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Bitcoin Hits $52K, Regains $1T Market Cap; Genesis Cleared to Sell $1.3B GBTC Shares

Some traders are targeting the $64,000 level in the coming weeks as demand from spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund products grows.

Updated Mar 9, 2024, 2:15 a.m. Published Feb 14, 2024, 9:30 a.m.
Bitcoin price on Feb. 14 (CoinDesk)
Bitcoin price on Feb. 14 (CoinDesk)
  • Bitcoin hit $52,000 Wednesday, surpassing $1 trillion in market value and shrugging off Tuesday's dip.
  • Cardano's ADA and dogecoin led the altcoin bounce, outperforming the CoinDesk20 Index's 4.7% advance.
  • Genesis received court approval to redeem its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust holdings worth $1.3 billion, Bloomberg reported.

Bitcoin (BTC) price hit $52,000 during Wednesday surpassing the $1 trillion market capitalization after 26 months, with traders eyeing even more gains anticipating the rally has room to run.

The largest and oldest cryptocurrency shrugged off Tuesday's dip below $50,000 on a hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data, reclaiming the psychologically significant price level during European trading hours. Throughout its history, BTC only had 145 daily closes (midnight UTC time) over $50,000, CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index (XBX) data shows.

Wednesday's rally also brought BTC's market value to back over $1 trillion, surpassing the milestone for the first time since Dec. 2021. Bitcoin was up 4.7% over the past 24 hours, the same amount as the broad-market CoinDesk20 Index's (CD20) advance.

Altcoins also bounced, with Cardano's ADA (ADA) and popular meme token dogecoin (DOGE) gaining 6% during the day. Ether (ETH) also rose over 5% to $2,750, its highest price since May 2022.

The broad-market rise came amid bullish sentiment around bitcoin continue running higher, with options traders betting on prices to touch as much as $75,000 in the coming months.

Some traders are targeting the $64,000 level in the coming weeks as demand from spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) products grows.

Strong inflows into U.S.-listed spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETF) supported to positive sentiment, with BlackRock’s IBIT experiencing nearly $500 million in net inflows Tuesday with gradually slowing outflows from the incumbent Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).

However, redemptions might pickup soon as crypto lender Genesis received bankruptcy court approval to sell its GBTC holdings worth $1.3 billion, Bloomberg reported.

Swissblock analysts noted in a Wednesday report that BTC will continue its uptrend until holding key support level at $46,000, but warned of slowing momentum.

"Diminishing spikes in value signal a momentum slowdown, possibly leading to a market stabilization or slight pullback," the report said.

Shaurya Malwa

Shaurya is the Co-Leader of the CoinDesk tokens and data team in Asia with a focus on crypto derivatives, DeFi, market microstructure, and protocol analysis. Shaurya holds over $1,000 in BTC, ETH, SOL, AVAX, SUSHI, CRV, NEAR, YFI, YFII, SHIB, DOGE, USDT, USDC, BNB, MANA, MLN, LINK, XMR, ALGO, VET, CAKE, AAVE, COMP, ROOK, TRX, SNX, RUNE, FTM, ZIL, KSM, ENJ, CKB, JOE, GHST, PERP, BTRFLY, OHM, BANANA, ROME, BURGER, SPIRIT, and ORCA. He provides over $1,000 to liquidity pools on Compound, Curve, SushiSwap, PancakeSwap, BurgerSwap, Orca, AnySwap, SpiritSwap, Rook Protocol, Yearn Finance, Synthetix, Harvest, Redacted Cartel, OlympusDAO, Rome, Trader Joe, and SUN.

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Krisztian Sandor

Krisztian Sandor recently graduated from NYU's business and economic reporter program as a Fulbright fellow and worked with Reuters and Forbes previously. Originally from Budapest, Hungary, he is now based in New York. He holds BTC and ETH.

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