For the first time in almost two years, bitcoin crossed $64,000 on Wednesday, and it has already increased by about 45% in 2024. There’s been a sense that things may be different this time.
In less than two months, new exchange-traded funds focused on spot Bitcoin in the United States have drawn in over $7 billion in net inflows, which is driving the bullish price run of the leading cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin reached highs of $64,100 on Wednesday after a five-day rise, putting the record high of around $69,000 within reach. The price surge has been further driven by the impending half of the Bitcoin supply.
https://x.com/KaikoData/status/1763122610353697157?s=20
When this article was written, Bitcoin had increased 5.85% in the previous day to $62,651, having hit intraday highs of $63675 early on Thursday.
The increase of bitcoin since the year’s beginning has outpaced that of equities, continuing a pattern that started in 2023. It is the momentum that has drawn traders seeking volatility.
Kaiko reports that Wednesday’s trading session saw $34 billion in Bitcoin trade volume, the most since the FTX crisis.
Bitcoin network activity, ETF volumes explode
As the price of Bitcoin increased, Santiment, a start-up that specialises in on-chain analytics, discovered a significant surge in the volume, circulation, and whale transactions of the cryptocurrency.
According to Santiment, on-chain traffic on the Bitcoin network reached levels not seen until 2022 as the cryptocurrency soared beyond $64,000. A total of 35.37 billion on-chain transactions were made, with 283,000 distinct tokens moving and 3,661 whale transactions totaling more than $1 million.
As Bitcoin continued its ascent towards a record, overall trading activity in spot Bitcoin ETFs—which include offerings from BlackRock Inc. and Fidelity Investments—rose significantly to over $8 billion on Wednesday.
Additionally, the funding rate for Bitcoin permanent futures has risen to a level not seen since 2021, suggesting that investors are scurrying to take a chance on profits.
