Bitcoin surpassed $45,000 for the first time in nearly two years as expectations grew for approval of an exchange-traded fund that invests directly in bitcoin.
As of 9:45 a.m., Bitcoin was up 4% to its highest level since April 6, 2022. Other tokens also rose, with Ethereum up as much as 2.6%.
As the January 10 deadline for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to approve a bitcoin spot ETF approaches, bitcoin has risen more than 15% since early December.
Bitcoin breaks through 45,000 mark
Ahead of the impending approval, some traders in the United States and Europe were worried about missing out, with investors "buying first thing in the morning on January 1," said Hayden Hughes, co-founder of social trading platform Alpha Impact.
Traders expect Bitcoin to hit $50,000 soon, thanks to bullish sentiment on spot ETFs.
Bitcoin's recovery over the past 12 months has also been boosted by broader risk sentiment driven by expectations of interest rate cuts in the United States. The rebound has partially repaired losses from the cryptocurrency industry's sharp crash in 2022, but it is still trading below the record of nearly $69,000 set during the pandemic in 2021.
Seth Ginns, managing partner of venture capital firm CoinFund, said earlier that Bitcoin has a strong negative correlation with the U.S. dollar and real yields. Currently, both of the latter are falling. It is expected that after the Bitcoin spot ETF is approved, a large amount of follow-up funds will flow in. Combined with the possibility of ETH spot ETF being approved in the second half of the year, this will be very meaningful to the cryptocurrency industry.
He noted that the industry is currently in the process of "regulatory normalization."
Ginns said that in the next cycle, the price of Bitcoin could reach $1 million, but he believes that in 2024, the reasonable expectation for Bitcoin will be between $250,000 and $500,000.
Article forwarded from: Jinshi Data
