Bitcoin breaks $25K for the first time since mid-2022
Bitcoin jumped to its highest level since August on Thursday. Photo illustration of Fortune
According to CoinMarketCap data, Bitcoin has shaken off a crackdown on crypto companies by regulators in recent weeks, rising around 9% in the past 24 hours to breach $25,000 for the first time since June 2022.
After more than eight months below the $25,000 mark, the cryptocurrency peaked before retreating slightly. The coin was trading at around $24,800 as of Thursday midday.
The performance of the most popular cryptocurrency has also lifted the second leading cryptocurrency, Ether, which was up 8% and hovering near its highest point since September – about $1,700.
The rise in Bitcoin’s price may be partly due to the rise of Bitcoin NFTs, called Ordinals, which are driving more activity on the blockchain by users not only seeking financial transactions, according to a report by blockchain data company Glassnode. The total non-zero balance addresses on the Bitcoin blockchain have also reached an all-time high of 44 million.
“This is a new and unique moment in Bitcoin history, where an innovation generates network activity without a classical transfer of coin volume for monetary purposes,” Glassnode wrote in the report.
If we break $25k, $30k is imminent!#Bitcoin $BTC pic.twitter.com/FNX1W5eGFL
— Crypto Rover (@rovercrc) 16 February 2023
The rise in crypto markets comes after a decline in February following a series of bad news for the industry.
Recent actions by regulators against crypto exchanges Kraken and Paxos have sent shockwaves throughout the ecosystem, calling into question the future of crypto companies in the US
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, January’s consumer price index report saw inflation rise 0.5% for an annual increase of 6.4% to start 2023. While that number is above analysts’ expectations, prices had fallen over the past six months, driven in part by rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.
Still, while leading economists have warned that 2023 could be a turbulent year for markets, some on Crypto Twitter have optimistically predicted an extended rally after Bitcoin’s latest pump.
#Bitcoin live by the fire of truth. pic.twitter.com/N5NPOHFfkj
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) 16 February 2023
