Bitcoin price predictions: How much more could it rise in 2024? – Euronews

Thinking about investing in the popular cryptocurrency? A recent report predicts that Bitcoin will reach a new all-time high in 2024.

Bitcoin (BTC) is expected to reach a new record of $88,000 (82,000) throughout the year, before it settles around $77,000 at the end of 2024, according to a new report.

The cryptocurrency's current price sits at around $43,000.

UK fintech firm Finder carried out a study based onexpert price predictions of 40 crypto industry specialists on how Bitcoin is expected to perform through to 2030.

Bitcoin, it found, is likely to hit an average peak price of $87,875 in 2024, with some experts predicting it will climb as high as $200,000.

On the flip side, the average lowest price Bitcoin could hit by the end of 2024, is seen as $35,734, the report said, with some predicting it will fall as low as $20,000.

More than half of the experts Finder surveyed expected the price to increase after a so-called "BTC halving event" in April 2024.

A halving event refers to a period every few years when the reward for mining Bitcoin transactions is cut in half. As things stand, those validating Bitcoin transactions currently get 6.25 bitcoins, which could go down to 3.125.

Halving events lead to a lower supply, with fewer Bitcoins made available, thereby leading to higher prices.

Just under half of the 40 panellists surveyed (47%) believe that Bitcoin is going to reach a new all-time high six months after the halving event.

Kadan Stadelmann, CTO of blockchain platform Komodo, said in the report that Bitcoin is probably facing a fair bit of pressure, not only because of the expected halving event but also because "major companies and institutional investors [are] showing growing interest [in Bitcoin, which] is likely to drive demand."

Many experts forecast more buyers on the market following the US Securities and Exchange Commission's recent approval of 11 Bitcoin ETFs (exchange-traded funds), making it easier for individual investors to trade Bitcoin-related investment funds in the US stock exchanges.

The price could be propelled further upward once the US Federal Reserve cuts the historically high benchmark rate, as analysts expect more liquidity to consequently flow into Bitcoin.

However,John Hawkins, senior lecturer at the University of Canberra, believes that cryptocurrency is still little more than a speculative bubble.

"If the new spot Bitcoin ETFs are popular, there could be a temporary price increase. But, in the medium to longer-term, I still regard Bitcoin as a speculative bubble," said Hawkins, adding there were high expectations about similar ETFs entering the market in 2021, but the price crashed later.

BTC is expected to potentially climb to $122,688 (114,310) in 2025 and $366,935 (341,878) in 2030.

However, the truncated mean, a statistical measure of central tendency, puts the expected price at around $220,708 (205,636) by 2030.

Overall, the majority (58%) of panellists believe now is the time to buy BTC; 38% advise people to hold while 5% of panellists are in favour of a sale.

Cryptocurrencies are not regulated in the UK and there is no protection offered by the Financial Ombudsman or the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Disclaimer: This information does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances. Also remember, we are a journalistic website and aim to provide the best guides, tips and advice from experts. If you rely on the information on this page, then you do so entirely at your own risk.

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Bitcoin price predictions: How much more could it rise in 2024? - Euronews

Bitcoin is Gearing Up For Pre-Halving Retracement Crypto Analyst – TradingView

Key points:

According to Rekt Capital, a renowned crypto analyst on X, the current bull cycle will retain the fundamental trend pattern preceding Bitcoin halving despite significant impact from the ETF. The analyst acknowledged the newly launched ETFs have played a role in how the Bitcoin market has developed. However, he believes there will be a pre-halving retracement, like in the previous bull cycles.

In one of his posts, Rekt Capital predicted Bitcoin is a few days away from entering the Danger Zone. According to him, the Danger Zone is where the pre-halving retracement begins. He used historical data to explain that Bitcoin performs pre-halving retracements 14 to 28 days before the halving event.

To further explain his observation, the renowned analyst showed that Bitcoin retraced by 20% in the days leading to the 2020 Bitcoin halving. Similarly, before the 2016 halving event, the flagship crypto pulled back by 40% after an initial rally.

At the time of Rekt Capitals post, the Bitcoin halving event was 31 days away, and the pioneer crypto had retraced by 11%. BTC had dropped from the recently achieved all-time high (ATH) of $73,794 to around $65,000, according to data from TradingView.

The famous analyst accompanied his prediction with a chart analysis suggesting Bitcoin could experience further price drops in a post-halving re-accumulation phase. He also revealed the post-halving accumulation would prepare the topmost cryptocurrency for a post-halving parabolic upside movement.

Bitcoin traded for $65,469 at the time of writing amid a general market downtime. The newly launched ETFs impact on the current bull run is significant, especially in pushing BTC to a new ATH before the halving event. That is a situation the crypto market did not experience until the current bull cycle.

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Bitcoin is Gearing Up For Pre-Halving Retracement Crypto Analyst - TradingView

Binance CEO Predicts Bitcoin Rally Past $80000 As Investments In Crypto ETFs Surge – TradingView

ZyCrypto

Binance CEO Richard Teng has shared his bullish stance on Bitcoin, predicting that the cryptocurrency will soar above $80,000, driven by increasing institutional investments in crypto-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Speaking at an event in Bangkok on Sunday, the former regulator noted that the launch of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US earlier this year has already started to attract institutional investors and new fund flows, adding, Were just getting started.

Teng further revealed he expects Bitcoin to soar above $80,000 before the end of the year as crypto demand continues to soar and supply reduces. He, however, emphasized that the rally wont be a straight line and the market will experience ups and downs, which is good for the market.

The pundits prediction of Bitcoin is not new. Earlier last month, Teng surveyed his followers on Bitcoins potential value by the end of 2024, offering options of $40,000, $80,000, and $120,000. Interestingly, the survey results favoured a bullish expectation of $120,000.

In a tweet on Sunday, the CEO further hinted at his bullish stance for BTC when asked about the significance of the number 3 to him in the Thai community.

Many good things in crypto have 3 syllables BTC, BNB, ATH, To The Moon Now you know. He wrote.

Notably, Bitcoin has experienced a remarkable price surge, catalyzed by the recent approval of several spot ETFs earlier this year. This surge propelled Bitcoin to achieve an all-time high of $73,750 last week. Moreover, the total daily crypto exchange volume on March 14 nearly reached $100 billion, marking the first instance since 2021.

