decrypt.co
Just days after breaking the 2021 record price, Bitcoin has surged even higher early Friday, setting a new all-time high price above $70,000.
Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency by market cap, rose as high as $70,099 on Friday per data from Coinbase, beating the previous record price of $69,324 from Tuesday. It's up 4% over the last 24 hours.
The renewed surge comes after a wild day last Tuesday, when Bitcoin finally passed the $69,000 barrier to break its November 2021 record, but then quickly crashed, eventually falling below $61,000 by the mid-afternoon. Bitcoin quickly made up ground, returning to $66,000 by the end of the day, and then has gradually gained in the days since.
Bitcoin has had a monster month, rising by more than 60% over the last 30 days alone and doubling in price since last October.
This follows a prolonged bear cycle in which the coin fell to a recent low price of around $16,000 in November 2022, in the days following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.
What's driving the recent surge? Excitement over January's approval of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is a key part of it, especially as the funds have seen billions of dollars' worth of record-breaking daily trading volume of late.
Also likely playing a role is next month's "halving" event, in which the amount of BTC given as a reward to Bitcoin miners will be slashed in half, slowing the expanding circulating supply. The halving happens approximately every four years, and typically has had an impact on Bitcoin's price.