Bitcoin hit its highest level since November 2021 on Monday, as exchange-traded funds investing directly in the cryptocurrency attract more capital into the space, while investors await the upcoming “halving” event, which has historically been bullish for investors bitcoin prices.
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according to CoinDesk data, it was up 9.5% at one point in the past 24 hours, to nearly $57,000. It has fallen about 17% from its record high of $68,990, reached in November 2021.
Investors saw significant inflows into bitcoin after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved 10 bitcoin ETFs for the first time in January.
They are also looking forward to the so-called “halving” event, which is expected to take place in April.
Halving is a mechanism written into the blockchain algorithm to control the supply of bitcoin, which is capped at 21 million. During the halving, the reward for mining bitcoin is halved, meaning miners will receive 50% less bitcoin for verifying transactions.
Halvings are expected to occur after every 210,000 blocks mined, or approximately every four years, until the maximum supply of 21 million bitcoins is released. Historically, bitcoin has seen price appreciation months after halvings.
From a technical perspective, as Bitcoin broke out of its sideways trading range that has remained intact since February 10, “this price increase is likely to reach targets near $58.4 initially with a possibility of $62,000, which should be the last real area of resistance before a possible challenge to previous all-time highs,” wrote Mark Newton, head of technical strategy at Fundstrat Global Advisors, in a note on Monday.