Bitcoin, the first and largest cryptocurrency by market cap, rose to over $40,000 on Sunday, reaching a price not seen since April 2022.
The popular cryptocurrency, which was trading above $41,500 at time of publication, is often seen as an indicator of broader market sentiment in the digital asset space, with other tokens also rising in value, including Ether, which broke $2,200.
Analysts point to several factors behind the rally, including signs that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is poised to approve spot Bitcoin ETFs, including for the leading crypto asset manager Grayscale, a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group.
Grayscale won a landmark case against the SEC in August over its application to issue a spot Bitcoin ETF, which allows investors access to a fund that provides them with direct exposure to the current price of Bitcoin. Since the decision, which the SEC declined to appeal, Grayscale has met with representatives from the agency, including last week.
The SEC’s next approval window is in early January. Other ETF applicants include TradFi giants such as Blackrock and Fidelity.
After reaching an all-time high of nearly $69,000 in November 2021, Bitcoin plummeted in 2022 after the collapse of several well-known crypto projects, including the Do Kwon–led Terra and the Sam Bankman-Fried–led FTX. Bitcoin started 2023 under $17,000, with fears that more prominent crypto companies could fail, including the world's leading exchange, Binance.
After a long-anticipated case by the Department of Justice, prosecutors finally reached a settlement with Binance founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao in November, with Zhao agreeing to step down and the company paying $4.3 billion in fines. Still, the firm will be allowed to keep operating, albeit with a U.S.-government-led monitorship, which is a better-than-expected outcome for many traders.
A rising tide
While crypto acolytes often portray Bitcoin as an alternative to the traditional financial system, its price still tracks the performance of overall markets. Analysts point to expectations that the Federal Reserve could begin cutting interest rates in 2024, leading to investors making riskier bets, as another factor driving Bitcoin's rally.
Other cryptocurrencies are not the only assets buoyed by Bitcoin's rise. Coinbase, the leading U.S. crypto exchange, has seen its stock price rise by over 50% in the last month. MicroStrategy, a publicly traded software company led by Michael Saylor that owns over $5 billion in Bitcoin, announced on Thursday that it had acquired an additional $593.3 million in Bitcoin at an average price of nearly $37,000.
Leading crypto industry figures are predicting the rally will continue, with Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz telling Bloomberg TV last week that the approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF in the U.S. could drive billions of dollars into the sector.