The launch of Bitcoin ETFs in the US has also led to relentless inflows, with more endowments, and family offices are expected to step up allocations into Bitcoin ETFs in the near term. According to data from crypto BitMEX Research, ETF net inflows this week topped $2.565 billion, propelling the cumulative net inflows to a staggering $12 billion after 47 days of trading. According to experts like Willy Woo, this could be the tip of the iceberg.

Teng, who took over as CEO after co-founder Changpeng Zhao stepped down in November following the companys $4.3 billion settlement with US authorities, has long advocated crypto adoption. In a recent interview, Teng noted that as more regulators spend time, energy, and resources to understand and formulate regulatory frameworks for crypto, it will instil further trust within the community and user base, leading to mass adoption.

Despite plunging since Thursday due to market participants profit-taking behaviour, Bitcoin demonstrated resilience on Sunday as it attempted to break minor resistance around $68,000.

The market is expected to continue fluctuating within its current range until the supply diminishes, potentially paving the way for a bullish breakout. The crypto asset traded at $67,108 at press time, reflecting a 1.10% drop over the past 24 hours.

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Binance CEO Predicts Bitcoin Rally Past $80000 As Investments In Crypto ETFs Surge - TradingView

Bitcoin layer 2s among catalysts of this bull cycle, Bitcoin OG says – Cointelegraph

The integration of layer-2 blockchains on top of Bitcoin could unlock its true potential and propel its price to unprecedented highs, says Bitcoin OG and former maximalist Dan Held.

People are going to take their Bitcoin, lock it up, stake it to earn yield. Theyre going to borrow against it, Held said during an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph.

Together with the upcoming halving, the recent Bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund approvals and a potential interest rates cut from the United States Federal Reserve, Held believes that Bitcoin decentralized (DeFi) could spark the biggest bull run in history.

A former Bitcoin maximalist, Held has recently turned into one of the most vocal supporters of Bitcoin layer 2s, which allow developers to build smart contracts on the blockchain, expanding the capabilities of the protocol.

According to Held, Bitcoin will soon take over a large portion of the DeFi market, competing with established platforms such as Ethereum and Solana.

Bitcoin has the most number of users, the most liquidity and will be around the longest, said Held.

If youre going to build an app, and youre going to build it for longevity, this is the place youd want to go, he said.

Currently, about $2.2 billion in value is locked on the Bitcoin blockchain. According to Panter Capital, this emerging sector has a $500 billion potential.

To know more about the emerging Bitcoin DeFi sector and how it could impact the current bull run, check out thefull interviewon Cointelegraphs YouTube channel, and dont forget to subscribe!

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Bitcoin layer 2s among catalysts of this bull cycle, Bitcoin OG says - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin ETFs now hold nearly 4% of all bitcoin and they’re not slowing down – Blockworks

Bitcoin has new buyers in the form of some of Wall Streets biggest players, and theyre gathering some enormous treasuries.

Bitcoin ETFs in the US are now sitting on almost 4% of all bitcoin in existence.

Spot funds overall held 776,464 BTC ($47.7 billion) on Friday morning, per BitMEX Research.

Theres currently 19.64 million BTC ($1.21 trillion) in circulation, with an eventual limit of 21 million to be reached over the next century or so.

Read more: Stop worrying so much about the next Bitcoin halving

Led by Grayscales Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the set of 10 physically-backed funds launched on Jan. 11 now boast some of the largest stashes in the space.

GBTC alone held almost 3.2% of all bitcoin on the market just before the ETFs opened trade for the first time, and has been bleeding coins ever since. Its share of bitcoin supply is now 2.2%.

GBTC shareholders previously could not redeem their shares for bitcoin, but all that changed once it converted to an ETF. The funds high fees compared to its new competitors, however, has contributed to capital flight.

The other ETFs have attracted enough fresh capital to make up the difference and then some.

Following bitcoin ETFs? Stay up to date with our bitcoin ETF tracker.

MicroStrategy, the largest corporate treasury in the world, has so far acquired 0.98% of the supply (193,000 BTC worth $11.88 billion).

The publicly-listed data intelligence firm, founded by converted bitcoin bull Michael Saylor, is ahead 95% on its bitcoin buys to date.

MicroStrategys share price has been closely tied to bitcoins price performance since it bought its first bitcoin in August 2020, when BTC was worth about $11,000. Bitcoin is up about 450% since then.

The US government is another major holder, believed to be controlling up to 215,000 BTC ($13.23 billion), or 1.1% of bitcoins circulating supply, per BitcoinTreasuries. Authorities seized the coins as part of a variety of criminal cases, including ones tied to Silk Road and the Bitfinex hack from 2016.

As for the rest, about 10% is on crypto exchanges, slightly more than whats sitting with bitcoin miners.

Addresses tied to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto still absent contain between 600,000 BTC to 1.1 million BTC, the equivalent of 3% to 5.6% of the circulating supply.

Read more: Satoshi warned against labeling bitcoin as an investment

Another 3.7 million BTC could be lost forever, according to a Chainalysis study from 2020, which means 19% of the supply may never move again.

In any case, spot ETF shareholders, not counting GBTC, are well up on their collective investments so far, thanks to bitcoins healthy rally from under $47,000 to more than $61,000.

Excluding Grayscales fund, $15.9 billion has flowed into US-listed spot ETFs, which used that to buy 336,076 BTC ($20.62 billion). That converts to unrealized gains of over $4.7 billion, or 30%.

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Bitcoin ETFs now hold nearly 4% of all bitcoin and they're not slowing down - Blockworks

Bitcoin drops 9% from its ATH as the market shows signs of being ‘overheated’ – Cointelegraph

Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $68,319 on March 15, down 4.5% over the last 24 hours as the crypto market displays overheated conditions, according to a report by on-chain analytics firm IntoTheBlock.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of BTC turned down from its latest all-time high of $73,835 on March 14, dropping 9% to a new weekly low of $65,565 on March 15.

The drop in Bitcoins price has also triggered a sell-off across the market, with the global crypto market cap dropping 4.1% on the day to rest at $2.59 trillion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

The second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, Ether (ETH), has also dropped 5% in the last 24 hours to $3,708. Other top-cap tokens were also flashing red, with BNB (BNB), XRP (XRP), Cardanos ADA (ADA) and Dogecoin (DOGE) losing 2.3%, 7.3%, 5.8%, and 8% of their value, respectively, over the same period.

Solanas SOL (SOL) was the only token among the top 10 cryptocurrencies recording gains, rising 8% over the last 24 hours.

Previously, Cointelegraphwarned of a possible correction in the BTC price due to overheated conditions, as summarized by X user TOBTC.

