Bitcoin crosses $50,000 mark, records two-year high
The cryptocurrency extends its February gains with an 18% markup on value in just 7 days.
Bitcoin continued its staggering upward climb, hitting a two-year high on Monday, after reaching $50,280 during the day marking a 4.5% increase, before settling at $50,200 at almost 4:00 pm.
Throughout the past 7 days, the cryptocurrency jumped 18% in value, scoring its highest value since December 2021.
At the beginning of 2023, Bitcoin's trading figure was at $16,500, before soaring 160% throughout the rest of the year to over $44,000 by December.
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The US Securities and Exchange Commission approved spot Bitcoin ETFs on January 11, allowing financial institutions and investors to trade the virtual blockchain token without owning it.
Ethereum also experienced a 5.6% increase, reaching $2,640 after the provision, whereas certain other alternative cryptocurrencies witnessed a surge in value of up to 17%.
$1.4 trillion erased in 2022
In November 2021, Bitcoin hit a record high of almost $69,000, but nearly $1.4 trillion was erased from the market in 2022 due to sector bankruptcies which came after the collapse of FTX, the world’s second-largest crypto exchange at the time. But the latest upward price momentum pushed Bitcoin's market capitalization towards the $1 trillion threshold, a milestone that hadn't been achieved since.
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According to data from CoinMarketCap, the combined value of the cryptocurrency market increased by 3.85% to reach $1.87 trillion, with Bitcoin's dominance, representing its share of the crypto market, standing at 52.6%.
A report by CNBC last December, citing industry analysts, said that cryptocurrency top-dog Bitcoin is anticipated to keep surging in 2024, to possibly all-time highs of over $100,000 per token.
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