Bitcoin rose more than 10 per cent in two sessions, fuelled by an announcement on Monday from crypto investor and software company MicroStrategy (MSTR.O) that it had recently acquired about 3,000 bitcoins for $155 million.
Bitcoin hit a two-year high on Tuesday amid indications that big players were buying the cryptocurrency, while smaller rival Ether topped $3,200 for the first time since 2022.
Bitcoin rose as much as 4.3 per cent to $57,036, its highest level since late 2021. It last surged 3.6 per cent to $56,636, while Ether rose as much as 2.7 per cent to $3,273, its highest level since April 2022.
The original and largest cryptocurrency by market value has recently received a boost from the endorsement of bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States. Justin d’Anethan, head of partnerships in Asia at Keyrock, a digital asset market maker, stated:
There’s only so much supply… but the demand unleashed by the US spot ETFs seems to be relentless.
The main incentive at the moment is the halving of bitcoins in April. The process is designed to slow the issuance of Bitcoins, limited to 21 million of which 19 million have already been mined, by cutting the reward for token production in half.
Bitcoin’s value rose 32 per cent in February, approaching its biggest monthly gain since January 2023, with momentum picking up outside the investment community.
Shares of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN.O) rose 5.2 per cent on the US premarket, with shares of bitcoin miners Marathon Digital (MARA.O) and Riot Platforms (RIOT.O) rising 8.3 per cent and 4.5 per cent respectively. The largest bitcoin-ETF Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC.P) also climbed by 4.3 per cent.