Data from market intelligence firm IntoTheBlock corroborates this information, highlighting growing leverage in the crypto market, which presents warning signs of a correction.

In this weeks On-chain Insights newsletter, IntoTheBlock reveals that the amount that buyers of Bitcoin perpetual swaps pay those going short is at its highest since October 2021.

In the chart below, IntoTheBlock analysts note BTCs funding rates on Binance and Bybit reached levels of 0.06% and 0.09% yesterday, paid every 8 hours.

These fees translate to an annualized cost of 93% and 168% in order to go long Bitcoin, the report added.

More data from Coinglass reveals that Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) on all exchanges reached its all-time high of $35.55 billion on March 15.

While high OI reflects new buying in the market fueled by increasing inflows into the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), overly bullish positioning in derivatives posts a warning sign for the market when open interest grows too high, as IntoTheBlock analysts point out.

The high-leverage conditions are extending beyond centralized exchanges, with loans on decentralized finance (DeFi) networks rising sharply.

The chart below shows that the total debt on all DeFi protocols has doubled in 2024. According to additional data from IntoTheBlock, the total debt increased from around $2 billion at the beginning of January to reach $4.15 billion on March 14.

IntoTheBlock also reports an uptick in the aggregate amount of debt issued through Aave v3 on Ethereum, which has increased by a factor of 2.14 year-to-date.

The amount of wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) supplied to Aave has increased by more than 10,000 BTC (~$700M) so far in 2024, the report added.

This means the rates in DeFi have increased with increasing demand for leverage.

As such, the firm warns the DeFi ecosystem is accumulating too much risk, which might lead to a price correction in the near term.

Related: Bitcoin shorts stay absent amid 'very normal' sub-$66K BTC price dip

BTC price breached multiple all-time highs in March in an uptrend largely influenced by the success of the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the United States.

Pointing to overheated conditions, the report by IntoTheBlock notes that the average 90-day return for the top 20 crypto-assets (excluding stablecoins) [...] is 103%.

This means that most traders have realized profits from their crypto investments. According to independent analyst and X user Ali, investors are currently sitting on profits of 70% in their holdings.

In a March 14 post on X, analyst Ali shared the following chart from CryptoQuant showing that traders unrealized profit margins reached 69% when the price hit higher highs above $73,000, which is historically associated with upcoming corrections as traders embark on booking profits.

Ali said:

More data from IntoTheBlock shows that 86% of all Bitcoin holders are in profit at current prices, increasing the chances of a continued sell-off in the short term as profit-booking continues.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

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Bitcoin drops 9% from its ATH as the market shows signs of being 'overheated' - Cointelegraph

Marathon Digital stock is falling despite higher Bitcoin prices. Here’s why By Investing.com – Investing.com

In recent months, cryptocurrencies have witnessed a tremendous rally, with leading the charge. The rally has seen the most well-known cryptocurrency climb to well over the $60,000 mark (it currently sits at $62,421). Despite this, Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:) stock is not performing so well lately.

As Bitcoin and other crypto prices have soared, investors anticipated that companies heavily involved in the ecosystem would benefit from this upswing, which is usually the way. However, Marathon Digital Holdings, a major player in the Bitcoin mining industry, has bucked the trend somewhat.

While Bitcoin is up more than 47% this year and 162% in the last 12 months, Marathon Digital has declined 2.8% in the year-to-date. Whats more, MARA stock fell more than 16% on Thursday after missing fourth-quarter earnings and revenue expectations when it posted earnings after the close on Wednesday.

While the stock has performed very well in the past 12 months (+260%), it currently sits just over $25 per share, way below its 2021 high of over $83. Over the last 52 weeks, shares are up 300%.

MARA reported a fourth-quarter loss per share of ($0.02), $0.03 worse than the analyst estimate of $0.01, while revenue for the quarter came in at $156.7 million, above the consensus estimate of $141.55 million.

Following the report, renowned short sellerJim Chanossaid on X that he is still trying to understand the Marathon Digital business model.

4Q EBITDA was $170M annualized, on $1B of capital invested in the business, ex-cash/crypto holdings($4 per share). Their 4Q breakeven cost was $42K per #Bitcoin. Like $MSTR, this is simply a leveraged bet on a commodity, said the account.

Meanwhile, Compass Point analyst Joe Flynn said MARA's 4Q23 results were strong from an uptime and BTC production standpoint, having mined ~4.2K BTC during the quarter, but weak from a cost ($0.065/kWh vs. our estimate of ~$.057/kWh and higher G&A) and margin perspective (52% GM vs our estimate 57%), resulting in pro forma Adj. EBITDA of $61M.

Flynn went on to explain that MARA benefits significantly from its estimated ~17K BTC on its balance sheet, causing the stock to be highly correlated to the price of BTC compared to other miners.

However, he notes that with BTC now over $60,000, the stock has seen significant strength but was overextended and sold off after hours due to the miss.

The share price decline comes despite Flynn acknowledging that the MARA stock price has shrugged off the companys operational challenges through the first quarter of 2024 and MARA acquiring and taking over management of Hut8/US BTC's data centers.

The operational challenges related to downtime of its hosted miners at Applied Digital and maintenance as ownership and management of previously owned Hut8 transitions to MARA through the 1Q24. However, Flynn believes the headwinds look to be largely behind the company.

Flynn adds that the company trades at a significant premium to the rest of the space, allowing it to continue using its liquidity and stock as currency to pursue aggressive growth projects such as expansion to ~50 EH/s by 2025, site acquisitions, and technology projects like Slipstream and recently announced layer-2 BTC solutions.

Despite the share price decline, MARA remains the 800-pound gorilla in the mining space, according to Compass Point, and remains well positioned through the halving despite its weaker fundamentals relative to other miners.

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Marathon Digital stock is falling despite higher Bitcoin prices. Here's why By Investing.com - Investing.com

Coinbase sees massive $1 billion Bitcoin withdrawal – CryptoSlate

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Coinbase sees massive $1 billion Bitcoin withdrawal - CryptoSlate

Bitcoin price tops $60,000 for first time since 2021 – Financial Times

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The price of bitcoin has climbed above $60,000 for the first time in more than two years, as a lightning rally puts the worlds biggest cryptocurrency within touching distance of its all-time high.

Bitcoin rose as much as 12.6 per cent to hit $63,968 on Wednesday, before falling back to about $60,000. The rally has brought its gains to 42 per cent in the first two months of this year.

The rapid ascent has revived memories of the crypto bull market that pushed the token to its record peak of nearly $69,000 in November 2021, as investors pile in amid fear of missing out on further price rises.

