Following crypto’s landmark entrance into public markets, the price for bitcoin and other cryptos has continued to soar into the new year. On January 10th, the SEC announced its historic decision to allow U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds to track bitcoin, a move that has been in the making for nearly a decade. By allowing bitcoin to be on the public stock exchanges, millions of new investors who never held positions in crypto now have access to trading such assets. This has now boded well for bitcoin, which just recently surpassed 50,000 for the first time since December 2021. In the past six months, the price of bitcoin has soared nearly 92% alongside a strong week of gains that concluded on Friday. In its best week since December, bitcoin posted a 10.76% return as investors hope to continue 2024 with positive sentiment.
As their now readily available, spot-bitcoin ETFs have seen robust volume across the stock market. Since their launch, there has been $2.8 billion in net inflows for spot-bitcoin ETFs as investors hope to chase the crypto’s record. Just before falling sharping, November 2021 marked the record price last seen for bitcoin at $68,982.20. Other crypto players like token Ethereum or crypto exchange Coinbase have shown considerable momentum throughout the year, with each company posting monthly returns of 6% and 10%, respectively. In other crypto news, the disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is left awaiting his prison sentence, but all victims who lost money in the aftermath heard the good news of a full repayment. Nevertheless, as the year continues, bitcoin’s larger price trends may be determined by both institutional sentiment over the coin and a halvening event for bitcoin supply.