Leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin has surpassed the $70,000 mark for the first time, buoyed by investor demand for new crypto exchange-traded products in the US and expectations of a drop in global interest rates.
Billions of dollars have poured into ETFs over the past few weeks, and the market is getting further support from prospects that include a revamp of the ethereum blockchain platform, home to bitcoin's rival ether , and a bitcoin "half-life" event that slows the flow of digging in April.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's approval of 11 bitcoin spot ETFs in late January marked a watershed moment for the industry after an 18-month crypto winter marked by a string of corporate bankruptcies and scandals.
Even institutional investors, who once shunned cryptocurrencies due to their sudden and wild movements, have also begun to allocate long-term funds, which analysts say could help sustain the latest leg of this rally.
Net flows into the 10 largest U.S. bitcoin spot funds reached $2.2 billion in the week ended March 1, with more than $2 billion of that going into BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT.O).
The recent optimism about bitcoin has spread to other digital tokens, particularly ether, which ranks second only to bitcoin in terms of total market value, up more than 60 percent since the beginning of the year.
Still, some experts say it's hard to shake the speculative nature of these assets. After hitting a record high on March 5, bitcoin abruptly reversed direction and fell more than 10% back below the $60,000 level. /BGNES