This is insane, said Timo Lehes, co-founder of blockchain company Swarm, adding that he expected more money to flow into the token.

When people see these kinds of increases in a short period of time...then it just draws in people and Fomo does kick in, he said.

In January, US regulators approved the launch of spot bitcoin exchange traded funds by mainstream asset managers including BlackRock and Invesco, paving the way for an influx of new cash from investors looking to speculate on the cryptocurrency through a regulated vehicle.

The 11 funds now hold 303,000 bitcoins, according to K33 Research, worth $18bn and equivalent to about 1.5 per cent of the total bitcoin supply.

We could see the all-time high being broken any day now, said Simon Peters, an analyst at trading firm eToro. The driving force behind it is without a doubt the [bitcoin funds].

The surge in bitcoin price comes amid a wider rally in traditional financial markets.

Chipmaker Nvidias blockbuster results have fed an investor frenzy over the potential of artificial intelligence technology, helping push US and European stocks to all-time highs in the past week.

Crypto trading platform Coinbase blamed traffic that was 10 times normal for disruptions to some users, including displays of a zero balance in their accounts.

We appreciate your patience, Coinbase said. Were beginning to see improvement in customer trading. Due to increased traffic, some customers may still see errors in login, sends, receives and with some payment methods. Rest assured your funds are safe.

The price of bitcoin has soared despite US regulators clampdown on the biggest crypto companies and continued scepticism about the token. Last week, European Central Bank officials lambasted the cryptocurrency, saying the fair value of bitcoin is still zero.

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For society, a renewed boom-bust cycle of bitcoin is a dire perspective. And the collateral damage will be massive, they wrote, adding that the tokens price is not an indicator of its sustainability.

The crypto industry has been boosted by the belief that it is moving on from the scandals of recent years. The Securities and Exchange Commission hit Binance, the worlds biggest crypto exchange, with a record $4.3bn fine in November for crimes including failing to protect against money laundering and breaching international sanctions.

Binances rival, FTX, collapsed in 2022 and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty on seven charges of fraud and money laundering. This week, his legal team argued for the former crypto tycoon to spend just a few years in prison, rather than the 100-year sentence he could face.

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Bitcoin price tops $60,000 for first time since 2021 - Financial Times

Latest crypto thaw has bitcoiners rejoicing – Marketplace

Have you checked out the price of bitcoin lately? The cryptocurrencys price is up about 40% this year, and inching closer to its pandemic-era record of nearly $69,000 per coin.

Some of the most devoted investors in bitcoin have a credo HODL basically short for hold on for dear life. Its a mantra to never sell your bitcoin, even when the price is in the dumps like it was for much of the past couple years.

Well those HODLers are rejoicing now.

Sean Longstreet started investing in bitcoin back in 2017, when it was around $17,000 per coin. The musician and artist has kept buying, through multiple crypto winters those periods when bitcoin crashed to disconcerting lows.

When things go down, you have to lie on your conviction, and theres a phrase, when theres blood on the streets you buy. So I did not sell, I just cried and held on to it, he said.

Longstreet wont tell me how much he owns in bitcoin thats a taboo question for bitcoiners but he says he does own more crypto than he does stock.

And while it may be tempting to tell skeptical friends and family I told you so, hes learned to resist that urge.

It causes too much strain if you try to onboard your family and something, something bad happens, he said.

The latest bitcoin surge is mostly due to the SECs approval of bitcoin exchange traded funds, or ETFs for short. ETFs allow big and small investors to put money into bitcoin, without having to touch a crypto wallet or actually understand the blockchain.

Ryan Rasmussen is a researcher at Bitwise Asset Management. More than a billion dollars have poured into their bitcoin ETF.

Now anyone can open their brokerage account, and with the click of a button allocate to bitcoin. This was kind of like bitcoins IPO moment, he said.

Pensions and hedge funds and mom-and-pop traders are saying, sure, Ill dip my toe in that bitcoin IPO, especially while the price goes up.

But Lee Reiners at the Duke Financial Economics Center said more mainstream financial actors getting in on crypto carries risk when the next bitcoin winter inevitably comes.

Now you sort of created a interstate freeway thats connecting the traditional financial system with the crypto economy, such that a problem in one could easily spill into the other, he said.

For his part, bitcoiner Sean Longstreet agrees another downturn will come at some point, but hes not planning on selling anytime soon.

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Latest crypto thaw has bitcoiners rejoicing - Marketplace

Grayscale CEO says there is ‘insatiable demand’ for spot Bitcoin ETFs – CryptoSlate

Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein said the financial industry has never seen such insatiable demand for an ETF wrapper as it has seen with Bitcoin ETFs.

Sonnenshein made the statement during a CNBC interview on March 1, where he shared his insights about the performance of spot Bitcoin ETFs and the markets response to their recent launch.

Sonnenshein said:

[Theres been] a lot of pent up demand based on the spot Bitcoin ETFs coming to market. And so were seeing tremendous flows and investor demand, and thats really also outpacing the supply of bitcoin coming into the market every day which is really being added to the price.

He added that the demand for these ETFs is diverse and includes retail and institutional investors.

Despite that supposed growth, CNBC noted that the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has seen significant outflows. Specifically, GBTC experienced continuous outflows over 30 days.

Sonnenshein explained that GBTC is older than most other funds and came to market with $30 billion of assets under management, while the Newborn Nine entered the market without any previous holders.

He added that the company had anticipated the outflows since investors had held the shares for a long time.

Sonnenshein said that the industry is experiencing a new wave of adoption with the launch of these ETFs, and its only a matter of time before money starts flowing into Bitcoin, driving it to new highs.

He noted that there is $40 trillion of advised wealth that has been sidelined from Bitcoin and now has a path to gain some exposure to the flagship crypto.

Meanwhile, traditional financial institutions are starting to relent under client pressure and allowing access to these ETFs, including Bank of Americas Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo.

Additionally, the halving is encroaching and will reduce Bitcoins supply by 50% in less than two months. Sonnenshein believes the upcoming halving will be a significant catalyst in bringing more investors to the industry and driving adoption.

Sonnsenshein also recently said during a separate interview that the approval of spot Ethereum ETFs is a matter of when, not if.

Industry experts predict there is a 50% chance the SEC will greenlight the ETH ETFs by the first applications deadline this summer.

