Bitcoin has reached a new all-time high for the first time in more than two years, as this year’s rally — fueled by excitement over bitcoin ETFs and the upcoming halving event — accelerated.
The price of the cryptocurrency topped $69,210 on March 5th, before retreating, according to Coin Metrics. It was last trading lower by 4% at $64,665.68. The flagship crypto notched it previous record of $68,982.20 on Nov. 10, 2021 — about a year before the catastrophic failure of FTX plagued the crypto industry in what some call crypto’s Lehman Brothers moment.
A continuing massive wave of buying by the newish U.S.-based spot bitcoin ETFs is the likely catalyst behind what’s now a historic run higher. The price of bitcoin sat at around $45,000 at the time the ETFs opened for business on Jan. 11. Following a brief “sell the news” dip to the $39,000 area, bitcoin quickly rallied above $50,000 by mid-February. After meandering around the $51,000 level for a couple of weeks, prices took off again to the upside towards the end of the month.
