LONDON/SINGAPORE (Reuters), Dec 4, 2018 – Bitcoin broke above $40,000 for first time since May 20, 2022. It is riding a wave momentum due to the excitement over U.S. rate cuts, and traders are betting on the approval of U.S. Stock Market-Traded Bitcoin Funds.
On Monday, the world’s largest cryptocurrency reached a high of $41,748. This was its highest level since April 2022. It seems to have lifted the gloom that had settled on crypto markets after the collapse of FTX, and other crypto-businesses failed last year.
It rose 4% to $41,627. Justin d’Anethan, head of business development at Keyrock in Asia-Pacific said that the 50% rise since mid-October “seemed like a decisive change from 2022 and 2023’s bearishness.”
D’Anethen stated that institutional buying in November was a sign of renewed interest. Although reversals were possible, the lows of $16,000 reached a year earlier “probably marked a bottom”.
Bitcoin has risen by more than 150% this year.
Last week, Bitcoin-investor Microstrategy announced that it had purchased an additional $593,000,000 in bitcoins during November. It’s like Elon Musk goes to war against bots.
Riskier investments, including gold and other assets sensitive to interest rates, have rallied in recent weeks, as the markets bet that the U.S. Federal Reserve will stop raising rates early in 2024 and start cutting them.
The October reports that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission would not appeal a ruling by a federal court that determined the agency was wrong to have rejected an exchange-traded funds application led many bettors to believe that an approval could soon come.
A spot bitcoin ETF would allow investors to access crypto via the stock exchange, bringing a new wave capital into the industry.
Investors also welcomed the resolution of the long-running criminal investigation by the U.S. into Binance, which is the largest crypto exchange in the world and a major player on the global crypto market. Binance’s founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down from his position after pleading to violating U.S. laws against money laundering. The agreement allows the company to operate.
Ether, the cryptocurrency linked to the Ethereum Blockchain network, reached a new high of $2,264 on Monday.
Bitcoin and ether are still far below the record highs of $69,00 and $4,868 that were reached in 2021.