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Grayscale CEO says there is 'insatiable demand' for spot Bitcoin ETFs - CryptoSlate

Bitcoin surges toward all-time high as a big ‘halving’ could push it higher – Quartz

The price of Bitcoin has risen 15% in just four days to $59,396. Image: Dado Ruvic (Reuters )

Bitcoin keeps soaring and surpassed $60,000 on Wednesday for the first time since 2021. The crypto currency has rallied all week, jumping more than 15% in just four days to $61,074 late Wednesday morning.

'I saw these knuckleheads getting rich and I got FOMO' | Ben McKenzie on crypto fraud

Since the start of the year, bitcoin has gained more than 40% as result of renewed interest in the digital currency after the U.S. approved the first bitcoin spot ETFs. This enabled investors to get into the Bitcoin game without all the risk of directly investing in the still controversial currency.

Meanwhile, a technical event called halving, which restrains the mining of new bitcoins, is approaching in April, and will likely keep bitcoin prices rising. The cryptocurrency is now less than $8,000away from breaking its all-time high of $68,999.

In April, the reward miners get for minting new bitcoin will be halved from 6.25 bitcoin to 3.125. This happens every four years and will continue until all 21 million bitcoins are mined.

Halving was written into bitcoins code from the beginning to ensure scarcity and safeguard from inflation. Previous halving events coincided with huge price increases for bitcoin.

The market cap of all bitcoin surpassed $1 trillion this year, bringing the market cap of all cryptocurrencies to $2 trillion.

Ethereum, a smaller cryptocurrency, is up 2% to $3,334. The stock of the cyrptocurrency exchange Coinbase rose 5% during premarket trading Wednesday. Stock in bitcoin miner Riot Platforms was up 4% Wednesday morning.

Stock in enterprise software and cloud service firm MicroStrategy, one of the largest public holders of bitcoin, rose 7% during premarket trading Wednesday after gaining 9% on Tuesday.

The company revealed on Monday that it has bought 3,000 bitcoin for $155.4 million this month. The company now owns a total of 193,000 coins worth about $10 billion.

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Bitcoin surges toward all-time high as a big 'halving' could push it higher - Quartz

What the Bitcoin halving means for BTC mining centralization – Cointelegraph

Industry experts are concerned the upcoming Bitcoin (BTC) halving could lead to increased centralization.

The fear is the reduction in block rewards will make older mining equipment unprofitable, concentrating hashing power in the hands of fewer miners. A trend toward mining pool centralization on the Bitcoin network has been clearly observable over the past few years, but the halving is expected to further exacerbate the issue and accelerate the trend.

Historical data gleaned from btc.com shows that from 2016 to 2021, on any given three-day period, the top two mining pools controlled around 3040% of the hash rate.

Hashing power is far more centralized lately. On Feb. 28, the top two mining pools, Foundry USA and AntPool, controlled almost 50% of the networks hashing power, according to Coin Dance.

Data from mempool.space shows that 26.55% of the total blocks have been mined by unknown or unaffiliated sources since Bitcoins inception. Mining pools, such as F2Pool, mined 10.11% of all blocks over that period, while AntPool mined 10.02%.

In the last three years, however, mining pool Foundry USA mined 21.55% of all blocks, AntPool mined 18.78%, and F2Pool mined 14.25%.

In the past three months, the centralization has increased, with Foundry USA mining 30.32%, AntPool mining 26.03%, ViaBTC mining 12.52% and F2Pool mining 11.94%.

Jesper Johansen, founder and CEO of venture capital firm Northstake, is one of the figures predicting increased volatility for BTC mining, leading to increased centralization.

Johansen told Cointelegraph: The halving will lead to hash rate volatility, as miners facing higher operating costs and outdated setups will go offline. This will further centralize hash rate, with large-scale mining pools operating with significantly lower marginal cost per hash rate thus intensifying centralization concerns.

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As for why this is a problem, Johansen highlights two main areas where challenges may arise, undermining Bitcoins decentralized credentials:

Second, centralized mining pools could exert disproportionate influence over decisions regarding Bitcoins protocol updates or changes, potentially skewing development in favor of their interests rather than the broader community, he added.

Bitcoin researcher Chris Blerc has long been sounding the alarm on centralization. As Blerc argues, centralized mining creates numerous risks for BTC, including the potential blacklisting of certain products, such as coin-joining services.

In December 2023, Blerc took to social media platform X to highlight that the two major mining pools controlled 55% of the hashing power. The top two mining pools, AntPool and Foundry USA, are both regulatory compliant and require all miners to fulfill Know Your Customer obligations ostensibly placing control in the hands of U.S. regulators.

We could be one chess move away from some big problems for Bitcoin. But even worse is the fact that nobody really wants to talk about it. Wheres the urgency? asked Blerc.

The argument of whether Bitcoin centralization will lead to censorship may be a moot point, as existing research has already uncovered one mining pool filtering or censoring some transactions.

In November 2023, Bitcoin developer 0xB10C reported on a number of transactions that may have been filtered out of blocks by mining pools. The suspect blocks all contained addresses sanctioned by the United States Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).

From six candidate blocks, 0xB10C identified four blocks believed to omit OFAC-sanctioned addresses.

All four transactions were ignored by the F2Pool mining block. 0xB10C ultimately said, These four missing sanctioned transactions lead to the conclusion that F2Pool is currently filtering transactions.

That opinion was vindicated in short order as F2Pool confirmed that it had filtered transactions. Following community pushback, it then announced it would reverse the decision for now.

Its worth remembering that even if one mining pool filters out a transaction, that does not stop the transaction from being processed, but it does potentially result in that transaction taking longer to process. The more mining pools that filter it, the longer the potential delay.

While the halving of block rewards may make mining less profitable, some scenarios could offset the reduction in income. The simplest of these scenarios would be if the price of Bitcoin doubled against the U.S. dollar. That may be too much to hope for, but there are other potential avenues for pursuing increased returns.

As Acheron Trading CEO Laurent Benayoun told Cointelegraph, miners already have more than one way to make a profit.

Miners compensation consists of two parts: newly minted BTC, as well as fees offered by the users of the network featuring an auction mechanism for transaction processing priority, says Benayoun. He adds: The halving of block rewards could shrink miners profitability and put a fatal strain on less efficient mining operations, leading to more centralization, as had been the case in the past. Yet, the recent network congestion stemming from the Ordinals innovation has led to an increase in network fees.

Benayoun believes Ordinals could actually prove beneficial since it is possible that the decrease in miners comp from the halving will be compensated by the increase in comp from higher fees.

