The price of bitcoin rose to $30,000 in mid-April for the first time since June of last year. The asset is now up roughly $14,000 from where it was at the end of 2022, which was arguably the worst year on record for the world’s number one digital asset by market cap.
Bitcoin Just Keeps Shooting Up
Of course, we’ve now got analysts throughout the digital asset space wondering what could have caused such a massive hike in the currency’s price. Markus Thielen – head of research and strategy at Matrix Port – commented in a recent note:
Stable coin tether (USDT) has now reached a market capitalization of $80 billion, an increase of $13.8 billion. The issuance of USDTs on Ethereum accounts for another $35 billion, but the spread between USDTs issued on Tron and Ethereum is now widening significantly. The all-time high in USDT issuance was at $82 billion in May 2022, and tether is now only $2 billion away from it.
Rachel Lin – chief executive of crypto trading company Synfutures – was also quick to chime in with her two cents, saying:
Higher-than-expected U.S. jobless claims suggest the Federal Reserve may soon halt rate hikes, which could benefit risk assets like crypto. Conversely, a higher unemployment rate could signal a looming recession, negatively impacting all assets.
Tether is a stable asset that is often widely tied to BTC. In fact, it is often believed that in 2018, when BTC was struggling pricewise, Tether was utilized to purchase more BTC on the side to help push the asset along and tie it further to USD. Thielen commented further that:
Circle USDC lost $11.8 billion and Paxos-Binance BUSD lost $9.4 billion. Obviously, those large moves had implications for crypto assets. In addition, the volume of spot vs. derivatives has now declined to just 11 percent. This means that for every $11 traded in spot, $100 dollars are traded in derivatives. This is the lowest ratio since May 2022 and is a sign of ‘pure speculation.’
Katharine Wooller – director at Coin Cover – mentioned:
Bitcoin’s ten-month high should be a confirmation that we’re seeing a return of a crypto bull market. Since the start of 2023, the crypto market has faced regular turmoil in the form of regulatory challenges and the collapse of crypto companies [which are] indicative of wider systemic problems. Yet, despite this, the market continues to perform well against all odds.
Trying to Put the Past Behind It
Thus far, bitcoin has shown extraordinary signs of recovery given it’s only been five months since the start of the year. The currency is easily rising through the ranks to put the doldrums of 2022 behind it once and for all.
During the previous 12 months, bitcoin lost more than 70 percent of its value and fell drastically from its all-time high of $68,000 per unit.
