Bitcoin has rallied above the $63,000 (£49,745) mark, for the first time since November 2021 when the digital asset reached its all-time high of over $68,000.
In the past 24 hours, the largest digital asset by market capitalisation has increased in value by over 8% to change hands for $63,108, as of the time of writing.
Read more: Crypto live prices
The price appreciation has been driven by record inflows into multiple US-based spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) which were approved in January of this year.
A spot bitcoin ETF is a financial product that investors hope will pave the way for mainstream capital to flood the crypto market. Currently, the indications are favorable, with fund managers, such BlackRock (BLK) and Franklin Templeton (BEN), having allocated a record $673m into spot bitcoin ETFs on Wednesday.
Read more: Bitcoin success with SEC fuels anticipation for ether spot ETF
The record-high allocation surpassed the first day of the launch of these funds, during which inflows totalled $655 million. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF (IBIT) alone attracted a record $612 million yesterday.
Bitcoin price forecast
Early this week, veteran investor Peter Brandt said bitcoin could peak at $200,000 by September 2025. “With the thrust above the upper boundary of the 15-month channel, the target for the current bull market cycle scheduled to end in Aug/Sep 2025 is being raised from $120,000 to $200,000,” Brandt posted on X.com.
The influx of capital from the traditional finance sphere into spot bitcoin ETFs is acting as a major price catalyst for the digital asset, but it is not the only one. The consensus among analysts is that the upcoming ‘bitcoin halving’ could continue to drive inflows into the bitcoin market.
The bitcoin halving is an event that happens about every four years and is expect to happen again this April. The halving will reduce the bitcoin reward that miners receive for validating blocks on the blockchain from the current 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This could act as a supply crunch for the digital asset, potentially leading to a price appreciation.
Watch: Bitcoin ETFs poised for inflows from US pension plans, Standard Chartered analyst says | Future Focus
Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
