency acted “capriciously” in barring Grayscale’s conversion to an ETF was a key step leading to last month’s launches. It’s that brand of investor who would likely look past GBTC’s relatively high fee, according to Nandakumar.

“A non-traditional ETF investor who has a lot of brand loyalty to Grayscale, appreciate that they ‘stand for’ — standing up to the SEC and ‘getting it done,’ maybe they would be inclined to invest because they have a brand affinity to Grayscale,” Nandakumar said.

The GBTC share price has jumped 40% so far this year, compared with an increase of around 45% for Bitcoin. The largest digital currency traded at a more than two-year high of around $54,570 on Monday.

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bitcoin breaks from recent range to set more than two-year high

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Bitcoin rose to the highest in more than two years, climbing above $54,000, amid growing optimism that persistent investor demand through exchange-traded funds will drive the price of the largest cryptocurrency back to record levels.

“Bitcoin continues its ascent, supported by strong ETF inflows,” said Spencer Hallarn, global head of over-the-counter trading at crypto investment firm GSR.

The original digital currency increased as much as 5.2% to $54,438 after trading in a narrow range for more than a week. It last traded at this level in December 2021, and reached an all-time high of almost $69,000 the prior month.

Investors have poured more than $5 billion into nine ETFs that began trading last month. That figure takes into account the $7.4 billion that has been withdrawn during the same period from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust, which was converted from a trust.

“Bitcoin is approaching new yearly highs off the back of increased spot demand and momentum traders taking positions off the back of a breakout after a week of consolidation,” said Chris Newhouse, a DeFi analyst at Cumberland Labs. “Interestingly enough, liquidations are not too excessive for the current price action, and shorts who were liquidated were quickly replaced with leveraged longs.”

The open interest, or the number of outstanding contracts, for perpetual Bitcoin futures has seen a noticeable increase, Newhouse said. At the same time, short positions have been forced to be closed in the latest rally. That may be the result of fresh long positions in the market, he said.

Adding to the optimism around Bitcoin was another large purchase of the tokens by MicroStrategy Inc. The enterprise software firm, which has made buying Bitcoin as part of its corporate strategy, said Monday that it purchased another 3,000 or so of the cryptocurrency tokens this month for $155.4 million. It owns about $10 billion in Bitcoin.

Shares of MicroStrategy jumped around 14%, while other crypto-relate stocks also rallied. Coinbase Global rose 14% and Bitcoin miner Marathon Digital jumped almost 20%.

Other cryptocurrencies followed suit, with tokens for Solana and Poly each rising more than 5%. Ether, the second-biggest digial asset, gained about 2%.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bitcoin weathers global market slump sparked by inflation jump

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Bitcoin rode out a surprisingly strong US inflation print that roiled global markets by dimming hopes for rapid interest-rate reductions.

The digital asset traded at $49,500 as of 10:21 am on Wednesday in Singapore, near the highest level in over two years and little changed since Tuesday’s publication of above-forecast figures on US consumer prices in January.

In contrast, the S&P 500 Index slid 1.4% — its worst CPI—day performance since September 2022 — while gold slumped and bond yields soared as traders dialed back expectations for a Federal Reserve rate cut before July.

Bitcoin showed “impressive resilience despite the overnight deterioration in risk sentiment,” Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia Pty, wrote in a note. At the same time, separate technical analysis based on chart patterns signals the possibility of a temporary dip to the high $30,000s, he said.

Sector-specific factors have been supporting Bitcoin, including the debut of US exchange-traded funds dedicated to the token. The batch of products from the likes of BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Investments have attracted a net $3.3 billion since they began trading on Jan. 11.

Meanwhile, the so-called Bitcoin halving due in April will curb supply of the largest digital asset, a development viewed by many as a prop for prices based on historical precedent.

“We expect the market to take a short pause here after a spectacular four-month-long rally, before the upcoming Bitcoin halving takes over the narrative,” said Caroline Mauron, co-founder of digital-asset derivatives liquidity provider Orbit Markets.

Bitcoin has tripled since the start of last year in a comeback from the 2022 digital-asset rout. Wagers in the options market indicate traders are targeting prices beyond the record of almost $69,000 achieved in November 2021.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Bitcoin surges to $50,000 for the first time since 2021 on ETF demand

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Bitcoin hovered around $50,000 after briefly scaling the closely watched level for the first time in over two years, a remarkable comeback from the crypto scandals and wipeouts that cast doubt on the industry’s viability.

The largest digital asset rose as high as $50,328 on Monday in the US and was trading at $49,980 as of 7:40 a.m. Tuesday in Singapore. It has tripled in value since the start of last year after a 64% plunge in 2022. Bitcoin remains below the all-time high of almost $69,000 achieved in November 2021.

The wild price fluctuations seen since the introduction of Bitcoin more than a decade ago have long been one of the main attractions to speculators. While originally promoted as an alternative to the traditional financial system, the latest rally has been driven by optimism that last month’s US approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds is leading to greater mainstream acceptance.

“There is a lot of talk about inflow of money into this asset,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. “I’d also note that the momentum players are getting excited as well.”

Risk Appetite

The resurgence in crypto prices comes as expectations of looser monetary policy burnish the allure of riskier assets. “The appetite for risk has trickled over into digital assets as well,” said Chris Newhouse, a DeFi analyst at Cumberland Labs.

Shares of crypto-related companies also gained Monday with Bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy Inc. rising 11%, trading platform Coinbase Global Inc. increasing 3.8% and miner Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. jumping 14.2%. The positive sentiment could spread to Asian stocks related to digital assets.

Bitcoin has recovered all its losses since the May 2022 implosion of stablecoin TerraUSD, which set in motion a wave of failures that ultimately helped bring down Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange in November 2022.

By the time FTX went down, the crypto market was already months into a rout that also claimed hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and lender Celsius Network. But the fall of FTX, once one of the top crypto exchanges by trading volume, was even more damaging, with token prices stagnating as liquidity dried up.

Now with Bankman-Fried convicted of fraud, and the Binance exchange’s co-founder Changpeng Zhao awaiting sentencing for US sanctions violations and failing to implement anti-money laundering policies, crypto prices have moved higher as analysts see fewer looming risks to the industry.

ETF Inflows

Nine US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds debuted on Jan. 11, while the more than decade-old Grayscale Bitcoin Trust converted into an ETF the same day. The accessibility of ETFs promises to widen the investor base for the token. The new funds have attracted about $9 billion so far, while a more than $6 billion outflow from the Grayscale fund since its conversion seems to be losing steam.

“Enthusiast buyers bring in more enthusiast buyers pushing prices further up,” said Fadi Aboualfa, head of research at crypto-custodian Copper Technologies Ltd. “The cryptocurrency has momentum on the back of several green weeks and has a large chance of going up further when markets see weekly movements upwards of 10% (as we saw last week).”

Optimism about the quadrennial Bitcoin halving due in April is also filtering across crypto. Halving cuts the quantity of Bitcoin that miners receive for operating the powerful computers that verify transactions on the blockchain. The event is often viewed a support for prices based on historical precedent.

Aside from ETF inflows, sentiment toward Bitcoin is “typically positive” during the Lunar New Year holidays that are currently underway in Asia, Fundstrat Global Advisors wrote in a note.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow