With a nearly 9% jump, Bitcoin approaches its 2021 peak as Ether also sees significant gains
Bitcoin's recent surge propelled it to almost $93,000, inching closer to its 2021 all-time high, as reported by Coin Metrics.
This notable increase of nearly nine percent brought it to a peak of over $93,000, the highest since November 2021. Ether also experienced growth, advancing over five percent to over $4,900, according to CNBC.
This performance follows a significant week for both cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin gaining about twenty-one percent and Ether sixteen percent, marking their best week in almost a year.
However, the momentum paused over the weekend due to substantial outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and inflows into several “newborn” Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of Nexo, explained the shift in activity, noting, “With the birth of these nine new ETFs the big moves now tend to take place during the normal trading week rather than the weekends.”
He suggested that the market might witness a repeat of the explosive price action seen early last week, where Bitcoin surged over $13,500 in just a few days, driven by the demand for these new spot ETFs.
The rise in Bitcoin also positively impacted other cryptocurrencies, especially meme coins like Dogecoin and Shiba Inu coin, which surged twenty-seven percent and eighty-three percent, respectively.
This surge signals a return of retail investors to the crypto market, with the trade volume of meme tokens reaching its highest level since late 2021, as indicated by Kaiko.
Crypto equities benefited from Bitcoin's rally as well, with Coinbase and MicroStrategy seeing their values increase by eleven percent and twenty-three-point six percent, respectively.
However, miners faced challenges, with companies like CleanSpark, Cipher Mining, Iris Energy, Marathon Digital, and Riot Platforms experiencing declines of more than seven percent, nearly five percent, and almost seven percent respectively.
These declines were attributed to concerns over the upcoming halving in April, which is expected to halve mining companies' revenue.
While some analysts warn that Bitcoin's price may cool in the coming weeks as unrealized profit margins reach extreme levels—with Bitcoin's realized price at about $57,900, according to CryptoQuant—long-term investors remain optimistic.
They believe the increased demand through new US ETFs and the tighter supply following the April halving will drive Bitcoin to new heights.
The crypto market's buoyancy is also supported by the stock market, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite reaching a new all-time high last Friday.
David Duong, head of institutional research at Coinbase, suggests that Bitcoin might experience sideways movement in March but benefits from a productivity boom fueled by AI and blockchain technology, expected to continue.
