Bitcoin breaks though $60,000 for the first time since November 2021

Bitcoin has surpassed $60,000 for the first time in more than two years as investors pile into the cryptocurrency.

The digital currency was trading at $60,333 in early afternoon trading in the UK, up 5.6 percent on the day, taking gains to 20.9 percent this week and 36.6 percent this week. anus.

It has not changed hands at these levels since November 2021, when it was trading at an all-time high of $69,000.

Some analysts now believe bitcoin is on track to hit $100,000 this summer. However, others remain skeptical and regulators continue to warn that anyone who buys cryptocurrency could be left with nothing.

Walid Koudmani, an analyst at broker XTB, said that nothing is certain in the world of cryptocurrencies.

“It seems difficult for the price of bitcoin to almost double until June, as markets normally tend to see corrections going up or down,” he said.

“The interesting thing for the cryptocurrency market is that, while it may seem quite unlikely, it is impossible to rule it out.”

This week’s rally began on Monday when software company MicroStrategy said it was buying 3,000 bitcoin tokens for around £120 million, taking its stake to more than £9 billion.

MicroStrategy is believed to be the largest publicly traded bitcoin holder in the world and its latest coup was seen as a vote of confidence in the broader crypto sector.

Greta Yuan, head of research at digital asset platform VDX, said the market was “buoyed by cryptocurrency bulls like Micro-Strategy,” and the price of its smaller rival Ether also rose following the announcement. .

Yuan added that bitcoin was also benefiting from a wave of investments in its price-linked exchange-traded funds (spot ETFs) after approval by US regulators.

In late January, the Securities and Exchange Commission gave the green light to 11 bitcoin ETFs, including funds from Wall Street giants BlackRock and Fidelity.

Previously, the only way to buy bitcoin in the US was through an exchange, which can be an intimidating process and involves technicalities like wallets and keys.

Bitcoin could get a new boost this year thanks to another event called the “halving.”

This is when the reward for bitcoin mining is halved. It generally occurs every four years and is designed to slow the release of the currency.