And while the increase in fees alone might not be enough to make up the shortfall, the slowing of the supply inflation could further compensate miners in dollar terms, counteracting the effects of halving on mining rewards even more.

There are many ifs and buts when dealing with the issue of hashing power centralization, but if the rising price of Bitcoin and transactions doesnt absorb the decrease in mining rewards, further solutions may be difficult to come by.

Recent:Energy-efficient miners in US less likely to be impacted by Bitcoin halving

According to Johansen, any drastic proposal to mitigate the issue would undoubtedly face serious opposition from Bitcoiners.

Solutions would involve modifying the mining algorithm or adjusting rewards to favor decentralization, says Johansen. However, these changes necessitate widespread community consensus, which is difficult, given the Bitcoin maximalists reluctance to protocol changes.

Ultimately, even if the halving causes a few additional bumps in the road for miners, the only realistic choice will be to ride it out.

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What the Bitcoin halving means for BTC mining centralization - Cointelegraph

StanChart exec predicts $200K Bitcoin by 2025-end as demand continues to outpace supply – CryptoSlate

Standard Chartered head of crypto research Geoffrey Kendrick predicts Bitcoin will continue to rally over the coming 24 months to culminate in a $200,000 price per coin by the end of 2025.

Kendrick made the statement during a CNBC interview on Feb. 29.He said that macro and fundamental indicators all point to a sustained rally for the flagship crypto.

Standard Chartered has previously made similar predictions before the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) were approved. At the time, the lender wrote that their approval was critical for Bitcoin to climb to $200,000.

Kendrick said the heightened demand for Bitcoin will likely cause the flagship crypto to hit a new all-time high before the halving, which is less than two months away. He also predicted that Bitcoin will hit $100,000 by the end of this year as the halving reduces supply even further.

The halving event, which cuts the reward for mining new bitcoins in half, is anticipated to reduce the inflation rate of Bitcoin from about 1.7% to approximately 0.8%.Mining rewards per block will fall to 3.125 from the current 6.25.

This will result in the daily supply of Bitcoin falling to 450 BTC from 900 BTC.Historically, the 50% reduction in new supply has been a major catalyst for price increases in previous cycles.

Another notable driver behind the bullish outlook is the substantial inflows into spot Bitcoin ETFs launched at the start of 2024.

Kendrick highlighted that new Bitcoin ETFs have seen significant inflows of $14 billion, with a net inflow, excluding Grayscales outflows, of about $6 billion. This equates to approximately 110,000 new Bitcoins being held, significantly boosting the market.

The Newborn Nine ETFs are soaking up Bitcoin at an average rate of 10,000 BTC per day, while only 900 BTC are produced daily meaning demand is already 10x higher than the supply.

Kendrick also pointed to broader market conditions and potential shifts in Federal Reserve policies as supportive backdrops for Bitcoins ascent.With expectations of Fed rate cuts by mid-year, the easing monetary policy may favor risk assets, including crypto.

Additionally, he said that the overall growth narrative, buoyed by optimistic stock market trends, combined with the direct impacts of ETF inflows and the halving event, creates a compelling case for Bitcoins upward trajectory.

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StanChart exec predicts $200K Bitcoin by 2025-end as demand continues to outpace supply - CryptoSlate

Bitcoin ETFs hit volume record of $7.6B – Blockworks

The slate of US bitcoin ETFs continue to post jaw-dropping figures.

As of market close on Wednesday, the ETFs hit $7.6 billion in volume, topping previous records, according to Bloomberg data.

BlackRocks bitcoin ETF, which trades under the ticker IBIT, put up around $3.3 billion of that amount. The ETFs volumes were already shattering records hours before the market closed, with IBIT hitting $2.2 billion of volume by 1 pm ET.

Fidelitys ETF, which trades under FBTC, came in at around $1.4 billion. Grayscales ETF, under ticker GBTC, saw volume of $1.8 billion.

As Bloomberg analyst James Seyffart noted, the previous record was $4.6 billion on launch day.

This is officially a craze, said Bloomberg senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas earlier on Wednesday. He noted that IBIT traded more today than in its first two [weeks] combined.

The ETFs, which were only approved to start trading in January, have posted high volumes every day so far this week. IBIT beat its volume records on Monday and Tuesday, notching $1.3 billion just yesterday.

Read more: As bitcoin ETFs gain ground on gold funds, is a flippening in the cards?

Balchunas said that the volume is largely made up of natural demand, meaning that its not algorithmic. He further added that wirehouse platforms are seriously looking at adding them soon.

CoinDesk reported Wednesday that Morgan Stanley is considering adding the ETFs to its brokerage platform. When reached by Blockworks, Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

They like to see track record and get paid off, but [with] grassroots demand like this, they [are] gonna have to expedite, Balchunas continued.

The bitcoin ETF volumes come as bitcoin climbed near record highs Wednesday before settling around $60,000 at publishing time.

Bitcoin topped $64,000 before losing momentum and falling to $61,000 in early afternoon trading. Bitcoins all-time high sits at roughly $69,000.

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Bitcoin ETFs hit volume record of $7.6B - Blockworks

Bitcoin clocks best month in three years: ‘There’s an even bigger wave coming’ – DLNews

Bitcoin notched its largest monthly gain in more than three years in February, climbing a whopping 48% to $63,000.

Thats the highest monthly gain since December 2020, TradingView data shows.

Market watchers bet that this is just the beginning.

The approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the US has driven the rally, according to Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitcoin ETF issuer Bitwise Asset Management.

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Not only are retail investors putting more money directly into Bitcoin, but spot Bitcoin ETFs have also enabled them, and institutional investors to move into the space, he said during CNBCs Squawk Box segment on Thursday.

Until these ETFs were approved there was only a small set of investors who could access Bitcoin, Hougan said, now the supply-demand dynamic is just off the hook, he explained.

But this is just the start, Hougan said.

Theres an even bigger wave coming in a few months as we start to see the major wirehouses turn on, Hougan said.

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Wirehouses refer to large brokerage firms that offer financial services, including investment advice, portfolio management, and trading.

He is not alone in saying that.

Earlier this week, Eric Balchunas, a senior ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said pressure is mounting on big US investment firms to tap into spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Morgan Stanley, UBS, and Merrill Lynch are currently mulling over whether or not to add spot Bitcoin ETFs, Balchunas said.

Bank of Americas Merrill Lynch and Wells Fargo are already adding spot Bitcoin ETFs to their brokerage platforms for some of their wealth management clients, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

There are other signs of increased institutional involvement in the market.

For instance, the share of Bitcoin trading on the weekend has declined since 2018, meaning more of the trading is taking place on weekdays, according to research firm Kaiko.

BTC weekend volume is in decline BTC weekend volume has largely declined since 2018. (Tyler Pearson/Kaiko)

The share of Bitcoin traded on weekends has declined significantly over the past six years, dropping to 17% last year from 24% in 2018, the firm said in a report on Monday.

Kaiko said that part of the reason for the growing gap is because trading has aligned with traditional finance players, most of which operate from Monday to Friday with limited after-hours trading.

The spot Bitcoin ETF buzz, combined with the upcoming halving event and macroeconomic conditions are expected to drive the price higher.

Bitcoins halving event happens automatically roughly every four years. It marks a change in the amount of new Bitcoin that can be created every day.

Miners will get 3.125 Bitcoin for creating new blocks after the halving, down from 6.25 currently. This causes a reduction in new supply hitting the market.

Thomas Lee, managing partner and head of research at research firm Fundstrat Global Advisors, has previously predicted that Bitcoin will surge to $150,000 in 2024.

He also said it could potentially reach as high as $500,000 over the next five years

Slightly more cautiously, analysts at research firm Bernstein have estimated that Bitcoin could rush past the $150,000 mark by mid-2025.

Skybridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci, on the other hand, has said that the worlds leading cryptocurrency could bag a $170,000 price tag in the next year and a half.

Eric Johansson is DL News news editor. Sebastian Sinclair is a markets correspondent for DL News. Have a tip? Contact them at eric@dlnews.com and sebastian@dlnews.com.

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Bitcoin clocks best month in three years: 'There's an even bigger wave coming' - DLNews

Biden administration’s notorious Bitcoin mining survey halted after legal backlash – CryptoSlate

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) agreed to stop the emergency survey of Bitcoin miners as part of an agreement to end the lawsuit filed by several industry players, including the Texas Blockchain Council.

According to the March 1 court filing, the EIA must destroy any survey information it has already received and information yet to be received. It must also sequester or keep confidential that data until it is destroyed.

The controversial survey aimed to gather data on how much energy miners use. However, the industry responded with lawsuits that argued the survey would irreparably harm operations by forcing miners to divulge confidential information.

As part of the agreement, the EIA will publish a new notice in the Federal Register to restart the survey process from scratch withdrawing and replacing a previous notice from Feb 9, which did not invite comment and feedback.

The new notice must allow for a 60-day comment period, after which the EIA may conduct the survey following specific statutory and regulatory provisions.

Additionally, the EIA must consider comments submitted in response to both the new and the Feb. 9 notices as if they were submitted to the new notice.

The EIA and other defendants will additionally pay the plaintiffs Riot Platforms and Texas Blockchain Council $2,199.45 to cover legal costs and fees.

The EIA began collecting data on mining firms in late January after the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) authorized the survey as an emergency request. The controversial survey has been closely linked to the policies of the Biden administration, specifically the energy policies outlined in its 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

The agencies were concerned that Bitcoin mining could accelerate alongside price growth, leading to greater energy consumption during high-demand periods and cold weather.

Republican Congressman Tom Emmer expressed opposition to the survey on Feb. 22. In addition to denying that Bitcoin mining posed a threat, Emmer noted that the EIA had justified a survey based on emergency policies but had failed to introduce the required comment period.

Industry players, including Riot Platforms, the Chamber of Digital Commerce, and the Texas Blockchain Council, filed a lawsuitagainst the survey, resulting in the court granting a temporary stay until March 24.

Following the legal action, the EIA paused its attempts to collect data one day later on Feb. 24.

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Biden administration's notorious Bitcoin mining survey halted after legal backlash - CryptoSlate

Stop worrying so much about the next Bitcoin halving – Blockworks

Please. Lets stop fretting about the effect that Bitcoins next halving will have on the market. Weve been here before.

Historically, the supply shock generated by the halving has marked the start of significant bull markets for bitcoin. And as we approach the fourth halving, I believe that this trend will continue, potentially taking bitcoins price to a new all-time high.

But theres a sector of the industry that is arguably the most concerned about bitcoins future: miners.

Bitcoin miners need the price to increase to stay in business, especially as their proceeds are about to be reduced by half. This effectively means that the cost of mining one bitcoin doubles (assuming electricity and hardware costs remain roughly the same).

The thesis is simple. If miners rewards are cut in half and the price doesnt compensate for the loss, miners wont be profitable enough to keep their ASICs running as transaction fees cannot (yet) take up the slack.

Considering the supply shock, moving sideways into the halving would be like the bitcoin price dropping to $15,000 today, which would put most miners out of business.

All this comes during an already delicate situation for the many miners operating with razor-thin profit margins, even with the inexpensive electricity costs many have access to. Miners must still cover those costs whether their mining machines are running or not: Maintaining current profitability remains critical to avoid shutting down.

But does all this mean the halving will destroy bitcoin miners? Of course not.

We are already starting to see some of these mining operations set their contingency plans in motion. Marathon Holdings, for example, has invested $179 million to set up two entirely new mining sites, which will allow them to drop production costs by 30%. Other mining companies have ramped up their hardware acquisitions to enter the halving with increased efficiency. Finally and most noticeably, bitcoin miners are liquidating their inventories, stacking up liquidity ahead of the halving to face costs and capitalize on low ASIC prices as profitability drops.

There are massive expectations from the Bitcoin community and Wall Street especially after spot bitcoin ETFs trading now for the halving to bring bitcoins price to new all-time highs.

Instead, its more probable that were going to experience a lot of pain at least in the relative short term.

All mining stocks leading up to the halving are likely going to tank, as miners scramble to find financing to stay alive. Would you invest in a company that you knew was about to get its revenue cut in half with no plan for correction?

The first few months will be the crunch period. Miners will be forced to turn off older, less efficient hardware, tighten their belts and grit their teeth. During this time, difficulty will drop as hashrate decreases, leaving miners waiting for the profitability to increase.

However, as past halvings have shown us, price doesnt increase until several weeks have passed. Assuming the pattern repeats itself, this wont happen until the end of Q3, and probably only just enough to give miners some breathing room.

By the end of the year, we will likely see a holiday bull run, followed by the typical new years correction. The crescendo weve all been waiting for wont come until the spring of 2025 and continuing through the rest of 2025.

Bitcoins price might rise immediately. After all, thats what everyones expecting. The amount of anticipation alone might be enough to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Then again, the halving is likely already priced in its the most public, predictable event in finance. Just like we didnt have the god candle everyone was expecting after the bitcoin ETF approval, we wont get it after the halving either.

Ordinals might also help increase the price of bitcoin. Why? Greater use of the Bitcoin blockchain in general leads to greater competition for block space, which in turn means higher transaction fees in each block for miners to keep.

Read more from our opinion section: Bitcoin ETFs are not cryptos finish line

We are already starting to see juicy sized blocks where the fees outweigh the block reward. This was Satoshis plan all along, and it seems to be working, partly supported by the ingenious use case and frenzy around Ordinals.

However, this is the most likely outcome: Price lags behind a handful of weeks. In turn, this will cause the difficulty to keep dropping until the surviving miners are able to mine profitably again. This network balancing act albeit Bitcoins intrinsic mechanism to maintain security and balance is brutal, and will certainly leave a trail of bodies in the process of finding equilibrium.

Competition is about to get fiercer, and only the miners who best adapt to the coming changes in price, transaction fees and network difficulty will survive to reap the rewards.

All in all, the situation in the coming months resembles an old story of two men hiking in the woods, who stumbled across a mean grizzly bear about to charge. The first man quickly bent down and swapped his hiking boots for running shoes.

The second man scoffed at the first, telling him that he could never outrun the bear, to which the first man replied: I dont have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you.

But as we approach the fourth halving, the bear is even bigger and faster. All miners will have to adapt and pick up their pace. Some will die. Some will just survive. And some will thrive. Its the crypto version of survival of the fittest.

Ryan Condron, the industry veteran & visionary CEO of Lumerin, is redefining cryptocurrency mining through innovation and ingenuity. Under his leadership, Lumerin is launching the Lumerin Hashpower Marketplacea decentralized digital mining solution that enables users to mine bitcoin remotely, from the cloud, and really anywhere without the complexities of traditional hardware.

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Stop worrying so much about the next Bitcoin halving - Blockworks

Bitcoin ETF inflows hit new peak Wednesday amid BTC price climb – Blockworks

More money entered spot bitcoin ETFs Wednesday than any day prior as BTC rallied and trading volumes soared.

The record inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs indicate sustained demand for these investment vehicles. Their approval by the Securities and Exchange Commission back in January marked a pivotal moment, opening up easier access to bitcoin exposure for a broader range of investors.

The 10 US ETFs that hold bitcoin directly notched $673 million of net inflows on Wednesday, according to BitMEX Research data. This edged the previous record set on Jan. 11 the funds first trading day during which $655 million entered the offerings.

Read more: SEC officially approves spot bitcoin ETFs in landmark decision

BlackRocks iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and the Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Fund (FBTC) dominated the segment, with Wednesday net inflows totaling $612 million and $245 million, respectively.

Net outflows grew for the higher-priced Grayscale Investments Bitcoin Trust ETF (GBTC), with $216 million exiting the fund on Wednesday, the data shows.

Even with GBTC weighing down the segment with $7.8 billion of net outflows, the bitcoin ETFs have collectively notched positive flows of $7.4 billion in roughly seven weeks.

Inflows into the funds could see a second wind as more wealth managers get comfortable allocating on behalf of clients, industry watchers and executives have said.

Read more: Primary market for bitcoin ETFs largely hasnt yet adopted such funds

IBIT eclipsed $9 billion in assets under management, and FBTC is above $6 billion, BitMEX Research data shows. GBTC, which ported over assets when it converted to an ETF, manages about $26.4 billion.

The bitcoin ETFs record daily net inflow total came on a day during which bitcoins price (BTC) approached $64,000, before retreating closer to $60,000. The price of one BTC was about $62,600 at 8:30 am ET Thursday up 21% from a week ago.

Read more: Bitcoin blows past $60k, on track for best monthly candle since Dec. 2020

The 10 bitcoin ETFs as a group saw trading volumes of $7.6 billion on Wednesday, shattering the $4.5 billion mark set on their first day trading.

BlackRocks fund has led the way, breaking its record in this category over the last three days.

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Bitcoin ETF inflows hit new peak Wednesday amid BTC price climb - Blockworks

Bitcoin metric repeats bull move that saw up to 1,900% BTC price gains – Cointelegraph

Bitcoin (BTC) now has a shot at hitting $180,000 if a new bull signal repeats historical gains.

In a post on X on March 1, Caleb Franzen, founder of Cubic Analytics, suggested that BTC price returns could hit 260% from current levels this cycle.

Bitcoin has added more than 43% in February alone, but a long-term BTC price metric is already calling for much higher levels.

Analyzing the Williams%R Oscillator on three-year timeframes, Franzen revealed a rare bull signal flashing for only the fourth time ever.

Bitcoin just completed the highest monthly close since Oct. 21, but it gets even better & more bullish... The 36-month Williams%R Oscillator just closed above the overbought level for the 4th time in history, he summarized.

The Williams%R Oscillator is used to gauge the strength of BTC price trends. As Cointelegraph reported, Franzen showed that the tool was essential in charting the start of Bitcoins recovery from the 2022 bear market lows.

While it was 12-month timeframes in play then, now, an even rarer occurrence is back the 36-month Williams%R Oscillator is headed into overbought territory above -20.

I say it all the time & Ill continue to repeat it: overbought signals are incredibly bullish and should be viewed as momentum signals, not signals to fade, Franzen continued.

Prior signals appeared in 2013, 2016 and 2020 all years marking the early innings of a Bitcoin bull market.

While the returns have decreased each cycle from 1,900% in 2013 to 260% in 2020 even matching the latter would produce a $180,000 BTC price.

Franzen nonetheless acknowledged that even these unusual events should not be treated as a guarantee of future performance.

The same analysis that I shared for the 12M and 24M Williams%R signals have worked perfectly; however, this study guarantees nothing. It simply tells us how market participants have behaved in the past when investor behavior was similar from a statistical perspective, he explained.

Another indicator that tends to spend the steepest parts of bull markets at overbought levels is the Relative Strength Index (RSI).

Related: Bitcoin just printed a $20K monthly candle Its biggest ever in USD

On daily timeframes, this is firmly overbought, briefly passing 80/100 on Feb. 28, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirms.

In late December, daily RSI executed a form of reset, which preceded Bitcoins initial push higher into the launch of the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, in the United States.

Whats more, monthly timeframes look even more optimistic, with the RSI only now entering the overbought zone.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

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Bitcoin metric repeats bull move that saw up to 1,900% BTC price gains - Cointelegraph