Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, has topped $40,000 for the first time since May 2022, trading data showed on Monday.
The rise was reportedly bolstered by the anticipation of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval and bets on US interest rate reductions.
In separate interviews with world press, experts meanwhile remained upbeat about the future of Bitcoin, which hit an all-time high of $69,000 in 2021.
“Now that $40,000 has been revisited for the first time in almost 19 months, $48,000 and $52,000 look to be the next significant lines in the sand,” Antoni Trenchev, co-founder of digital asset company Nexo, told CNBC.
He added that, “How swiftly Bitcoin marches towards $50,000 might well depend on when a spot-Bitcoin ETF is approved.”
The same tone was struck by Cici Lu McCalman, founder of blockchain adviser Venn Link Partners, who said in an interview with Yahoo Finance that they “could see Bitcoin run toward $50,000 before any major correction.” She singled out the halving and the outlook for US monetary policy as factors that add to experts’ optimism.
Halving, which pertains to the reward for Bitcoin mining, stipulates cutting the rate at which new tokens are released into circulation in half. Economically speaking, the supply of this digital currency will be diminished and its price will go up as a result. Halving happens every four years and the next one is expected in April 2024.
Su Yen Chia, co-founder of the Asia Crypto Alliance, in turn, told Yahoo Finance that recent actions regarding the prospective ETFs “have instilled confidence among investors.” According to Su, Bitcoin “is aping momentum in traditional finance with Fed rate-hike expectations fading.”
The Asia Crypto Alliance Bitcoin co-founder was echoed by Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG Australia Pty, who wrote in a note to Bloomberg that Bitcoin “continues to be supported by optimism around SEC [US Securities and Exchange Commission] approval for an ETF and Fed rate cuts in 2024.”