The price of bitcoin surged past $59,000 on Wednesday, touching levels not seen since late 2021 as a bullish run for the top cryptocurrency continued.
Bitcoin
BTCUSD,
was last up 3.7% at $59,142, just off a session high of $59,482. The crypto is roughly 14.5% from a record of $68,990 reached 27 months ago.
Up 40% so far this year, bitcoin has been fueled by continued inflows into bitcoin exchange-traded funds and hopes around the coming “halving event,” which is expected to happen in April. Past halvings of the crypto have coincided with bull runs.
The crypto’s climb again boosted related stocks with crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc.
COIN,
up over 6% in premarket trading and MicroStrategy Inc.
MSTR,
one of the biggest publicly traded holders of bitcoin, up 8%.
Read: MicroStrategy’s stock deemed a ‘buy,’ with bitcoin’s halving a budding catalyst
Shares of crypto miners Marathon Digital Holdings Inc.
MARA,
and Riot Platforms Inc.
RIOT,
were gaining 8% and 6%, respectively, in premarket trading.
“With whales and other key names piling cash back into BTC ahead of the April halving event, bitcoin prices look likely to continue higher near-term,” said James Harte of multiasset broker Tickmill Group, in a note to clients on Tuesday.
“The question is whether the rally will continue post halving or if it will be a case of buy the rumor sell the news? With bitcoin supply dwindling and recent ETF approvals fueling a surge in demand, there is a strong case for the rally continuing this year with some commentators calling for the $100k mark by year-end,” said Harte.
As earlier reported by CoinDesk, the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index shifted into extreme greed territory on Tuesday, from just greed:
